We certainly can pay ZOMG members more. The original salary was set on the idea they’d be reviewing grants. All the issues with ZOMG stem from a simple problem : there were not a large number of qualified grant applications. ZOMG was conceived for a purpose it never got to serve. So it should come as no surprise there’ve been issues.
Now that we know that, we can change it’s purpose. The question we are left with is how.
Clearly we need one or two people to look for projects and actively recruit and develop them for funding. Those people need to be full time and paid.
But, I’m unsure if its feasible for that to be ZOMG members themselves. Certainly throwing money at the issue will not solve it. The problem would be finding 5 very qualified people who can work full time and get along is going to be a major tall order. Worse, they have to run and get elected by the forum on a yearly basis. It’s a recipe for not getting talent no matter the pay.
A perhaps more practical idea is hirer full time people and have ZOMG approve or reject the proposals they bring in. And no one at ZOMG or ZFND is opposed to doing that last I checked and its totally possible within the current structure.