Funding on The Carpentries

Running workshops on limited budgets

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Anelda van der Walt and co-host Toby Hodges ran the first themed discussion session in March to brainstorm ideas about running workshops with little to no funding. Attendees from Australia, the US, the UK, and Canada joined to hear and contribute ideas.

Existing Funding Models

The Brisbane model is to use Eventbrite to charge a low fee (around AUD $60) for attendance at workshops. This has a few benefits - waitlists can be managed, the booking widget appears in the workshop website, fees can be easily refunded up to a week before the workshop, and attendance is generally good because people have paid out of their own pockets or have been sponsored by their school to come. The fee covers the costs of room hire and the fairly lavish morning and afternoon teas that keep people from wandering off in search of sustenance during breaks. The Brisbane instructor pool is fairly large so there is no need to fly people in, which means we don’t have to factor in those costs. One drawback is having to pay the catering and room hire costs up-front by personal credit card as the Eventbrite payout comes only after the workshop. This is a break-even charge - we could charge more and return some money to The Carpentries, but our main interest is in keeping costs low.

A Year in Review: Annual Moore Progress Report

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

A year ago we were fortunate enough to receive a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Data-Driven Discovery initiative to support Data Carpentry to develop and deliver data skills training to researchers in the life and physical sciences. See our original proposal here. Thanks to the Moore Foundation, this support has allowed us as a community to run more workshops, develop new materials, develop infrastructure and advocate for the importance of data skills training for more effective and reproducible research.

Grant from the Moore Foundation

Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

We are extremely pleased to announce that Data Carpentry has received $750,000 in funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

With more than $6.4 billion in assets, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is the ninth largest foundation in the United States. The Science Program accounts for approximately 40 percent of the foundation’s annual grant making, making the foundation one of the largest private funders of science nationwide.

Funding Software Carpentry Workshops

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Software Carpentry workshops are taught by volunteers, but hosts need to fund instructor travel, accommodation as well as our administrative fees of $750-$1250. While these costs are low, it can sometimes be a challenge to get funding for your first workshop, especially if others are unfamiliar with SWC. Here are some successful strategies that hosts have used to fund workshops:

Our IUSE Proposal Was Rejected

Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We got word a few days ago that our proposal to the NSF's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program had been rejected. The panel summary agreed that software training is a good idea, but were not convinced about our plans to shift from training grad students to undergrads. In particular, they were not convinced that Unix-based workshops would be best for undergrads, and felt that not being embedded in the regular curriculum was a weakness. These are fair criticisms:

Most undergraduates only use GUIs and cannot navigate the terminal to save their lives. The perception that Software Carpentry is Unix-specific therefore hurt the proposal, and showed that we didn't clearly explain our focus on underlying concepts.
The fact that we wouldn't be part of the regular curriculum is more difficult to address. The fact is, it really is hard to get undergrads to do things that interfere with earning grades, just as it's often hard to get grad students to do anything that doesn't immediately lead to a publication. Some of their concern about impact also seemed to be due to us concentrating on REU students, a self-selected bunch that already are motivated.

At the same time, though, the panel did not connect the results from years of Software Carpentry workshops and the expected impact of this effort. This indicates that the proposal did not effectively communicate how well our experience to date has laid the groundwork for efforts like this.

We're obviously disappointed by this rejection, but we've some useful lessons, and we hope that they will inspire others to put forward proposals of their own.

SSI Fellowship Programme 2014

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Software Sustainability Institute is offering Fellowships with £3000 funding for travel, collaboration and running events, including Software Carpentry bootcamps. The Fellowship Programme 2014 recognises outstanding UK-based researchers who use and develop software. Online applications are open until September 27th, 2013 at 5:00 PM BST.

Our Funding Pitch

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

A couple of people have recently asked, "How do you go about asking for money?" Applying for grants from NSERC, the NSF, and other agencies is something they understand (though it never actually worked for me), but cold-calling people, or emailing them out of the blue, isn't something most academics have ever done.

I'm now doing another round of this, and since this is supposed to be an open-everything project, I've posted the short pitch I use as a starting point when approaching someone new. I hope you find it useful, and of course, feedback is always welcome.

Eighty Per Cent!

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

As of this morning, I have signed commitments for 4/5 of the money I need to spend a year working full-time on updating the Software Carpentry course. If you, or someone you know, would like to help me help scientists be more productive, please get in touch: I have only 64 days in which to find the $30K I still need.

NSF Programs

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has enough direct experience of the following NSF programs to know whether they might be willing to support Software Carpentry:

Grant Proposal

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Rebuilding the Software Carpentry course is too big to do in anyone's spare time, so I've submitted a small funding application (included below). If you know any venues that might welcome a similar proposal, I'd be grateful for pointers.

A Self-Paced Software Skills Bootcamp for Research Scientists

Proposed Dates and Venue

Trial run to take place online in July 2010.

Type of Activity