Presentation: Funding and Coordinating Python Projects via Non-Profits

Friday 11:30 a.m.–noon

Funding and Coordinating Python Projects via Non-Profits

Bradley M. Kuhn

Audience level:: Novice
Category:: Community

Description

Organizations like Software Freedom Conservancy and PSF provide essential non-profit infrastructure to the Python community. For the past few years, Conservancy specifically helped raise funds to support 3 key Python projects: Mercurial, PyPy and Twisted. This talk discusses successes and challenges of funding Python software development in non-profits, and discuss plans to expand this activity.

Abstract

Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) began as a not-for-profit endeavor. FLOSS licenses have, of course, always been designed to permit both commercial and non-commercial activity; however, the heart of FLOSS development remains in the not-for-profit space.

In recent years, non-profits have been somewhat underutilized to advance software freedom. Most projects now organize informally, with both volunteer contributors and corporate contributors. Informal affiliations have their advantage, but the downside of no formal organization existing for the project itself can often lead to missed opportunities for the project.

Non-profits can provide a substantial infrastructural benefit to Free Software projects. For the last few years specifically, Conservancy has helped raise funds to support three key Python-related projects: Mercurial, PyPy and Twisted. This talk covers the successes and challenges of funding Python software development via non-profits and disscuss plans to expand this activity.

Bradley M. Kuhn is President and Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy, and on the Board of Directors of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Kuhn began his work in the Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) Movement as a volunteer in 1992, when he became an early adopter of the GNU/Linux operating system, and began contributing to various FLOSS projects. He worked during the 1990s as a system administrator and software developer for various companies, and taught AP Computer Science at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati. Kuhn's non-profit career began in 2000, when he was hired by the FSF. As FSF's Executive Director from 2001-2005, Kuhn led FSF's GPL enforcement, launched its Associate Member program, and invented the Affero GPL. From 2005-2010, Kuhn worked as the Policy Analyst and Technology Director of the Software Freedom Law Center. Kuhn holds a summa cum laude B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola University in Maryland, and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Cincinnati. His Master's thesis discussed methods for dynamic interoperability of FLOSS languages. Kuhn has a (regular blog)[http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog] and a (microblog)[http://identi.ca/bkuhn].