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PSF Grants Program

⚠ The PSF Grants Program has paused processing new incoming grant applications for February 2025 to prepare for upcoming changes to the program. The application form will re-open on March 1st, 2025. Any applications already in the system will be processed normally. See our blog post for more information.

Table of Contents

Overview of the PSF Grants Program

Welcome to the Python Software Foundation (PSF) Grants Program page! This page and the PSF Grants Work Group are here to help support your Python related conferences, workshops, and local Python communities. The grants process is in place to ensure that we have the information we need to evaluate grant requests and maintain our records. We also want to make sure that grant requesters and recipients are set up for success!

If you have any questions about the Program, process, or applying, you have a couple of options to find answers: Read through this page– we’ve tried to cover as much as possible!

We have successfully provided over 3 million USD in grants since we started the program in 2015 all of which have supported tons of fun and exciting work and events to enrich the Python community. We can’t wait to hear about your event, workshop, or regional community—so let’s jump right in!

Guiding Principles

The PSF Grants Program supports hundreds of Python-related conferences, workshops, and communities globally. To facilitate a sustainable grant program, the PSF Board established guiding principles for the program and funding in 2024.

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 do these Guiding Principles mean?

The program and funding principles outlined in our PSF Grants Program Guiding Principles help us do a couple of things:

  • Set a vision for the program.
  • Make decisions on a program level basis, as well as on individual grants.
  • Help guide our analysis of grants data in our yearly Grants Program transparency report, and any goals that come from the report and its analysis.

What to expect

The process for applying for a grant is thorough so we can make decisions as effectively and quickly as possible. Listed below is an overview of what to expect, followed by a more detailed explanation of each step in the “Grant Process” section below.

  1. Submit your application. Please fill out every applicable field in the application form to reduce questions later on. The more information you can give us, the better. You will receive a confirmation email from psf-donations@python.org that your application went through.
  2. A PSF Staff member pre-checks your application and may follow up with questions. This step helps identify any required information that might be missing in your application before presenting it to the Grants Work Group.
  3. Application review by the Grants Working Group or PSF Board. The Grants Work Group is made up of dedicated PSF community members from around the globe. They participate in the Grants Working Group on a volunteer basis and review and approve grant applications regularly. The PSF Board reviews consolidated grant requests. Note: The Grants Work Group is made up of volunteers and the review periods may sometimes reflect that.
  4. [As Needed] Questions about your application may be raised by members of the Grants WorkGroup and will be sent to you by PSF staff or members of the Work Group.
  5. [As Needed] Further review by the Grants Work Group. If there are a lot of questions about your application, the Working Group may need more time to review and discuss—this is why it’s great to include as much information as possible in your original application!
  6. [As Needed] Review by the PSF Board may be necessary in certain cases (e.g. the application is a consolidated grant request or the Grants Working Group cannot agree). Additional questions may result from this review.
  7. Decisions about your Grant application will be relayed. You will receive an email from a PSF Staff member regarding the resolution from the Working Group in regards to your application. If your application has been approved, this email will include additional information about invoicing, reporting, and more. Note: the PSF may approve partial funding for your application.
  8. Funds will be distributed if your application is approved. You will provide an invoice to the PSF accounting team per the instructions in the resolution email. The accounting team will distribute your funds within 7 business days of receiving all your completed invoice and payment instructions.
  9. You will provide a report about the event or workshop that the Grant funded via the grant report form we provide. (The template asks for a short list of information and takes about 10-15 minutes.) This is an important piece of the process because we want to gauge the impact of the grant. It is also required to be eligible for any future grant proposals.

Why do we ask for so much information?

We know that a lot of work goes into pulling together all the required information to apply for a grant, and we're very appreciative of that effort!

The PSF is a nonprofit organization based in the US, which means a couple of things for our Grants Program:

  • We have information requirements as well as limitations on how we can distribute money to follow regulations set by the US federal government. The goal of the requirements in the Grant process is first to make sure we can legally provide funding to your request.
    • For example, there are certain countries where we are unable to send funds (see the Grants FAQ page for more info). These restrictions are evolving and out of our hands, so we can’t list exactly what is allowed or not- because it's always changing (and we can’t update this page every day :)). Based on this, we need to evaluate each request on a case-by-case basis.
  • Additionally, we need to do our best to ensure our grant awards align with the PSF mission, which is a legal requirement for the PSF as a U.S.-based 501c3 organization.

Beyond legal limitations, we have a limited pool of yearly funds to award grants to requesters. This means that we need ample information to ensure that our awards are making a significant impact.

And, last but not least: we want to make sure PSF Staff, the Grants Working Group, and the PSF Board have all the information needed to efficiently review your request and get a decision back to you as quickly as possible!

