PSF Board Retreat 2024

The PSF Board came together September 12th-15th, 2024, for our annual board retreat. This year we met in Lisbon, Portugal. We used the opportunity to work together in person to discuss high-level strategic planning for the future of the PSF. This year, we moved the retreat from January to September. We aimed to meet as a new board in person as soon as possible to build our trust and communication earlier- which has been working well!

Our retreat

After traveling in on 12th September, we shared a meal together and it was a great chance for some board members to meet our newly elected board member Cristián Maureira-Fredes. There was no “ice-breaking” needed– the ice already melted immediately (maybe due to the heat in Lisbon) that evening! We were sure that it would be a productive weekend going ahead.

In the following two days, the board sat together (except for a “walk and talk” session which we will explain in a bit) to go through all the topics on our agenda and lay down some strategies that the board will follow up in the coming year. On the first day before we jumped into strategies, we agreed on our values and behavioral norms for the meetings. We adopted a “jazz hands” gesture to show agreement and it turned out to be a very effective communication method.

We identified our relationships with various parts of the community and documented some of our long-term goals. We also identified our relationships with other entities and our grant program strategies (more on that later!).

On the second day, as we had been sitting down for most of the time during our meeting (there was no time to waste as the discussion was very intense), we got to do a “walk and talk” session. We broke into two groups to discuss some of the strategies regarding supporting PSF  workgroups and mentoring future board members.

The last day was a travel day home, and everyone left Lisbon safely. It was an intense but productive weekend!

What we discussed

There are a multitude of things that we discussed- and many more that we would love to discuss but ran out of time to do so. Here are summaries of some of the topics.

Long term goals

Regarding our vision for where we want to be in 5 years, it can be summarized as:

1. financially sustainable
2. more support for the community, and
3. amplifying Python’s impact around the world

Workings within PSF

We reviewed our meetings structure and process, as well as our relationships with different working groups within the PSF. We also looked at what challenges we may have in our grants program, PyPI, fundraising, and the developer-in-residence program.

Relationship with other organizations

We identified some non-profit organizations that align with our values and which we feel we could benefit from more communication. Those also include some of the local communities that we would like to work closer with.

Fundraising

We explored new fundraising opportunities and brainstormed some ways to diversify the income source of funds.

Grants Program

The board members also reviewed the current PSF grant strategies. We brainstormed ways to make the PSF grants program more efficient and to prioritize where it makes the most impact.

Communication

We talked about continuing to improve communication with our community.

Sustainability

One of the topics that we spent a lot of time talking about was how to help future board members, provide more information about the work of PSF in advance, and how to mentor the next generation of board members.

Continue to support us

The work of the PSF Board and Staff does not stop here. We have another year ahead to keep on supporting Python and the community! If you have any feedback or suggestions to give us, we welcome you to drop by our PSF Board Office Hours or write to us at psf@python.org. We also encourage you to join in our end-of-year fundraiser, and consider becoming a PSF member or making a donation. Check out the 2024 fundraiser landing page to learn about how you can help power Python and the PSF!

Help power Python and join in the PSF year-end fundraiser & membership drive!

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is the charitable organization behind Python, dedicated to advancing, supporting, and protecting the Python programming language and the community that sustains it. That mission and cause are more than just words we believe in. Our tiny but mighty team works hard to deliver the projects and services that allow Python to be the thriving, independent, community-driven language it is today. Some of what the PSF does includes producing PyCon US, hosting the Python Packaging Index (PyPI), awarding grants to Python initiatives worldwide, maintaining critical community infrastructure, and more.

To build the future of Python and sustain the thriving community that its users deserve, we need your help. By backing the PSF, you’re investing in Python’s growth and health, and your contributions directly impact the language's future. Is your community, work, or hobby powered by Python? Join this year’s drive and power Python’s future with us by donating or becoming a Supporting Member today.

There are two ways to join in:

Donate to the PSF! Your donation is a direct way to support and power the future of the Python programming language and community you love. Every dollar makes a difference.

