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TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/N…
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python.org/sponsors/applicatio…

The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program

In January 2025, the PSF submitted a proposal to the US government National Science Foundation under the Safety, Security, and Privacy of Op...
Python Software Foundation Blog

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Python Software Foundation

The PSF applied for a $1.5M grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to make innovative improvements to packaging security—and we were recommended for funding! But as a condition of funding, we were asked to affirm that we wouldn’t undertake any diversity, equity, and inclusion work, whether or not we used the government funds to do so.
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Python Software Foundation

The PSF simply couldn’t agree to that statement, as facilitating “the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers” is written directly into our mission and core to our values, so we withdrew our application. In the end, it wasn’t a hard decision for the PSF to put our community and our values first, but it does mean we lost out on this large funding source.
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Python Software Foundation

Donations and sponsorships will help us fill the gap, so we can continue supporting the Python ecosystem and living our values. Please read our statement, share it with your networks, and support us if you can. python.org/sponsors/applicatio… psfmember.org/civicrm/contribu…

Sponsorship Application | Python.org

The official home of the Python Programming Language
Python.org
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Jaycosm🔆

Now, some other entity is going to get $1.5M & they're not going to support DEI. Why don't you play the same ball game as gov't & corporations - do what you want & deal w/ the ramifications later? Accept the $1.5M, still do your DEI work, pay the devs to incorporate packaging security into Python, & if you get audited, play dumb. I'm tired of devs just giving up & blocking the bad things. We need to fight back. Illegal AI content scraping, monopoly app stores, unserviceable hardware, etc
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DistroWatch

@jay You think the right answer to receiving money on the condition of being fascist to to pretend to be fascist? That is.... Painfully short sighted. It would drive away contributors and make the terms and conditions seem acceptable to organisations. Plus the foundation would eventually lose the money anyway due to the clawback clause. Better that everyone turn down the money and show themselves to be better people.

There are more important things than money.

@Jaycosm🔆
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Nentuaby

The clawback clause is *nuclear* too. Not only would they lose 1.5million they already spent if they did the "take the money and do it anyway" plan, they could actually lose the money they got from every OTHER government grant they ever took before signing that thing.

You don't play stupid games with the US government, even this one. They can make sure you win VERY stupid prizes.

This entry was edited (5 days ago)
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Jaycosm🔆

@distrowatch This is business. It's a contract. I'm sure there are loopholes. The Python org could accept the $1.5M grant and make interest on the money as I mentioned in my sub-post, continue to raise donations in its traditional manner, support its DEI initiative, and then give the $1.5M back - it could keep the interest. I don't think it should simply give up. If the US gov't wants to play dirty, then play dirty. If a loophole exists, then that's not illegal... it's a loophole.
@DistroWatch
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DistroWatch

@jay They're not giving up, they're sticking to their governing principles.

Taking your approach is dishonest and breaks trust with their community.

Also, I'm guessing you're not familiar with legal matters. If the organization was found to be intentionally breaking contract, they'd not only need to pay back the money, they'd also have legal fees and possible penalties, and interest to pay back too. They'd be further behind financially than they are now.

@Jaycosm🔆
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Jaycosm🔆

@jay "Further, violation of this term gave the NSF the right to 'claw back' previously approved and transferred funds." Well, this stinks. 💡 So, take the $1.5M grant, invest it, and keep the interest. Use the interest for your efforts ✌😄 You're all a bunch of smart people. Find the loopholes and exploit them like politicians and BigTech execs do.
@Jaycosm🔆
This entry was edited (5 days ago)
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hicksy2

start having a look at European funding? ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tend…
Bureaucratic nightmare but not fascist.

EU Funding & Tenders Portal

The Funding and Tenders Portal is the single entry point (the Single Electronic Data Interchange Area) for applicants, contractors and experts in funding programmes and procurements managed by the European Commission.
ec.europa.eu
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synlogic4242

the PSF should stick to Python and software and value people solely on merit and our shared humanity. They should NOT discriminate against *anyone* based on gender, sexuality or race/ethnicity. DEI programs unfortunately often seem to do that.

