PSF Grants Program 2022 & 2023 Transparency Report

The PSF’s Grants Program is a key plank in our charitable mission 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. After much research, input, and analysis, we are pleased to share
a PSF Grants Program 2022 & 2023 Transparency Report. The report includes
context, numbers, analysis, and a proposed path forward. It also includes a
supplemental analysis of several specific grant applications for which we were
requested to share more information.

We feel it is important to
acknowledge that Pythonistas, regional communities, and the broader community
are behind these statistics and commentary. Our community called for this
report to be created. While the report is focused on data and outcomes, we
also feel it is important to acknowledge in this introduction the concerns and
frustrations that brought us here, explained further in the ‘Setting context’
section below. We hope that this report, along with many other steps, helps to
remediate this.

This report reflects the outcome of thousands of
hours of PSF and volunteer efforts over 2022 and 2023 by the Grants Working
Group, the PSF Board, Python organizers, and PSF Staff worldwide. We truly
value this opportunity to share information on the last two years of
increasing grants to the community and to improve our Grants Program while
honoring the hard work of everyone involved in making the Program and our
mission possible.

This report was compiled by PSF Staff and
reviewed by the PSF Board and Grants Working Group. If you have questions,
comments, or feedback about the Grants Program or this report, please email
grants@pyfound.org.
 

Setting context

In December of 2023, we received an
open letter
from a coalition of organizers from the pan-African Python community asking
the PSF to address concerns and frustrations around our Grants Program. Before
receiving the letter, the PSF Board was aware of the Grant application that
spurred this letter and published a
transparency blog post
regarding the September and October 2023 Board votes concerning that
application. PSF Staff were aware of a need for a refresh of Grants Program
documentation and processes and worked on these updates time allowing. Since
receiving the letter in December, the PSF Board and Staff have:

• Spent time listening during many discussions with the letter writers and
  other community members.
• Re-prioritized reviewing and rewriting Grant-related documentation and
  processes, including revisiting the Grants Working Group Charter.
• Established monthly
  Grants Program Office Hours.
• Contracted Carol Willing to perform a
  DjangoCon Africa Grants Process Retrospective
  which is now available on the PSF Blog.

For a high-level idea of the scope of our Grants Program, we are happy
to share:

• The PSF distributed $393K in Grants during 2022 and $623K during 2023 for
  the Grants Program and the PyCon US Travel Grants Program combined.
• The Grants Program distributed $215K in Grants during 2022 and $393K during
  2023. 
• Noting this Transparency Report is focused on the Grants Program only. If
  you want to learn more about travel grants check out the
  Travel Grants Process for PyCon US 2024 blog post
  on the PyCon US blog.

The growth we saw from 2022 to 2023 is exciting to reflect on, and we’re
looking forward to what 2024 and beyond has in store for our Grants Program!

 

 The numbers (in graph form)

 

Thanks to Tania Allard for helping improve the readability and
accessibility of the graphs provided in this report.

Our analysis

 

General Trends, Observations, & Notes

• In 2022, Grants requests were not at “full capacity” as our community was
  still recovering from the impact of COVID-19 on events, initiatives, and
  collective burnout.
• The increase in total grant applications we received from 2023 over 2022 is
  encouraging. The program grew in 2023 as we began to return to in-person and
  hybrid events, and we anticipate more applications coming in throughout 2024
  and beyond.

 

Number of Total Grant Applications by Continent

• In both 2022 & 2023, we received the most number of applications from
  Africa and Europe, with South America not far behind.

 

Percentage of Grants Approved

• The percentage of approved vs. declined applications is reasonable. Some
  reasons applications were denied include:
• Unable to meet PSF Grants Program criteria
• Unclear benefit to funding the application
• Not Python related
• Spam

 

Percentage of Grant Applications by Continent

• The percentages across continents are reasonably balanced, with fewer
  applications from Asia, North America, and Oceania. Based on the
  distribution of populations globally, the percentage of applications from
  Asia is lower than expected. After receiving input on this directly from
  PyCon organizers from Asia, we have come to understand that this is based on
  an approach focused on sustainability. PyCon organizers in Asia are focused
  on local sponsorship, fiscal responsibility, and independence. We absolutely
  commend this approach, and at the same time, we urge organizers from Asia to
  request Grant funding to supplement and enhance their events.
• Additionally, note that we cannot award Grants to certain countries in Asia
  due to OFAC and our status as a US-based 501c3 non-profit.

 

Approved & Declined Grant Applications by Continent

• The number of declined applications from Africa shows an area for
  improvement. Our conclusion is that our documentation is not clear enough on
  the requirements for a grant to be awarded and that results in applications
  that will not pass.

 

Dollar Amount Granted by Continent & Percentage of Money Granted by
Continent

• This graph appears to show that Europe received disproportionate funding. On
  further review, we believe this is because the grant applications we got
  from Europe were for conferences. In contrast, a large number of the grant
  applications from other regions were for meetups and workshops, including
  many Django Girls events. Conferences typically cost significantly more than
  meetups. Here’s a breakdown:

• We
  are encouraged to see the dollar amount granted to the Africa region rise
  significantly between 2022 and 2023.

 

Average Amount Granted by
Continent

• Oceania is an outlier; the PSF received one application in 2022
  and two in 2023 from Oceania. Many more grants were awarded to other regions,
  which caused their average dollar amount to be lower. With that in mind, we
  feel the average is reasonable. It means that we are receiving both large and
  small grant applications!
• Africa and South America received less on
  average than other regions. This is another example of the typical types of
  grant requests we are receiving from different regions (workshops and meetups
  vs. large conferences).

 

Grant Decision Times in Weeks by Number
& Percentage of Applications

• The majority of the average grant review
  period is 4 weeks, which we feel is reasonable based on the process and load
  of grant applications we receive.
• When we reviewed applications that took
  longer than 4 weeks to decide, we found a couple of scenarios.
• One of the
  main reasons for longer decision times is that applications are sometimes
  submitted without crucial information, and there is significant time spent on
  communications between applicants, PSF Staff, and the Grants Working Group.
  Once requested, there are often delays in receiving the required information
  back from applicants.
• The grant application was escalated to the Board
  who meet on a monthly basis. Grants can be escalated to the Board either
  because the amount requested is greater than $10,000 or because the Grants
  Working Group cannot reach a consensus on a decision.

 

Grant Program
Average Days to Decide by Continent

• This graph also shows Oceania as an
  outlier, and, again, it is skewed because we received only one application in
  2022 and only two in 2023 applications from that region.
• In 2023,
  applications from Asia took longer to reach decisions. When we looked into
  this further, we found that the reasons for delays were that applications were
  submitted without the required information and that significant time was spent
  on communications between applicants, PSF Staff, and the Grants Working
  Group.
• We are pleased to see that the average number of days is very
  close across most regions. 

 

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