Grant Process

Application

  1. Timeframe: We require that applications be submitted 8 weeks in advance of your event or workshop start date. If this is your first Grant request, we recommend adding a couple of weeks to the process. These time frames give us enough time to thoroughly review, ask questions, make a decision, and have enough time to send you the funds if your request is approved. Note: Consolidated applications and any requests that do not receive consensus within the Grants Working Group get moved to the PSF Board which may extend the timeframe.
  2. Types of grants the PSF funds: Our current focus is on Python conferences (in-person, virtual, or hybrid), workshops, and consolidated grants (program level requests for multiple events or workshops across a region). We also fund Python-related Meetup site subscriptions. Grants for non-Python events will only be considered where there's a clear Python component to the event, and the grant will only be utilized for the Python component of the event. Categories of the types of grants we currently fund include:
    • Conferences (e.g. PyCon Italia)
    • Event site subscriptions (Meetup.com) (e.g. London Django Meetup)
    • Django Girls Workshops (e.g. Django Girls Busan Workshop)
    • PyLadies Workshops (e.g. All Day PyLadies Workshop)
    • Workshops (without equipment) (e.g. Robo Dojo: Intro to Python)
    • Consolidated requests (e.g. Python Ghana’s yearly request for funding for 50+ workshops and meetups)
  3. Types of grants the PSF does NOT currently fund: Certain categories of spending the PSF does not consider as in line with our mission, and therefore we cannot fund them. Including any of these categories of spending with eligible spending requests will result in partial funding of your request. Such instances are as follows:
    • Personal travel requests
    • Hackathons
    • Swag and prizes
    • Unrelated to Python or the PSF’s charitable mission
    • Other portions of the grant as determined by the GWG
    • Grant categories that we formerly awarded in, but are currently on pause for funding include:
      • Development work
      • Kids Coding Camps
      • Sprints
      • Training Programs
      • Workshops requiring equipment
      • Other
  4. Requirements:
    • All grant applications:
      • Please submit a link to the event or initiatives website. We want to ensure that your event/initiative is established and community members are easily able to find information.
      • Please submit the requested grant amount and a comprehensive budget. As a 501c3 organization based in the US, the PSF has a fiscal responsibility to understand how Grant funds will be used. If the grant is funding several components of an event or workshop, please provide a breakdown of the cost for each part. For example, a regional PyCon may plan to use funds for food & beverage, lodging, and A/V support- we need to see a list of each item with an estimate for each individually.
        • A document with a detailed budget of the event/workshop is helpful to see expected expenses and revenues. We have provided a budget template that is available for community use.
        • Note: Due to budget limitations, the PSF may only be able to provide partial funding for a proposal even if all planned expenses are eligible.
    • Please submit a link to your Code of Conduct, it is a requirement in order to receive grant funding. We also check for a reporting method (e.g. an email alias or form) to ensure the Code of Conduct has an enforcement process. This is a requirement for every grant application, no matter the type.
    • Please share the number of expected attendees or participants We want to understand the ratio of impact to grant dollars spent.
    • Please ensure you submit a grant report via our reporting form if you are a repeat grant applicant and received PSF grant funding in the past. We want to understand how the grant funding was used and what impact it made. If you have yet to receive any grant funding from the PSF, you do not need to submit any reports.
    • If your request is for a conference, we require a link to the schedule(s) (should include speaker info), registration page, and information about your sponsors or potential sponsors. We recommend waiting to submit your request until all or most of these components are in place. For example, it’s okay to submit a partial schedule if you have a conference website with ample information about the event, a registration page, and other sponsors. If your schedule is not yet finalized, we also accept schedules from previous editions of your event for your review.
    • If your request is for a workshop, we would like to know more about the mentors and educational content. We prefer a high mentor-to-participant ratio of at least 1:10 (one mentor per ten participants). We require a curriculum with learning outcomes for participants as well. An outline is not sufficient, we would like to see code repositories, worksheets, presentation slides, etc.
  5. Sponsorships: the PSF wants to understand your prospects as far as additional sponsorships. Please include as much information as possible on any other sources of financial support you are pursuing (even if they haven’t committed yet; let us know who you’ve reached out to!). The PSF is happy to help first-time events get on their feet. The lack of additional sponsorship sources won’t hurt your application or reduce the grant amount, though we hope to see efforts to gain additional funding, especially in the cases of long-standing events. Due to the many initiatives and programs the PSF supports, being the sole source of funding for events is not sustainable for our foundation, or the community.
  6. Trademarks and Logos: Please read our Trademark Policy and Trademark FAQs. These cover the permitted uses of the Python logos or any similar logos, the use of the words "Python" or "PyCon", and how you should proceed. If you have questions about your intended use of the trademarks or want to ask for approval for using a "PyCon" conference name or a logo derivative, please contact the PSF Trademarks Committee by email. All conferences, projects, or user groups that create new logos or names using "PyCon" are required to obtain approval from the Trademarks Committee (psf-trademarks@python.org).

