The PSF Board and Staff have recently undertaken a review and update of our Grants Program to ensure its sustainability and alignment with the evolving needs of the global Python community. To share the outcome of our review, we are publishing a three-part series that outlines:
- Context and our process (Part 1)
- The program’s newly established Guiding Principles (Part 2)
- Upcoming changes to the Grants Work Group Charter & Program (Part 3)
Context and our process (Part 1)
At their recent retreat, the PSF Board outlined updated priorities for the Grants Program, which PSF Staff translated into guiding principles. Staff conducted extensive scenario analysis using grant data, and after careful consideration, the PSF Board unanimously approved changes to the Grants Work Group Charter on December 11, 2024.
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)
Learn more about the context and our process in Part 1 of the blog series.
The program's newly established Guiding Principles (Part 2)
The PSF Board, with support from PSF Staff, developed a set of Guiding Principles to provide clear direction for our Grants Program. The principles for the program are:
- Impactful
- Reliable
- Equitable
- Transparent
- Sustainable
The process involved discussions at the Board retreat, refinement by Staff, and final approval by the Board. These principles informed the recent updates to the Grants Work Group Charter.
Learn more about the Guiding Principles for the Grants Program in Part 2 of the blog series.
Upcoming changes to the Grants Work Group Charter & Program (Part 3)
The PSF Board has approved updates to the Grants Work Group Charter, effective March 1, 2025, to ensure the program's sustainability. To implement the changes across our documentation, application form,
and grant report form, we will be pausing incoming Grants requests for
the entire month of February 2025. While there are a handful of changes, we want to highlight two updates that will be most impactful.
To align with the guiding principles, the PSF is pausing funding for certain grant types. Paused categories include:
- Development work
- Kids Coding Camps
- Sprints
- Training Programs
- Workshops requiring equipment
- Other
To maintain financial sustainability, caps will apply to grant types:
- Conferences: $8,000 USD
- Workshops without equipment: $1,500 USD
- PyLadies/DjangoGirls Workshops: $1,500 USD
- Consolidated requests will be capped accordingly, with a maximum of $15,000 USD per year for any organization or event organizer.
Learn more about all of the updates to the Grants Program & Workgroup Charter in Part 3 of this series.
Supporting the community
We recognize the challenges these changes may pose and we’re committed to supporting the community through:
- Aggregating a library of event organizing materials and resources
- Additional Grants Program Office Hours will be held in January and February 2025, alongside regular sessions, to discuss changes and community feedback.
- Monitoring the impact of these updates through quarterly reviews and community feedback.
We have kicked off a thread on Discuss.python.org for those who prefer
asynchronous discussion. Additionally, we welcome you to join the PSF Board Office Hours on the PSF Discord in the upcoming months to discuss these changes. 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.
