Add text of LF proposal

_toc.yml

@@ -13,11 +13,10 @@ parts:
   - file: standing_committees_and_working_groups.md
     sections:
     - file: list_of_standing_committees_and_working_groups
-    - file: communitybuildingcommittee 
+    - file: communitybuildingworkinggroup
   - file: distinguished_contributors
   - file: people
 
-
 - caption: Code of Conduct
   chapters:
   - file: conduct/code_of_conduct
@@ -38,6 +37,10 @@ parts:
   - file: trademarks
   - file: projectlicense
 
+- caption: Proposals
+  chapters:
+  - file: linux-proposal
+
 - caption: Previous Governance
   chapters:
   - file: governance

linux-proposal.md

@@ -0,0 +1,252 @@
+# Proposal for Jupyter\'s Sustainable Growth
+
+March 5, 2024
+
+# Executive Summary
+
+The Jupyter Executive Council (EC) has the responsibility to ensure the
+healthy and sustainable evolution of Project Jupyter and to seek the
+best vehicles to support this. **We, the EC, propose to create a new
+funding vehicle for the project, paired with some management and
+operational changes in support of this funding mechanism, in partnership
+with the Linux Foundation (LF)**. These changes will enable us to grow
+and develop ambitious efforts we have often discussed but lacked
+resources to implement, and provide long-term stability both for key
+Jupyter contributors and the project itself. While Project Jupyter has
+been impactful and successful in many areas, we currently struggle in
+our ability to scale in certain strategic directions and in maintaining
+core functions needed for an effort of our size and scope. We believe
+the plan below is the right path forward to meet these challenges;
+we\'ve come to this plan after a detailed exploration of multiple
+options.
+
+**We propose that Project Jupyter -- with its current governance
+structure and name -- transfer from NumFOCUS to the Linux Foundation
+Charities 501(c)(3). This transition would be paired with the creation
+of a new resource, provisionally called the *Jupyter Foundation*,
+designated to secure corporate contributions, and an associated
+c*ommittee* to make budgetary decisions associated with these funds. The
+Jupyter Foundation would be under the Linux Foundation 501(c)(6).**
+Below, we provide more details about this proposal and answer questions.
+This document aims to be a reference point for the community to discuss
+this plan, which (after suitable community deliberation, refinement, and
+approval) the EC would like to implement as soon as possible.
+
+> **Note --** A 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) are both tax-exempt nonprofit
+> structures in the United States. A (c)(3) is a vehicle to support
+> collective fundraising for a scientific or charitable purpose. A
+> (c)(6) is a vehicle to support collective fundraising for a common
+> business interest in industry. Like many projects that the LF hosts,
+> Project Jupyter aligns both with nonprofit models with scientific and
+> educational goals, and with business interests. Therefore, it can take
+> advantage of having both fundraising options available to donors
+> through LF Charities, a 501(c)(3), and the Linux Foundation, a
+> 501(c)(6).
+
+# Project Jupyter's Needs
+
+Project Jupyter requires **sustainable funding that is centrally managed
+for some key \"backbone needs\'\' of the project.** There are activities
+and programs that are critical to the mission of Jupyter that are
+currently either underfunded or unfunded. Examples include JupyterCon,
+other Jupyter community and outreach events, Binder, NbViewer,
+jupyter.org, an Executive Director, other project-wide staff (release
+engineering, developer advocate, documentation writer, program manager,
+testing infrastructure, etc.) and more. We believe that if a few such
+\"backbone\" roles and activities are sustainably funded, it will become
+easier for individual subprojects and teams in the community to pursue
+strategic objectives, propose new developments, and seek targeted
+resources that rely on this stable foundation for coordination,
+planning, and project-wide interactions. **The EC has a goal to raise
+\$1-2 million/year in a sustainable manner**.
+
+*The EC believes that this funding can come from a combination of
+non-profit (private foundations, government grants) and for-profit
+(corporate) sources*. In the past, Jupyter has obtained grants on the
+order of a million dollars and above through private foundations, with
+smaller contributions coming from individuals and a few generous
+corporate partners. Securing consistent funding via grants has proven
+challenging given the lumpy nature of grant allocations and the limited
+number of people who can devote their time to grant writing for Juptyer.
+These inconsistent levels of funding make it very difficult to maintain
+a stable backbone for the project that enables long-term vision and
