Re: Acknowledging financial support to Perl core developement

Thanks for sharing this Philippe.

It took between 12-18 months from setting up a funding initiative to 
receiving funds, and the recent funding from Alpha Omega itself was 2 
years + in the making so getting initiatives off the ground early is 
essential to make an impact.

I can't say if this initiative is specifically going to mean that more 
donations come in, however it is a valuable story and reason to talk 
with those already in the contact list - it is at the very least a good 
supporting activity.

In any case, sponsor recognition is important in it's own right.

Assuming this is low/no overhead to maintain, I welcome it.

I wonder if there any objections to this proposal?

@Olaf - do you have a view?

SJM



On 12/08/2026 10:25, Philippe Bruhat (BooK) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Following some discussion with the PSC and others, here's a proposal
> to acknowledge (and therefore encourage) financial support to Perl
> core development.
>
> ----
>
> # Acknowledging financial support to Perl core developement
>
> ## Introduction
>
> Perl Core Development has two main issues:
> * there are not enough core devs
> * there is not enough money to support those currently paid for their
>    work on the core
>
> Growing more core developers is a hard problem.
>
> Finding money is a less hard problem, and it's a more readily available
> skill than Perl core development.
>
> ## The Perl Core Development Fund
>
> The Perl and Raku Foundation maintains the Perl Core Development
> Fund[1], which is used to financially support the work of several Perl
> core developers (three at the time of writing).
>
> The Perl Code Development Fund is the largest program run by the Perl
> Foundation, accounting for 54% of its program expenses in 2025[2].
> Considering that the Foundation has been running at a deficit since 2013
> (except in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2025)[3] there is a real risk for the
> Perl Core Development Fund to run out of money.
>
> In fact, the continued funding of those developers was endangered in
> 2025 by the Foundation's low cash position.[2]
>
> This proposal aims to support the new fundraising efforts started by
> TPRF in 2025, as finding money for this fund helps ensures the continued
> development of Perl.
>
> Sources:
> [1] The Perl Core Development Fund
>      <https://perlfoundation.org/perl-core-development-fund.html>
> [2] The Perl and Raku Foundation Annual Report 2025
>      <https://perlfoundation.org/documents/The_Perl_and_Raku_Foundation_Annual_report_2025.pdf>
> [3] Understanding TRPF's Finances, 2026 Edition
>      <https://blogs.perl.org/users/makoto_nozaki/2026/01/understanding-tprfs-finance-2025-edition.html>
>
> ## Rationale
>
> We want to ensure that the Perl Core Development Fund continues to be
> funded in the future.
>
> To that end, this proposal offers a new perk for potential sponsors,
> that the Perl and Raku Foundation can promote when fundraising, to
> incite donors to contribute directly and specifically to the Perl Core
> Development Fund.
>
> ## Proposal
>
> Add, at the end of the current "Acknowledgements" section in
> perldelta.pod and the release announcement email, a few paragraphs that
> recognize financial contributions to the Perl Core Development Fund.
>
> These paragraphs would consist of a quick description of the "Perl Core
> Development Fund" and list all significant contributors to the fund
> during the development cycle.
>
> The rules for inclusion would be the following:
> * as part of the sponsorship negociations with TPRF, the sponsor asked
>    to be added to the list
> * the PSC received the request from TPRF's fundraising team and approved
>    the placement of the sponsor on the list
> * all or a significant part of the donation to the Perl and Raku
>    Foundation was earmarked specifically for the Perl Core
>    Development Fund
> * the portion earmarked to the Perl Core Development fund is over a
>    predefined minimum amount
>
> As a minimum amount for inclusion, we propose the equivalent of one
> month of full-time Perl core development work, at the TPRF's current
> rate (i.e., 8 × 20 × the hourly rate).
>
> The list of donors will be updated during the development cycle, and the
> final version included in the release announcement email and the stable
> release's perldelta.pod. (The perldeltas for the developement releases
> will contain the list as of the time of release.)
>
> After the full program freeze development release, new contributors to
> the fund will be counted for the next cycle.
>
> Ordering of sponsors: by donation amount and contribution date (higher
> contributions first, and when tied, earliest contributions first).
>
> The text would be added to the output of Porting/acknowledgements.pl and
> documented in the Release Managment Guide. I volunteer to do the update,
> if this proposal is approved.
>
> ## Example
>
> The Perl Core Development Fund, managed by the Perl and Raku Foundation,
> financially supports the work of several core developers.
> https://perlfoundation.org/perl-core-development-fund.html
>
> During the development cycle leading up to Perl 5.x, the following
> organizations each contributed the equivalent of one or more months of
> full-time core developer work to the Perl Core Development Fund:
>
> Company A <https://www.a.com/>, Company B <https://www.b.com/>.
>
> We would like to thank them here for their support to the continued
> development of Perl.
>
>
-- 
Stuart J Mackintosh

President - The Perl and Raku Foundation

Email: [email protected]
Web: https://www.perlfoundation.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/perlfoundation
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