1   Attendance

The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: David Goodger, Stephan Deibel, Tim Peters, Andrew Kuchling, Brett Cannon, Steve Holden, and Martin von Löwis. Also in attendance was Kurt Kaiser (Treasurer).

2   Minutes of Past Meetings

The 10 December 2007 Board meeting minutes were approved by a 6-0-1 vote (in favor – opposed – abstentions).

3   Status of Past Action Items

(Pending action items appear like this.)

4   Google Summer of Code Report

D. Goodger reported that James Tauber completed a report.

D. Goodger will post the report to the PSF blog.

5   HitFlip Sponsor Application

There was some concern that HitFlip does not yet have the investment in Python that is a prerequisite for taking on part of the stewardship role.

RESOLVED, that the board of directors recommends HitFlip to the membership, as a future sponsor member of the PSF.

Approved, 5-2-0.

K. Kaiser will notify HitFlip of their pending sponsor member status and send an invoice for sponsor dues.

6   Members' Meeting

D. Goodger will send all sponsor applicant's info to members.

D. Goodger will send out the members' meeting notices within two weeks (by snailmail and email). These notices will not contain the meeting agenda or proxy/absentee forms. Instead, the notices will provide URLs, a final call for nominations & resolutions, and a deadline date. D. Goodger asked that the Board set a deadline date for nominations & agenda items, and suggested February 11, the date of the next Board meeting. The Directors agreed.

D. Goodger and M. von Löwis will update the list of members' addresses.

7   Awards Program

S. Holden sent email to the Board with a proposal for a "Python Software Foundation Awards Program". Summary of the proposal and the ensuing email discussion:

• Not regular awards. Instead, have an ad-hoc scheme, which we publicize to the members. Members make nominations.
• Award to consist of one or more of: 1. a blog entry; 2. a cash or gift certificate award, not more than $1,000; 3. free registration at PyCon, plus optional contribution of up to $500 towards expenses.
• Awards are considered at PSF Board meetings. If no nominations are received for four months, the Board should consider making its own nominations.
• There should be an annual budget, and a set frequency of awards.
• Awards are a formal way for the Board to offer recognition of work which significantly aids the Foundation's mission. The intention is not to provide a direct incentive to contributors.

K. Kaiser noted (in email) that while grants for PyCon registration & travel are a compensatable expense with no tax due, awards may be taxable and the situation gets complex if the recipient isn't a US taxpayer.

Points raised during the meeting:

• K. Kaiser: Grants are income, but whether they are USA taxable depends on where they are performed.

  Re awards: "Since the recipient didn't do anything to get the award, it might not be income. Consider the rules for gifts and also the rules for lottery winnings."

  We can pay US taxpayers up to $600 per year without withholding or a W-9 form. But there's no lower limit on reporting & withholding for non-US taxpayers.

• S. Holden suggested 4 awards per year.

• S. Holden: "S. Deibel has already identified several worthy potential recipients. We could perhaps start with several awards at PyCon before establishing a regular schedule."

• M. von Löwis: "I would see some policy encoded on repeated awards. They should be possible, to acknowledge ongoing contributions."

• S. Deibel: We should try to establish this program by PyCon.

  "We need to be flexible how we pay and with what."

The Board agreed to the proposal in principle, but details have to be worked out.

K. Kaiser will research the tax implications of an awards program (both domestic & international recipients).

S. Holden will refine the awards program proposal, for a vote at the next board meeting.

8   ILM Membership

Regarding emeritus member Industrial Light & Magic, who applied for sponsor membership and were elected, but never paid their sponsor dues, S. Holden:

I have been thinking of moving that ILM's membership be terminated (subject to the required vote of members yielding a 2/3 majority).

We could write to them first suggesting that should they wish, [they could] reactivate their never-used sponsor membership.

Frankly it offends me that an organisation of that size won't find the budget to support us, and I don't feel they deserve whatever recognition an emeritus membership bestows on them.

D. Goodger noted that it needs a member's vote, so Holden could add it as a resolution for the members' meeting.

S. Deibel suggested that we should change the bylaws to avoid another ILM situation.

S. Holden will write to ILM, to make them aware of the possibilities regarding their membership.

9   Python Certification Scheme

S. Holden reported:

Van Lindberg and I have been discussing Python certification schemes. Van strongly felt that such a scheme would be much less valuable if not sponsored by the PSF. He feels it could be "a major story for Python".

I see it as partly marketing, but mostly giving people a way to provide some documentation of their level of Python expertise.

Some directors were in favor of certification, others don't think it's worthwhile. The consensus was that the PSF doesn't have the resources to do this ourselves, and that we defer any specific action until some company comes along with a proposal.

S. Holden will report the results of the certification discussion back to Van Lindberg.

10   PyCon Update

D. Goodger reported:

We're heading into the home stretch. Registration should be opening very shortly. We are approaching $100K of sponsorship money, so we'll probably be profitable again.

Things are late, but we'll get it done.

11   Adjournment

S. Deibel adjourned the meeting at 18:58 UTC.