Our Mission¶
The Jupyter Foundation exists to ensure that Project Jupyter has the resources it needs to build sustainable, reliable, and impactful technology.
What is the Foundation’s problem to solve?¶
As Jupyter has grown its impact, it has had an increasing lack of resources needed to drive the project forward. This creates risk for both the Jupyter maintainers (who feel an increasing burden to deliver impactful software to a growing user base) as well as for the members of the Jupyter Foundation (who depend on Jupyter being a reliable and innovating technology organization).
A major source of stress is the lack of financial resources needed to ensure Jupyter can sustainably meet its own goals and the goals of the Foundation’s member organizations. Many companies desire to support Jupyter with financial resources, staff that are interested in contributing, and unique perspectives that can help Jupyter build tools that are more impactful.
However, Jupyter’s community is often opaque and has many different stakeholders and needs. Its community is often skeptical of “top-down” signals or requests. The Foundation is an opportunity to provide financial and strategic resources that help Project Jupyter be more reliable and effective for all of its stakeholders. To do so effectively, the Foundation must deliver clear value to both the Jupyter community and to the Foundation member communities.
Who we are¶
How we are structured¶
The Jupyter Foundation structure is defined here in the Jupyter governance documentation.
In addition, there are a few specific roles and groups defined within the Jupyter Foundation and its Governing Board, described below.
Board Chair¶
The Board Chair leads the Jupyter Foundation Governing Board (“Board”) in conducting discussion and decisions that accomplish the Board’s goals. The Board is intentionally keeping this role scoped tightly, to recognize that we are bootstrapping the role and to recognize that detailed responsibilities will be defined by the Board Chair in partnership with the Board. Below are the responsibilities for this role:
- Plan and lead Board meetings
- Set the agenda
- Define objectives - make sure the agenda matches the objectives.
- Coordinate with the Linux Foundation Program Manager to assist the board
- Review meeting agendas, budget, minutes, etc.
- Facilitate the creation and delegation of authority / responsibility to Jupyter Foundation subcommittees
Who is the current Board Chair?¶
Rus Pandey is the Foundation Board’s current Board Chair.
How is the board chair elected?¶
The Board elects a chair with a majority vote of its members.
Subcommittees¶
A subcommittee is an ongoing working group of Board members that focuses on a thematic area over time. They were initially formed around the Foundation’s goals and strategy.
What is the purpose of subcommittees?¶
The primary goals of subcommittees are to:
- Make proposals to the Foundation Board that accomplish the goals in their thematic area.
- Oversee the implementation of funds according to proposals that have been accepted, where applicable.
How do we determine membership of subcommittees?¶
By default, subcommittees are only open to Foundation Board members. However, subcommittees may elect to open their membership to all Foundation members.
If a subcommittee has members that are not also on the Board, then any decisions around funding must be made with a majority vote of the Board members on the subcommittee.
List of subcommittees¶
This is still a work in progress. The Board has initially defined the following subcommittees:
- Technical Support Committee - dedicated to improving the quality, reliability, and safety of Project Jupyter’s software.
- Community Support Committee - dedicated to improving the health of Project Jupyter’s contributor community.
- Foundation Membership Development Committee - dedicated to ensuring that the Jupyter Foundation membership grows and benefits from the Foundation.