The PSF Board, with the support of PSF Staff, has outlined a set of Guiding Principles for the PSF Grants Program, as mentioned in Part 1 of this series of blog posts on updates to the program. The Board has a duty to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers. The Board is comprised of Python-related founders, developers, organizers, and contributors of all stripes, from all over the globe. Not only does the PSF Board have a duty to uphold the mission of the PSF, but any updates made to the PSF Grants Program (or any PSF program) are founded on their diverse, real-life experiences.
As the Grants Program has continued to grow in popularity and we went past the ceiling of its budget, it became clear that it needed strategic guidance. The PSF Board discussed the program and its priorities at their recent retreat. The notes from that discussion were passed to PSF Staff, who translated the priorities into Guiding Principles for the Grants Program. From there, the PSF Board and PSF Staff collaborated on refining the principles, which the Board approved with a vote. The outcome of these exercises that now reside in the Grants Work Group Charter is copied directly below.
Guiding Principles
The PSF Grants Program supports hundreds of Python-related projects, events, and initiatives globally. To facilitate a sustainable grant program, the PSF Board established guiding principles for the program and funding.
Program Guiding Principles
The guiding principles of the PSF Grants Program are:
- Impactful
- Reliable
- Equitable
- Transparent
- Sustainable
Funding Guiding Principles
The guiding principles behind the PSF Grants Program funding are:
- Strive for geographic equity
- Prioritize underserved communities
- Prioritize high returns on investment in terms of community impact
- Invest in both new and existing communities
- Evaluate and fund in our areas of expertise
- Ensure Python and Pythonistas are supported
So, what does this all mean?
These Guiding Principles give the program a well-defined direction and a grounding in where we can commit to being accountable, in a plainly stated manner. This does a couple of things:
- Inform updates to the Grants Work Group Charter
- Serves as a point of reference for the Grants Work Group and PSF Board to consistently make decisions regarding grant requests and the program overall
- Helps the Grants Work Group Chair (currently Marie Nordin, PSF Staff), steward the program and guide the Work Group
- Provides transparency to applicants about why their request may or may not be funded
- Directly answers the community's call for transparency about how decisions are made
- Informs the PSF and its Staff about future improvements to the program
We hope that establishing these Guiding Principles will bring a better understanding to the community about the PSF Grants Program. We welcome you to join either the PSF Board or PSF Grants Program Office Hours on the PSF Discord to discuss these updates, ask questions, and point out where we can continue to improve. Additionally, we have kicked off a thread on Discuss.python.org for those who prefer asynchronous discussion. You are also 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.
