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PSF Strategy

Our direction for 2026–2031, how the board sets priorities, and how the community can follow and shape our progress.

PSF Strategic Plan 2026

The PSF Strategic Plan 2026 sets the foundation’s direction for 2026–2031. It connects our mission with choices about funding, staff capacity, programs, and partnerships.

The board adopted the plan and established an annual review at its July 8, 2026 meeting. Each resolution passed with 10 votes in favor, none against, and no abstentions. Read the adoption and annual review resolutions.

Open the PDF Read the adopted text

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Our Priorities

The plan has four program goals and six organizational goals. This overview summarizes them. The adopted plan contains the full objectives and the board’s suggested tactical ideas.

Program Goals

1. Secure Python’s Software Supply Chain and Distribution Infrastructure

Strengthen security across PyPI, CPython, distribution channels, and all PSF projects and services, from source to installation.

2. Responsibly Grow and Advance Critical Python Infrastructure

Support reliable infrastructure, CPython development, vulnerability management, packaging tools, python.org, and Python’s intellectual property, with sustainable funding and staffing.

3. Foster a Thriving, Connected Global Python Community

Sustain PyCon US, improve grant-making and workgroups, support international collaboration, and welcome more Python users into the community.

4. Develop the Next Generation of Python Developers

Make it easier to discover and learn Python through advocacy, accessible resources, translation and localization, clearer beginner pathways, and community storytelling.

Crosscutting Organizational Goals

These goals apply across every PSF program and activity:

  1. Financial Sustainability. Diversify income and build a financial foundation that supports the PSF’s mission for the long term.
  2. Building a Resilient Foundation. Strengthen governance, financial oversight, knowledge sharing, and continuity through transitions.
  3. Diversity and Inclusion. Apply diversity and inclusion to every activity and use them to evaluate organizational decisions.
  4. Transparency and Community Trust. Make decisions, reporting, and communication more visible and accessible to the community.
  5. Community Empowerment and Self-Sufficiency. Help communities organize, develop leadership, and secure funding that supports their own priorities.
  6. Strong Partnerships and Collaboration. Work with Python distributors, sponsors, community groups, and the wider open source ecosystem.

How Decisions Are Made

The PSF Board of Directors sets the foundation’s strategic direction. The plan guides decisions about where to focus the PSF’s budget and staff time. PSF staff shape how to carry out that direction through their work on programs and operations.

The board’s tactical ideas are suggestions and starting points for staff to develop. Expanding work depends on available staff time and sustainable funding. During planning, the board identified staffing capacity, the financial sustainability of PyCon US, and opportunities to deepen sponsor support as central considerations.

The board’s meeting minutes record its decisions. Annual reviews connect those decisions back to the plan’s goals and provide an opportunity to reconsider priorities with staff and community input.

How This Plan Was Developed

Planning began at the 2024 board retreat, continued with community interviews in 2025, and developed through board planning sessions in early 2026. Staff reviewed the draft from April to June. The initial goals were shared in May, followed by a public draft and feedback period from June 4 to June 25, 2026. Input also came through PyCon US conversations, office hours, email, and the PSF discussion forum.

Feedback shaped the plan throughout its development. Staff input introduced security and vulnerability-management objectives before the June public draft. Following community consultation, the final plan added translation and localization, clearer pathways for directed funding, and PSF membership growth. It also makes staffing, sustainable support for CPython, and the scope of grant-making more explicit.

Annual Reviews

The board established an annual review alongside adoption. Each review must take place no later than the anniversary of adoption, with the first due by July 8, 2027.

The Executive Director and Board Chair are responsible for preparing the review materials. At each annual review, the board will:

  • Assess progress against the plan’s goals.
  • Evaluate whether priorities need to shift.
  • Incorporate feedback from PSF staff and the Python community.
  • Publish a summary of findings and any changes made.

The board may amend the plan at an annual review by vote, following the voting rules in the PSF Bylaws.

Updates and Previous Versions

The PSF strategy repository on GitHub is the home for the plan’s Markdown text, changelog, and revision history.

July 8, 2026 — Plan Adopted

The board adopted PSF Strategic Plan 2026 for 2026–2031 and established the annual review process. This is the initial adopted version.

The first annual review is due by July 8, 2027.

Take Part

Tell us what is working, where the plan falls short, and what the board should consider at its next review. Feedback from staff and the community informs the board’s annual reviews.