PSF Meeting Minutes for Aug. 26, 2016
A regular meeting of the Python Software Foundation ("PSF") Board of Directors was held over Group Conference Call via phone and Internet Relay Chat beginning on Friday, August 26, 2016 at 1:00:00. Betsy Waliszewski took notes/minutes.
All votes are reported in the form "Y-N-A" (in favor-Y‚opposed-N‚abstentions-A; e.g. "5-1-2" means "5 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstentions").
Contents
- 1 Attendance
- 2 Minutes of Past Meetings
- 3 Meetup Expenses Approved
- 4 Board and Staff Monthly Reports
- 5 Work Group Reports
- 6 Votes Approved by Working Groups
- 7 Approvals / Votes by Email
- 8 New Business
- 8.1 PyCon CZ
- 8.2 PyCon Jamaica
- 8.3 University of Liverpool Veterinary Clinical Text-mining Bootcamps
- 8.4 PyDayPiura
- 8.5 Channabasaveshwara Institute of Technology Workshop
- 8.6 Lumbini Engineering College, Nepal Workshop
- 8.7 PyDX
- 8.8 Django Girls Yenagoa
- 8.9 Python San Sebastian
- 8.10 Grants Working Group Member Additions
- 9 Other Business / Discussions
- 10 Meeting Adjournment
1 Attendance
The following members of the Board of Directors (9 of 11) were present at the meeting: Naomi Ceder, Lorena Mesa, Annapoornima Koppad, Trey Hunner, Kushal Das, Van Lindberg, Carol Willing and Diana Clarke were represented by proxy, and Jacqueline Kazil. 7 directors were present and 2 directors sent in proxy votes
Kurt Kaiser (Treasurer), Betsy Waliszewski (Event Planner and Administrator), Mark Mangoba (IT Manager), and were also in attendance.
2 Minutes of Past Meetings
The 08 August 2016 Board meeting minutes were voted on and approved.
RESOLVED, that the PSF approve the minutes at https://mail.python.org/mailman/private/psf-board/2016-August/039111.html as representing a true and accurate record of the August 8, 2016 meeting.
Approved 7-0-1
3 Meetup Expenses Approved
Below is a list of Meetup expenses the PSF has approved since the August 8th board meeting:
None since the previous meeting.
4 Board and Staff Monthly Reports
Note: Reports are received once a month.
4.1 Ewa Jodłowska
Guided Betsy on PyCon 2017 Sponsor Prospectus improvements and edits. Created a timeline for a new PyCon US designer and working on getting two new proposals together just for website design. Because of timing we have had several people turn us down due to lack of time. Brandon and Ewa have decided to do development work via volunteers and possibly interns. Created a logical flow for an online grant form for Mark to use when creating the form. Worked on code of conduct incidents and worked with IRC ops and GCs. Continuing to work on policy for the CoC committee so the board may vote on it soon. Worked on getting the process started for the Packaging-wg MOSS grant application & added a new member to the Packaging-wg. Worked with Ralf on email issue. Prepped for attending PyCon APAC by turning my PyGotham slides into slides that I can use at the booth and attended PyCon APAC 2016. My report on the conference is here: https://wiki.python.org/psf/Community%20Conference%20Reports#PyCon_APAC_2016. Worked on getting text ready for membership regarding fellowship nomination process. Have started working on volunteer onboarding. Started researching HR consultants and came across mentoring programs. Collecting, responding to, and reviewing resumes for Treasurer/Accountant. Reviewing applications for blogger. Working with Lorena to create a policy for bloggers for us to use when we have a larger team of bloggers. Connected with NumFOCUS to discuss how they handle project fiscal sponsorships so we can consider the process. Working with Scientific WG to determine NF involvement going forward and helping the WG re-scope their charter. Continuing to meet with staff on a regular basis to discuss ongoing projects.
