Cycle 5: Customized Astropy Workshops

[mwcraig]

No description provided.

[eteq]

@mwcraig - does it make sense to combine this with #492? I know you alreday mention it above but these two are so interconnected it occurs to me maybe it makes more sense to put them together? 🤷

[mwcraig]

@eteq -- maybe? I think if we did then we would need to have separate budget line items for the proposals so that if that bigger proposal were to receive partial funding a decision could be made about how to allocate the partial funding.

Leaving it as is perhaps makes it easier for voters to indicate their preference than it would be if they were one proposal.

[kelle]

It would be useful for this funding request to have a budget range.

[mwcraig]

@kelle -- I'll separate it out into costs for each of the three audiences.

[mwcraig]

@kelle -- the budget has been updated to include more detail about each subproject

[AnaGabela]

Please react to this comment to vote on this proposal (👍, 👎, or no reaction for +0).

[kelle]

The Cycle 5 funding request process has been hugely successful! On the downside, that means our funds are severely oversubscribed. Even after the Finance Committee and SPOC have taken into consideration community feedback/voting and alignment with the roadmap, there are still more funding requests than we can afford in 2026.

We would like to stretch the budget as far as possible, and to fund as many activities as possible, while making sure the Project remains volunteer-driven. Hence, we would like to know if this project will still meet its deliverables if your minimum budget is reduced by 25%, 50%, or 100%. Or if there’s some other minimum, feel free to specify that instead.

As a reminder, there will be more funding for 2027 and we expect the Cycle 6 call for 2027 funding requests to begin in the Fall of 2026.

Thank you for your engagement and understanding as we continue to optimize our funding and budgeting processes and the balance of volunteer vs funded work!

(@mwcraig )

[mwcraig]

My recommendation here would be to reframe this a bit. At funding at or below the minimum, only the PUI workshops would be guaranteed to happen. In the PUI workshop section, I lay out the costs for two PUI options: ASTRAL (the SF Bay Area collaboration) and the "Upper Midwest." The very lowest cost one is at $2,000, which would provide $500 per local coordinator if there were 4 workshops, or $1k/coordinator if there were 2 workshops (I'd forgo pay in both of these scenarios).

I haven't spoken to the coordinators, but would not be surprised if they were willing to host a workshop for $500.

I do not think it is worth funding below $2,000 though.