The PSF Board and Staff have continued to work over the past couple of months to improve and steward the PSF Grants Program to fit the changing needs of the Python community. As we mentioned in our November 2024 updates (part 1, part 2), our Grants Program is more popular than ever as grant requests arrive in record numbers. The PSF is thrilled that the program positively impacts so many Pythonistas across the globe (approximately 30,000 in 2024 so far!). That’s what our work at the PSF is all about.
Unfortunately, this puts us in one of those “great problems to have” situations. In 2022, the Grants Program awarded $215K USD and increased to about $400K USD in 2023. In 2024, we estimate grants spending to be around $600K USD. While we were delighted to provide that level of support to the Python community in 2024 and that our community is so active, the PSF has to return grants funding to a more sustainable level that fits with all of the other Foundation programs. The PSF maintains critical community infrastructure, hosts PyPI, produces PyCon US, administers the fiscal sponsoree program, manages several Developers-in-Residence, and much more. Balancing the Grants Program with everything else the Foundation does is critical to both the sustainability of the PSF and the community.
Updates process
Grants funding requests increased dramatically in 2024, which led the PSF to take a step back and re-evaluate the grants program’s goals and priorities. With this in mind, the PSF Board took time at their recent retreat to outline priorities for the PSF Grants Program. PSF Staff translated the outcome of that discussion into guiding principles for the program, which you can read more about in Part 2 of this series of posts.
The guiding principles for the program informed the most recent updates to the Grants Work Group Charter, which we go into further in Part 3 of this update. PSF Staff devoted many hours running different scenarios based on grant data to understand what impact different changes will have on our community and on our financial sustainability. The PSF Board worked with Staff over the past couple of months weighing the pros and cons of each change, taking extra meetings, reviewing documents, figures, and more. PSF Staff translated the outcome of all this work into proposed changes to the Grants Work Group Charter.
The PSF Board approved updates to the Grants Work Group Charter during the December 11, 2024, PSF Board meeting. Our newly established Grants Program guiding principles commit to transparency and communication. Along those lines, the changes to the Grants Program will take effect on March 1, 2025. To implement the corresponding updates across our documentation, application form, and grant report form, we will be pausing incoming Grants requests for the entire month of February 2025. Any applications already in the system will be processed normally. Make sure to read Part 3 in this series to understand if the changes impact any events or initiatives you organize.
After February, we will regularly monitor how Program changes impact spending, the program overall, and the community, including formal quarterly reviews.
We’re in this together
We understand that changes to the PSF Grants Program will have an impact on the Python community, and we do not make these or any workgroup charter updates lightly. We are also experiencing the tech budget crunch alongside you– and we are working to ensure sustainability across all of our work. For example, we are making significant adjustments to how we are producing PyCon US to help cut costs. We are a relatively small Foundation and rely on our members, donors, and sponsors (opportunities can be found in our sponsorship application form!)
Ultimately, the updates are meant to continue to provide support to the area where we see the most impact: conferences and workshops. Bringing all levels of Python folks together to connect, learn, and grow together. Providing Pythonistas the opportunity to have those life-changing experiences and strengthen lifelong friendships at PyCons all over the world. Sparking the love for tech, programming, and Python at workshops where folks code their first website, or meet the mentor that changes the trajectory of their life. The changes are also meant to provide support to new or smaller events- those that need financial support more than mature conferences that can attract sponsorships.
Support for the community
To support the Python community and help work to fill gaps, the PSF Board & Staff intend to aggregate a library of event resources to support our grant applicants and community. Fundraising, negotiating, and organizing are learned skills we can all continue developing together.
To help the community understand the changes and ensure we keep our two-way communication strong, we are going to hold two supplementary PSF Grants Program Office Hours on the PSF Discord. The office hours will be at varying times through January and February on top of our regularly scheduled office hours:
- January 7th, 4PM Eastern, 9PM UTC (supplementary)
- January 21st, 9AM Eastern, 1PM UTC (regular)
- February 4th, 4PM Eastern, 9PM UTC (supplementary)
- February 18th, 9AM Eastern, 1PM UTC (regular)
Additionally, we have kicked off a thread on Discuss.python.org for those who prefer asynchronous discussion. Last but not least, you are welcome to email psf@python.org to contact the PSF Board, or grants@pyfound.org to reach the Staff who administer the PSF Grants program.
