7 April 2020

Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of NumFOCUS. All votes are reported in the form “(Y/N/A)” (in favor-Y‚ opposed-N‚ abstentions-A; e.g. “4-1-2” means “4 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstentions”).

April 7, 2020

Participating:

Board Members: Katrina Riehl, Jane Herriman, Stéfan van der Walt, Andy Terrel, James Powell, Sylvain Corlay, Lorena Barba

Executive Director: Leah Silen

Not attending: N/A

Email/Github Voting:

1. Jan 28 minutes: Approved 4-0-1.

2. Feb 11 minutes: Approved 4-0-0.

3. Feb 25 minutes: Approved 4-0-1.

4. Mar 10 minutes: Approved 4-0-0.

5. Mar 24 minutes: Approved 4-0-0.

6. NNetSauce: Rejected 0-4-0.

7. Python-MIP: Rejected 0-4-0.

8. Sylvain-Zarr disclosure: Still needs vote to close.

Executive Director’s Report:

Leah submitted a request for a COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program – which targets small businesses and should provide a loan that will cover 2.5 months of payroll and rent. We meet the criteria to have the loan forgiven.

During a 2 day virtual staff retreat, NumFOCUS staff defined objectives (OKRs) for the next year, including establishing digital infrastructure programs, establishing a grant management system, and reorienting the DISC program to focus on furthering project D&I.

Leah has been communicating with the Moore Foundation about the possibility of funding; Moore seems supportive of a 2 year grant for NumFOCUS.

Leah has discussed online education/event platforms with IBL. More discussion on this below.

Discussion Items:

a. SDG Proposals for Round 1

i.   The committee has made their selections for Round 1. The Board 
     approved and notifications will be sent out on Monday the 13th.

ii.  Round 2 occurs in June by default. Instead we’ll open up Round 2
     applications within the next week or so.

iii. Leah will contact projects to assess if maintainers are
     struggling or out of work due to covid-19. If there is a need,
     we can create a campaign independent of SDG to pull in more
     funds to support maintainers

b. Indirect Cost for Project Subcontracts (Tabled.)

c. Online Educational Platform

  We discussed ways we might move forward with some form of educational
  and/or event platform. 

i.   We currently have educational content -- like PyData tutorials
     -- packaged in various ways online. Repackaging/presenting
     content in a more finished way could increase our impact.

ii.  We have concerns about human resources to make this happen.
       However, with in-person events on hold, Jim and Walker may be 
      able to contrinbute to this.

iii. Andy has suggested recruiting PyData organizers to moderate and 
     help curate content.

iv.  JupyterCon is interested in having an event platform,
     possibly through IBL. Perhaps we could create a joint platform
     that benefits PyData and other NumFOCUS events.
     
 v.  This conversation will require a dedicated conversation, to be 
     scheduled.