+strategic planning and execution. Similarly, we have faced challenges in
+raising consistent funding from corporations.
+
+Additionally, Jupyter needs **improved operational support**. Jupyter
+needs a higher level of support for operating (legal/trademark,
+marketing, fundraising, accounting, contracts, internships, events, dev
+ops, etc.) than is currently available from NumFOCUS. The EC\'s
+responsibility is to serve Jupyter\'s pressing needs today and tomorrow;
+currently, the EC is spending a significant amount of its time on
+operational matters instead of fundraising and other activities that
+support Jupyter's long-term mission. At this time, and after extensive
+conversations with NumFOCUS and time spent by Ana Ruvalcaba taking deep
+dives into operational matters, the EC\'s assessment is that the best
+course of action is to secure operational support with a proven partner
+that can provide it today. *Our assessment is that the Linux Foundation
+is such an ideal partner for Jupyter today*.
+
+Finally, Jupyter needs to be able to hire and manage **full-time
+staff**, including roles such as an Executive Director, CI/devops,
+program managers, test engineering, documentation writing, and release
+engineering. These require a sustained and full-time effort, beyond what
+is reasonable for volunteers or can be funded via project-specific
+initiatives and/or grants. In the past, we have funded, hired, and
+managed these types of roles through universities (Cal Poly State
+University, San Luis Obispo and UC Berkeley), but that is not
+sustainable for the institution or the staff who seek a long term career
+path associated with Jupyter, rather than with specific corporate or
+academic organizations. Again, Jupyter needs sustainable funding and
+operational support to hire, retain, and manage contributors in these
+types of roles.
+
+# So, what would be changing?
+
+We have spent time and effort in discussions with the Linux Foundation
+team, to ensure that this transition introduces the smallest possible
+changes to Jupyter\'s operations while meeting our above goals.
+
+Under this proposal, **Jupyter keeps its current governance structure
+and transfers from NumFOCUS to LF Charities 501(c)(3). An additional
+funding vehicle will be created called the Jupyter Foundation under the
+Linux Foundation 501(c)(6) providing corporations a well known and
+proven method to support the Jupyter Project.**
+
+In order to manage this new resource (the Jupyter Foundation), we
+propose to create a new committee (JFC), populated by representatives of
+our corporate funders. The role of this committee will be to approve the
+use of the corporate funding available, in coordination with the EC. The
+JFC and EC members will vote on Jupyter Foundation resource allocation
+with exact details to be determined soon (for example, the funding
+committee model typically has one vote per corporate funding
+representative).
+
+As part of the normal course of business, and to encourage strategic
+engagement of the corporate partners (beyond just giving money), the EC
+meetings will be open to members of the JFC, though the EC reserves the
+right to call a separate closed meeting should the need arise.
+
+In addition, the Linux Foundation through its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6)
+will provide back-office operational support as needed for the project
+operations such as grants and events as well as the ability to hire
+staff for the benefit of the project.
+
+# What other options have we explored?
+
+We have investigated the following options:
+
+-   Remaining at NumFOCUS
+
+-   Joining several other 501(c)(3) organizations.
+
+-   Partnering with Linux Foundation via its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6)
+    support structures (our proposed path)
+
+-   Creating our own 501(c)(3).
+
+NumFocus, as previously stated, is not able to meet our needs and our
+goals for Project Jupyter at this time.
+
+Other 501(c)(3) organizations were either larger in scale, but without
+deep experience supporting open source projects and their communities,
+or smaller in scale but with experience supporting software projects.
+
+The costs to instantiate and operate a new 501(c)(3) are very high and
+the focus on building up back-office infrastructure expertise and
+capabilities would limit our ability to focus on the needs stated
+earlier.
+
+After carefully evaluating all these options and engaging in multiple
+detailed discussions, we concluded that the Linux Foundation is the best
+option. LF can support our existing community and governance structure,
+and it has a proven track record of supporting software projects with a
+sustainable operational and multi-modal funding model that scales.
+
+# How does this affect our project\'s mission regarding both open science, education, and access to all regardless of money or industrial relationships?
