The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is excited to announce a 2026 PSF Grants Program funding round. This is not a full reopening of the Grants Program as it existed before. Rather, it's what the PSF is able to sustainably offer right now, given where we stand financially and operationally. The PSF Board, PSF Staff, and PSF Grants Work Group (GWG) are deeply passionate about the program and understand how important it is to the Python community. It’s our honor to have the opportunity to disburse grant funding in 2026.
In keeping with our focus on sustainability, this round of grant funding has a set budget capped at $90,000 USD, a limited scope, and a different structure and timeline for applying and reviewing. We will be accepting applications from August 4 - 25 AoE, for Conferences and Workshops that are scheduled between December 1, 2026, and April 30, 2027. Our top priority is getting available funds to the regional communities who need it most: those who have had to pause their events and initiatives because of lack of funding from PSF Grants or loss of sponsors.
Context
As folks following along with the PSF may remember, the last couple of years have been financially challenging, with the PSF’s assets and yearly revenue declining and costs increasing across the board. At the same time, the demand for our work has continued to multiply. Making the decision to pause the Grants Program last year was difficult, but a necessary step to protect both the future of the program and the short- and long-term sustainability of the PSF.
The PSF acknowledges the pause created challenging situations for the many community groups that had planned to apply for the grants program. We also recognize and appreciate the community's support—both in response to the announcement of the pause and through the outstanding results of the 2025 end-of-year fundraiser.
The Python community showed up with understanding and solidarity when the pause happened and helped us come up with ideas on how the PSF could serve the community in non-financial ways. Those ideas were the seeds that grew into the PSF Community Partner Program, a non-monetary partnership offered to qualifying applicants. This program assists Community Partners by attaching the PSF name to the event or initiative, which lends credibility, helps attract sponsors, and provides promotional support through reposts on PSF social media accounts.
Funding Round Eligibility, Caps, and Criteria
Eligibility Timeframe
The 2026 Grants Program Funding Round will be narrowly scoped to Conferences and Workshops of all types that are scheduled between December 1, 2026, and April 30, 2027. If all goes well, the PSF intends to run future rounds of funding, so please do not be discouraged if your event doesn’t fit within this time frame. This time frame reflects the PSF's current finances, our staff capacity, and our goal of getting funds to recipients while they're useful.
Categories of grants that will be considered (includes virtual):
- Conferences. One or more days of conference programming, with at least 60% Python content.
- Workshops (Python-related, PyLadies, and DjangoGirls). One or more days of workshop programming, with at least 6 hours per day of instruction.
The PSF also wants to acknowledge that this timeframe may exclude some events and initiatives that also missed out on funding in 2025. Please know exclusion is not our intent. If we are able to offer later rounds, we plan to prioritize events and initiatives that missed out on funding in 2025 and 2026 due to the timing windows. Getting the program back up and running is a lot of work for our small team, and we have experienced significant staffing changes in the last year. These changes have made it harder to keep pace with our regular activities, let alone get the Grants Program up and running again. What felt the most important was getting at least some funds out, even if we couldn’t kick the program off right at the same time of year it was paused last year.
Adjustments to Grant Category Caps
The 2026 Grants Program Funding Round will adjust the cap for Conference type grants down to $2,000 USD and maintain the Workshop type grant cap at $1,500 USD. This change reflects a focus on supporting hyper-local communities that had to halt their activities due to the PSF Grants Program pause.
The PSF has observed, through social media, Grants Program Office Hours, and informal conversations, that many large and long-standing international PyCons are still taking place without PSF Grants, while workshops and smaller regional initiatives have completely paused or slowed down significantly. Based on these observations, the PSF estimates that $1,500 will make an impact for those workshops and $2000 could help fill in some gaps in PyCon budgets. Our hope is to empower as many groups as possible with this round of funding.
Please note that the caps are the maximum amount applicants can request. If you don’t need that amount, please ask for less. The guidelines the Grants Work Group observes are generally as follows:
- Conferences: Up to $15 USD per attendee per day.
- Workshops: Up to $25 USD per student per day.
Notes on Scope, Criteria, and Communication
The PSF wants to highlight that consolidated grant types will not be considered during the 2026 Grants Funding Round. While this was a great addition for when the Grants Program was running on a rolling basis, for this limited funding round, the PSF Grants Work Group needs to look at applications on a singular level. We ask that communities that previously submitted consolidated grants submit individual applications for up to 5 conferences or workshops that are scheduled to take place during the eligibility timeframe.