4.2 Kurt Kaiser
Continued the diverse, but routine, activities needed to process all the incoming and outgoing financial transactions (checks, wires, PayPal, ACH, charges) for the PSF and PyCon, working with payees to get their wire or credit card details as needed. Paid bills and grants. Made deposits. Created Quickbooks Online (QBO) transactions for all of these. Updated the grants, PyCon Tutorial/FA, PyCon Sponsor, and PSF Sponsor status spreadsheets to reflect activity. Reconciled and reviewed the seven PSF bank/credit accounts. Reviewed the donations and allocated them to our eleven fiscal sponsorees. Transferred donated funds to the Boston Python PEX card. Reimbursed fiscal sponsoree expense and meetup.com expense. Reviewed open invoices and designated those needing statements sent. Processed the biweekly payroll and matched those transactions in QBO. General review of financial status. Attended Board meeting and staff meeting. Current: Did further research on Colvin Model C Fiscal Sponsorship, and sent additional clarification to the Board. Reviewed Assistant Treasurer applications in preparation for meeting with the Operations Manager. Met with the IT Manager to further discuss CRM planning and psfmember.org. Staged, tested, and released to production a kernel upgrade on psfmember.org Worked a couple of psfmember.org availability issues. Filed a 990 extension. Worked an issue involving correct EFTPS allocation to Form 1042. Spent a considerable amount of time trying to send payment for the PyDay Masvingo grant; verified persons involved are not in the OFAC database. Made some suggestions on Python 3 Day donations.
4.3 Mark Mangoba
For the month of August I was focused on dissecting the data from the current psfmember.org and preparing the data for a test upgrade from CiviCRM 3.3.6 to the newest version of CiviCRM 4.7.10. This required setting up multiple test servers, data exports and imports into the new CiviCRM staging environment. With guidance and historical knowledge from our treasure Kurt Kaiser, I was able to connect the dots of various CRM connection points and hopeful to improve the database architecture in the upgrade process. In the next upcoming weeks, the staff will be sandboxing in the new CiviCRM 4.7.10 environment. Under the direction of the Ewa - Her, Kurt Kaiser and I will be attending CiviCRM user summit September 21-23. We will be meeting up on September 20th in person to discuss what we want to get out of the training and conference. On September 21-22, the three of us will be attending a 2 day tutorial for CiviCRMs admins. Our general goal is to gain more knowledge, learn best practices, network and become more confident in the CRM. We are planning to possibly merge the current membership database on python.org to CiviCRM so we can capture all our constituents. We hope to meet some possible contractors at the CiviCRM Summit that we may be able to hire to help with the membership migration. As the PSF grows, the CRM will be the primary database to track our growth, operations and our members. There has also been a lot of traction on the new grant tracking from, thanks to Betsy and Ewa for feedback, I was able to program logic based on the grant type and ask specific questions to the grant requestor to make sure we capture all the information we need. I hope to solidify the form by the end of the week for the board to review. The grant tracking form will help workflow, eliminate multiple e-mails and in a database which we can import into the CRM. I continue to work with our volunteers and staff on python.org.
4.4 Betsy Waliszewski
Updated RFP for PyCon 2020-2021. Looking at east coast venues. Working on city comparison. Sent out RFP's to 8 cities. Completed review of Cleveland Convention Center contract for 2018-2019. Negotiated delayed payment of $35K charge that is covered by hotel rebates. Updated copy for PSF Sponsor membership page to conform to our new guidelines (Sponsor WG approval). Approved final version of the prospectus which will be added to the sponsorship page pending board approval. On track to send out to potential sponsors by the end of August. PyCon 2017: Updated reg form. Finalizing venues for dinners - waiting for Brandon’s feedback. Completed update to PyCon Sponsor Prospectus - sent to Brandon for review. Reworked design expo hall floor plan. New plan approved. Confirmed addition of extra room at DoubleTree for childcare. Negotiated providing our own light snacks as long as we cater lunch through DoubleTree = significant $ savings on F&B. Welcomed Karan Goel to FinAid committee and setting up call for knowledge transfer from Ashwini and lvh. Picked up remaining boxes of python toys for PyBay and closed storage unit. Attended PyBay Conference and helped with sponsor expo area. Report sent to board.