+
+Project Jupyter's mission and focus on open science remains unchanged
+and driven by its contributors. Project Jupyter will develop a formal
+mission statement that will reiterate our commitment to open science,
+education, research and broad access to interactive computing. Based on
+many previous discussions we\'ve had on this topic, we propose here a
+rough draft of such a mission statement: "Project Jupyter is an open and
+collaborative community that develops interactive computing tools,
+software, standards, and infrastructure for research, education, and
+industry." As part of the transition to LF, we will open an issue to
+discuss and approve an official mission statement.
+
+# Other Questions (FAQ)
+
+## How would this change our relationship with NumFOCUS?
+
+Once the transition is concluded and assets are transferred, Project
+Jupyter would not have a legal relationship with NumFOCUS. However, we
+will always maintain a collaborative relationship with NumFOCUS and its
+various projects: Jupyter is for many a portal into a broad ecosystem of
+projects that currently operate under NumFOCUS, and we\'ll continue
+collaborating with all of them as before. In this regard, NumFOCUS is
+and would remain a key partner for Project Jupyter, and we wish the
+NumFOCUS team success.
+
+We will work out a transition plan between NF and the LF Charities that
+will minimize disruption to the projects. There may be some funds that
+are simpler to wind down through NF and some that are easier to move to
+the LF Charities.
+
+## How would the 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) legal entities work together for Project Jupyter?
+
+The Project Jupyter EC continues its current authority over funds and
+grants that go to the 501(c)(3). As explained above, the corporate
+funders to the Jupyter Foundation would have input, along with the
+Project Jupyter EC, into how Jupyter Foundation monies are allocated for
+the sustainability and growth of the Project Jupyter.
+
+## What is the process for Jupyter leaving NumFOCUS and whose authority/approvals does it require?
+
+Jupyter's current governance model requires any changes to Juptyer's
+governance to be approved by the Jupyter Executive Council and Software
+Steering Council. Once these two bodies have voted to leave NumFOCUS and
+transfer the project to LF Charities 501(c)(3), the NumFOCUS FSA
+Committee will formally notify NumFOCUS of our plans. The current FSA
+requires us to give NumFOCUS a 60-day notice before moving. The NumFOCUS
+FSA Committee currently consists of Matthias Bussonnier, Benjamin
+Ragan-Kelley, Fernando Pérez, Ana Ruvalcaba, and Thomas Kluyver.
+
+## And similarly, what will be the process for Jupyter potentially leaving the Linux Foundation in the future?
+
+When requested by the governing body for a project, the LF has moved
+projects out of its stewardship to the governing body's designated
+entity. The Project Jupyter EC would decide that. The Project Jupyter
+assets in the 501(c)(3) would transfer to another 501(c)(3) and
+501(c)(6) assets could be transferred to another 501(c)(6) or to the
+501(c)(3). Similarly, there will be a notice period, and wind-down
+component related to employees, IP, etc.
+
+## How does corporate membership work in terms of levels and dues amount?
+
+The details need to be finalized and we welcome input from the community
+on this. Based on what is common with other funds under the Linux
+Foundation 501(c)(6), typically there are 2 levels, Premier and General.
+For example, Premier members each get a seat on the funding committee
+and General members collectively have one elected representative from
+the general member class that represents them alongside the Premier
+members. The dues amount will be determined based on the financial needs
+of Project Jupyter and corresponding alignment with corporate budgets
+that have a precedent for supporting critical projects upon which
+companies depend. The Linux Foundation also has (free) Associate
+memberships for government, education, research, and non-profit
+organizations. Given the importance of these types of organizations to
+the mission of Jupyter, the EC would like to work through how they can
+be included.
+
+## What is the proposed timeline?
+
+The EC anticipates community discussion in March 2024 leads to a formal
+governance change proposal in April 2024 to move from NumFOCUS to LF
+Charities 501(c)(3), creation of an LF 501(c)(6) foundation, and the
+operational details of how these entities will be managed (e.g.,
+creation of a budget process). The EC anticipates this proposal will be
+voted on by the newly-elected EC and SSC by the end of April 2024. If
+approved, the EC anticipates that the effective date of a move to LF
+could be 60 days later, by the end of June 2024.