MLK made clear in his "I Have A Dream" speech he wanted his kids to grow up in a world where they were judged by the content of their character not by the color of their skin. He literally said that and we should take him at his word. I do. So should you. But regardless of whether you agree with MLK or not the PSF should stay *out* of gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity/color and stay out of politics. Stick to Python. This should be obvious, I think.

Thankfully I've moved on from the Python community. Too much immature self-inflicted drama. Software *engineering*, folks -- focus on that.

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Izzy

Tough as I imagine this decision was, I hope everyone working on this and at the PSF knows this was the right call. With the current Trump administration, you can't trust them on anything. I wouldn't put it past them to try and pass off even just an openly queer or non-white person in the community as being DEI and using that against you.

Please know that this is the sort of thing that makes people feel comfortable and included in the Python community.

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Jörn Franke

It would be great if you can provide an additional donation option for European people (or even better a European association or via an European Association, such as alasca.cloud/en/). Europe has a very efficient high-speed (less than 10 seconds you have it) bank transfer system (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_E…) at much lower costs than credit cards/paypal.

With a European entity you could also apply to @sovtechfund for grants without sacrifying your values.


Single Euro Payments Area - Wikipedia

Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)
@Sovereign Tech Agency
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clar fon

this is excellent, and I think you should further honour that tradition by moving away from fosstodon.org whose admins are known bad actors against those values mastodon.art/@Curator/11444291…

Mastodon•ART 🎨 Curator (@Curator@mastodon.art)

Re. https://mastodon.art/@Curator/114400044441100499 , it's been a week and we've seen nothing to indicate that Fosstodon will be changing for the better any time soon, and so we have defederated from the instance.
Mastodon•ART 🎨 Curator (Mastodon.ART)
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Farhan Ahmed

Doing the right thing you “lost out on this large funding source.” But know that people doing the right thing never lose anything. For them it is a win-win because it is the right thing to do especially because it is the right time to do the right thing!

The upside is that we as part of the PSF community, we appreciate your bravery and will support you however we can!

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FoxyLad

My company is pretty much built on #Python.

We just made a significant donation to the PSF in recognition to their great work on the language, of which a small but important part is their commitment to fairness (or "DEI" as USians call it).

If you can, you can donate any amount at psfmember.org/civicrm/contribu….

Donation for the PSF – Python Software Foundation

CiviCRM
Python Software Foundation
#python
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CrimeDad

@ThePSF@fosstodon.org "These terms included affirming the statement that we “do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.”"

Couldn't you accept the grant and keep doing what you're doing, but with a different acronym?

@ThePSF@fosstodon.org
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TobyBartels

Donated.

I'd be inclined to interpret this provision as saying that you can't run any DEI programmes that break the law and then insist that your programs don't break the law, but with that clawback provision it's just not safe. You could even have them review and OK your programmes, but you could never trust them not to blackmail you later.

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soletan 🇺🇦

It requires the intake of a significant amount of drugs to understand, how promoting diversity, equity and inclusion is violating an anti-discrimination law for being considered some discriminatory equity ideology.

Understanding #fascist and #populist rhetoric requires oneself to ignore the established meaning of words making communication useless and solely focus on the sounds they make. It's like apes grunting at each other.

#fascist #populist
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Thierry Noisette

Congratulations for this decision! I wrote this blog post about it (in French) zdnet.fr/blogs/l-esprit-libre/…

La fondation Python renonce à une subvention de 1,5 million de dollars plutôt qu’à ses valeurs - ZDNET

Pour obtenir cette somme, la fondation devait s’engager à ne mener aucune action en faveur de la diversité, l’équité ou l’inclusion (DEI), une des exigences politiques de l’administration Trump.
Thierry Noisette (ZDNET)
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