4.5 Lorena Mesa
Drafted and posted PSF blogger job posting on PSF blog. Working with Ewa and the PSF blog mailing list to review applications for new PSF blogger(s). Researched, interviewed, and wrote the PSF CSA announcement for 2016 2nd Quarter recipient Stephane Wirtel for the PSF blog. Continued outreach to prospective bloggers for the PSF blog, notably concentrating on diverse voices not yet represented by current PSF bloggers. Taught an online PyLadies Intro to Python 3 remote class as a part of the #100DaysOfCommits project, an OSS initiative led by PyLadies Chicago co-organizer Jess Unrein. Part of the effort is to create an online discourse around OSS and I am working on promoting Python and Python OSS projects. Continued to research content and possible thought leaders for inclusion in the PSF Organizers Manual. Trey, Naomi, and I met earlier this month to outline an approach for the manual. Other BoD members Jackie and Annapoornima will be participating in our next meeting at the end of the month. Working with Lynn Root of PyLadies to support PyLadies OSS repository as a contributor and assist in other administrative functions, including validating new PyLadies chapter requests. Also working with DjangoGirls Santo Domingo organizers to offer remote assistance as a mentor.
4.6 Annapoornima Koppad
Conducted an introductory Python programming workshop at Impact College of Engineering, Kodigehalli, Bangalore for 7th semester engineering students. One monthly BoD August meeting.
4.8 Diana Clarke
Offline - Vacation
4.9 Carol Willing
I attended Jupyter Day Atlanta and spoke on a panel about Sustainability of Innovation in Open Source. I attended the first PyBay conference in San Francisco. Both events were well organized, welcoming, and reflected the strengths of the Python community. Thank you to all the volunteers, speakers, organizers, and attendees.
4.11 Jackie Kazil
Revamped Grants-wg. Assessed membership for continuing commitment. Created & voted on rule that grants working group can pass votes with less than (or more than) 10 people, but require a minimum of 6 votes. Proposed 3 people to be added to the PSF-Grants group as voting members, which will bring us to 11 people. Organized: PyLadies DC -- kicked off with new organizers on-boarded; PyLadies General -- mentored two women to enter and make open source contributions; Women Data Science DC -- 1 year anniversary; 1100 members; PyData DC -- closed talk submissions; signed another sponsor; opened diversity scholarships; Women in Tech Demo Day -- http://www.womenintechdemoday.com/ ... helped organize. Proceeds go to Black Girls Code.
4.12 Kushal Das
Doing a few Python3 workshops in the local engineering colleges, this is also part of month long celebration we do in India before PyCon India. Started the discussion about representing PSF in PyCon India, also helping out PyLadies group for the same. Helped in the August PyLadies Pune meetup. Going to deliver a talk about Python, FOSS, and PSF to Ericsson Pune office on 26th August, this is part of introducing PyLadies to the local IT companies. Attended regular PSF board meetings. Talking to the different grants applications from India to understand their requirement.
4.13 Naomi Ceder
Participated in discussions of PSF fellow selection, travel policy, possible new members for the Grants WG. Also involved with sub group working on organizer's handbook. Continued liaison work with London Python Meetup on potentials projects, and with Python Nigeria in regards to vetting funding requests from Nigeria. Chair of second August board meeting, standing in for Diana.
4.14 Trey Hunner
I met with Lorena and Naomi to discuss the creation of an Organizers Manual to assist organizers of regional Python conferences. I also joined the marketing working group and initiated a process to identify the needs of individuals within the community. My ultimate goal is to produce PSF materials/guides that help community members address specific problems they experience.
5 Work Group Reports
Note: Reports are received once a month.