Become a Supporting member! When you sign up as a Supporting Member of the PSF, you become a part of the PSF, are eligible to vote in PSF elections and help us sustain what we do with your annual support. You can sign up as a Supporting Member at the usual annual rate($99 USD), or you can take advantage of our sliding scale option (starting at $25 USD)! We don't want cost to be a barrier to you being a part of the PSF or to your voice helping direct our future. Every PSF member makes the Python community stronger!

Your donations:

• Keep Python thriving 
• Support CPython and PyPI progress 
• Increase security across the Python ecosystem 
• Bring the global Python community together 
• Make our community more diverse and robust every year

Highlights from 2024:

• A record-making PyCon US - We produced the 21st PyCon US, in Pittsburgh, US, and online, and it was a huge success! For the first time post-2020, PyCon US 2024 sold out with over 2,500 in-person attendees.
• Advances in our Grants Program - 2024 has been a year of change and reflection for the Grants Program, starting with the addition of Marie Nordin to the grants administration team who has supported the PSF in launching several new grants initiatives. We set up Grants Program Office Hours, published a Grants Program Transparency Report for 2022 and 2024, invested in a third-party retrospective, launched a major refresh of all areas of our Grants program and updated our Grants Workgroup Charter. With more changes to come, we are thrilled to share that we awarded a record-breaking amount of grant funds in 2024!
• Empowering the Python community through Fiscal Sponsorship - We are proud to continue supporting our 20 fiscal sponsoree organizations with their initiatives and events all year round. The PSF provides 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to fiscal sponsorees such as PyLadies and Pallets, and provides back office support so they can focus on their missions. Consider donating to your favorite PSF Fiscal Sponsoree and check out our Fiscal Sponsorees page to learn more about what each of these awesome organizations is all about!
• Connecting directly through Office Hours - The current PSF Board has decided to invest more in connecting and serving the global Python community by establishing a forum to have regular conversations. The board members of the PSF with the support of PSF staff are now holding monthly PSF Board Office Hours on the PSF Discord. The Office Hours are sessions where folks from the community can share with us how we can help your regional community, express perspectives, and provide feedback for the PSF.
• Paying more engineers to work directly on Python, PyPI, and security - We welcomed Petr Viktorin, Deputy Developer in Residence (DiR), and Serhiy Storchaka, Supporting DiR. It’s been exciting to begin to realize the full vision of the DiR program, with special thanks to Bloomberg for making it possible for us to bring Petr on board. The DiR team is taking an active role in shaping the development of the language, and with three people on the team each DiR can now also spend a percentage of their time on feature work aligned with their interests.
• Continuing to enhance Python’s security through Developers-in-Residence - Seth Larson, PSF Security Developer in Residence (DiR) had a busy year thanks to continued support from Alpha-Omega. Seth worked on a variety of projects including the creation of SBOMs for Source and Windows CPython artifacts, implementing build reproducibility for CPython source artifacts, and auditing and migrating Sigstore, to name just a few. Check out Seth's blog to keep up to date with his work. Mike Fiedler, PyPI Safety & Security Engineer, also worked on a variety of projects such as two-factor authentication for all users on PyPI, an audit of PyPI, made significant progress on malware response and reporting, collaborated on the PSF’s submission for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)’s Request for Information (RFI), and more! Thanks to AWS and Georgetown for making Mike’s PyPI security accomplishments possible. Stay up to date with Mike's work on the PyPI blog.
• New PSF Staff dedicated to critical infrastructure - We established the PyPI Support Specialist role, filled by Maria Ashna. Over the past 23 years, PyPI has seen essentially exponential growth in traffic and users, relying for the most part on volunteers to support it. The load far outstretched volunteers and prior staff capacity, so we are very excited to have Maria on board. We also filled our Infrastructure Engineer role, welcoming Jacob Coffee to the team, to ensure PSF-maintained systems and services are running smoothly.
  

 

Our thanks!

Every dollar you contribute to the PSF helps power Python, makes an impact, and tells us you value Python and the work we do. Python and the PSF are built on the amazing generosity and energy of all our amazing community members out there who step up and give back.

We appreciate you and we’re so excited to see where we can go together in the year to come!