All previous criteria and guidelines for the PSF Grants Program will be applied to this funding round. This post won’t go over every single piece of information required on the application, but we want to highlight a couple of things:
- If the applicant has received a grant in the past for a different event, or the event itself has received a grant, a report must be submitted via our grant reporting form. This is a hard requirement due to our status as a charity based in the US, as our grant awards must be auditable to the best of our ability. We do our best to make this as small a burden on grant recipients as possible.
- The applying event or initiative must have a Code of Conduct and reporting mechanism prominently displayed on your event’s website. Part of the PSF’s mission is to support and facilitate a diverse and international community of Python programmers, which means that it is essential for our grant recipients to have an enforceable Code of Conduct. If your event or workshop does not have a Code of Conduct or reporting mechanism, check out our event Code of Conduct best practices documentation.
- We are unable to provide grant funding for:
- Personal travel requests
- Hackathons
- T-shirts, swag, giveaways, and prizes
- Events and initiatives unrelated to Python or the PSF’s charitable mission
Grants Funding Round Schedule
Listed in the table below is the anticipated schedule for the 2026 PSF Grants Program Funding Round. The timeline is tight (applications open next week!), but our team hopes that three weeks to get applications in is reasonable and accommodates events and initiatives that fall in the eligibility timeframe.
| Date | Phase | Description |
|---|---|---|
| August 4 - 25 AoE | Application | Applications open; PSF Staff performs initial reviews as applications are received; any missing information is collected |
| August 25 - September 11 | Review | Grants Work Group review; clarifying information collected as needed; Grants Work Group votes |
| September 14 | Decision | Decisions communicated to all applicants |
| September 14 and onwards | Disbursement | Funds disbursed |
After things kick off, the PSF may need to adjust dates by a couple days here and there. This program is dependent on just a couple of staff (Hi, Marie and Laura!) and our wonderful Grants Work Group (Thank you, team!) that is composed of volunteers. If dates need to be adjusted, we will be sure to communicate that in multiple places (Emails direct to applicants, Discuss, PSF Discord, and PSF social media accounts: LinkedIn, Mastodon, Bluesky, X).
The PSF asks that applicants closely monitor their emails from the point they submit their application to the end of the review phase. We would be disappointed to see events and initiatives miss out on grant funding due to gaps in their application. The more responsive applicants can be, the better!
How to Apply
Submit your applications via the PSF Grants Program application form. Before August 4 and after August 25, the form is still available but only taking applications for the PSF’s Meetup Pro Network.
Questions or feedback?
Phew—that was a lot of information! The PSF expects questions about the 2026 Grants Program Funding Round. In fact, there may be things we’ve overlooked, and we would appreciate you sharing anything you think we’re missing. Your feedback will help us improve during the process and for future rounds. There are multiple ways for you to reach out to us with your questions, feedback, and comments:
- Discuss forum thread
- Email grants@python.org
- PSF Grants Office Hour sessions (more info below)
Due to the accelerated nature of this grants funding round, we are holding supplemental PSF Grants Program Office Hours on the PSF Discord:
- August 4 at 1 PM UTC
- August 13 at 8 PM UTC
- August 18 at 1 PM UTC (this is our regular day/time!)
Check out what times these are for you using this timezone converter. We welcome you to join us to ask your questions, discuss the process, suggest ideas for future rounds, or anything else related to the PSF Grants Program.
Final Thoughts and Thanks
This is a big change for the PSF Grants Program. It’s moved from a rolling basis, to a pause, and now to a limited window to receive, review, and make decisions about applications. Will the process be perfectly smooth? Probably not. But we are committed to doing it as efficiently as possible, keeping the community and applicants informed of any changes, and when possible, integrating feedback we receive throughout the process.
The PSF also wants to thank you, the Python community, for your understanding and generous backing, in actions, words, and donations. We could not fulfill our mission without the community’s support and without each individual out there championing the PSF’s work. The PSF is so very grateful to be in community with each and every one of you.
About the Python Software Foundation
The Python Software Foundation is a US non-profit whose mission is 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 PSF supports the Python community using corporate sponsorships, grants, and donations. Are you interested in sponsoring or donating to the PSF so we can continue supporting Python and its community? Check out our sponsorship program, donate directly, or contact our team at sponsors@python.org