How to Submit

Please submit grant proposals via our online form at least 8 weeks before the start of the event or initiative so the Grants Work Group has enough time to review your request. If this is your first grant request, we recommend submitting your application a couple of weeks earlier in case more questions come up.

>>>SUBMIT A PSF GRANT APPLICATION<<<

To access the form, you need to create a free account on the psfmember.org website.

Resolution

  1. PSF Staff will Provide Notice: You will receive an email from a PSF Staff member with the resolution (approved or denied) made by the Grants Working Group or PSF Board.
  2. Approved Grants: If your proposal is approved, you will receive instructions about invoicing and payments. Invoices will only be accepted from the grant submitter or a person designated by the grant submitter. You will also receive information about trademarks and reporting.

After a Grant is Awarded

  1. Reporting: Any event, workshop, or community that receives funding from the PSF is required to submit a report. The PSF would like to see how the grant was used, so we ask to receive a report on the event, workshop, or program that was funded. The report asks for a short list of pieces of information and should take around 10-15 minutes. These reports are useful for us to gauge the impact we are having and how the event went. For subsequent events, we require past reports for both the event and the applicant to consider further requests. A report template is provided for approved grants. If your event, workshop, or community has a blog, social media post, or pictures that relate to the grant, we'd love to see those links, too!
  2. Frequency: The PSF will generally only fund up to two events per city and/or organizer within a given year. For example, if Python Workshop Mars were to request funding for a third workshop in one year, we would decline it unless they show ample evidence in their grant request that a third workshop is necessary. Additionally, if event organizer Jesse asks the PSF for a third grant request in one year, we will decline unless they show evidence in their grant request that a third workshop is needed.

Resources

The PSF has created a library of free resources for our community. We recommend reviewing these resources before you submit your grant request– they may be of use to your event!

Grant Proposal Tips

  • We recommend reading through our FAQ for additional information before you submit your application.
  • Proposals should be for specific events or initiatives with a clear objective, rather than support for ongoing activities.
  • Your grant proposal objective should be focused on the impact the grant will have on the Python community.
  • For information on disbursements of payments, see our Payment Options page.

Office Hours

The PSF Grants Program Office Hours is a text-only chat based office hour hosted on the Python Software Foundation Discord at 1-2PM UTC (9AM Eastern) on the third Tuesday of the month. (Check what time that is for you.) The server is moderated by PSF Staff and is locked in between office hour sessions. If you’re new to Discord, check out some Discord Basics to help you get started.

Questions?

If you have questions about your submission please review our Grants FAQ page. If you have more questions please reach out to grants@python.org or join the monthly PSF Grants Program Office Hour session to ask the program administrators directly.

Example Conference Grant Proposal

Grant Title: PyCon 2020

Date: April 15, 2020

Event’s website: https://us.pycon.org/2020/

Grant amount & budget: $2000 total ($1500 for virtual platform support, $500 for accessibility support). To thank you for your sponsorship, we will place the PSF logo on our site and offer you 3 free tickets to PyCon to distribute as you see fit. We have attached an overview of the conference budget, which includes a breakdown of conference tickets and sponsorship revenue, as well as all of our expected expenses.

Grant objective: PyCon will be taking place this April, and sponsorship from the Python Software Foundation would be much appreciated. In an effort to keep our ticket prices affordable and accessible to many, we've secured corporate sponsorship to cover equipment costs and speaker support, and are hoping that the PSF will be able to help us pay for our virtual platform and some accessibility such as captioning.

Grant beneficiaries: We are expecting 300 attendees this year. We will also be recording the talks, and will make them available online a few days after the event.

Regional Support: The proceeds from the PyCon conference help run our local User Group throughout the year and also help us kick off planning for next year's PyCon conference.

Link to Conference Schedule(s): https://us.pycon.org/2020/online/, https://us.pycon.org/2020/events/edusummit/, https://us.pycon.org/2020/hatchery/mentoredsprints/, https://us.pycon.org/2020/hatchery/trainers/, https://us.pycon.org/2020/hatchery/beginnersdata/

Link to Registration Page: https://us.pycon.org/2020/online/

Link to Conference Prospectus: https://us.pycon.org/2020/sponsors/prospectus/

Code of Conduct: https://us.pycon.org/2020/about/code-of-conduct/

Percentage of Python: 100%

Follow-up Activities: We will post a summary of PyCon on our blog and mention that the PSF sponsored the event. The conference will be posting all recordings to our YouTube channel so they will be made available to everyone. We will also submit the required post-event follow up form.

Recent Grants

You can find historical grant approvals on the Python Software Foundation Resolutions page.