5.3 Marketing
Working on a document that is meant as a brainstorm for particular audiences that the PSF could specifically target with clear messaging. The goal is to identify target profiles who can be informed of value-adds for engagement with the PSF in particular ways. Goals of this information: Increase our PSF membership; Increase awareness and understanding of PSF support mechanisms (including grants); Generally shine a light on helpful resources for Python community members (both PSF-related and non-PSF-related resources).
5.4 Sponsorship Bundle
Nothing to report at this time.
5.6 Grants
Revamped Grants-wg. Assessed membership for continuing commitment. Created & voted on rule that grants working group can pass votes with less than (or more than) 10 people, but require a minimum of 6 votes. Proposed 3 people to be added to the PSF-Grants group as voting members, which will bring us to 11 people.
5.7 Packaging
In early August, we added a new member to the working group. In mid-August we gained traction with the MOSS Grant process by gaining a suggested mentor for our grant application. The group is currently going through the drafted application before we send it to the mentor for review.
5.8 PSF Sponsor
Updated copy for PSF Sponsor membership page to conform to our new guidelines (Sponsor WG approval). Approved final version of the new sponsor prospectus which will be added to the sponsorship page pending board approval. On track to send out to potential sponsors by the end of August.
6 Votes Approved by Working Groups
None since the previous meeting.
7 Approvals / Votes by Email
None since the previous meeting.
8 New Business
8.1 PyCon CZ
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation sponsor PyCon CZ 2016 in the amount of 3000 EURO (~$3400 USD) that is happening October 28-31, 2016.
Approved 7-0-1
8.2 PyCon Jamaica
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $2000 USD for PyCon Jamaica that is happening November 17-18, 2016.
Approved 8-0-1
8.3 University of Liverpool Veterinary Clinical Text-mining Bootcamps
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant £550 (~725 USD) to the University of Liverpool for 2 Veterinary Clinical Text-mining Bootcamps to be held in September 2016 and January 2017.
Approved 9-0-0
8.4 PyDayPiura
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $600 for PyDayPiura that is happening August 20, 2016.
Approved 9-0-0
8.5 Channabasaveshwara Institute of Technology Workshop
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $805 USD as partial financial assistance for ‘Five days Workshop on Python Programming for Beginners’ at Channabasaveshwara Institute of Technology in India. The event is happening November 2-6, 2016.
Approved 9-0-0
8.6 Lumbini Engineering College, Nepal Workshop
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $390 USD for the Intro to Python workshop at Lumbini Engineering College, Nepal. The event is happening during the 6th semester of 2016.
Approved 9-0-0
8.7 PyDX
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $1500 USD to PyDX - Pacific Northwest Regional Python conference, that is happening October 1-2, 2016.
Approved 9-0-0
8.8 Django Girls Yenagoa
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $800 USD to the Django Girls Yenagoa, Nigeria workshop that is happening on October 29, 2016.
Approved 8-0-0
8.9 Python San Sebastian
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant $1,000 USD to Python San Sebastian that is happening September 30 - October 2, 2016.
Approved 7-0-0
8.10 Grants Working Group Member Additions
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation add the following members to the Grants Working group: Chukwudi Nwachukwu (chair Python Nigeria), Tomiwa Orolu (co-leader of Pyladies Lagos), and Victoria Martínez de la Cruz, from Buenos Aires (Argentina), is a cofounder of LinuxChix (diversity initiative), a Django Girls organizer, frequent speaker.
Approved 7-0-0
9 Other Business / Discussions
- PyCon India sponsorship - Kushal and Annapoornima will continue this discussion via email.
- Note regarding working groups: The board has oversight over all Working Groups, and may make any changes necessary for the proper functioning of the Working Group and the Foundation. Except as explicitly provided in a working group charter approved by the board, changes in the membership of Working Groups are approved by the Board.
10 Meeting Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 UTC (GMT/Zulu)