Announcing organisational sustainability support from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
We are thrilled to announce that The Carpentries has received a two-year grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support initiatives that will strengthen our global impact and position us as a leading independent open source non-profit organisation. The project is designed to scale our mission meaningfully — building regional capacity, enhancing financial sustainability, and expanding our contributions to critical and emerging fields such as Research Software Engineering (RSEng) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
A Stronger, More Equitable Open Source Future
The project includes four overarching goals:
- Develop open source curricula in emerging fields to meet the evolving needs of learners.
- Achieve long-term financial sustainability to support the global Carpentries community.
- Scale community engagement equitably, especially in underserved regions.
- Empower Regional Community Leaders to drive locally-led growth and support.
Project Activities
To achieve these goals, we will facilitate a series of targeted activities:
- Identify gaps in existing open-source education within RSEng and AI.
- Collaborate with you, our community, to define community-centered success metrics.
- Develop and pilot new lessons with guidance from subject matter experts within our community.
- Launch a multilingual onboarding program for Regional Community Leaders, focusing on communication, coordination, and The Carpentries’ instructional model.
- Onboard leaders from five distinct regions and implement a framework for organisational scalability.
- Design and pilot a tiered revenue model with input from partners and community members.
Project Outcomes
By investing in local leadership, developing open educational resources, and refining how we support our programs financially, we aim to make The Carpentries more resilient and inclusive. This grant enables us to meet the moment, supporting the next generation of learners, educators, and technologists who will shape the future of open science and data literacy. This project will result in:
- A new set of foundational, open source lessons in emerging fields.
- A scalable, inclusive revenue model to support long-term sustainability.
- A multilingual, replicable onboarding program for Regional Community Leaders around the world.
We are grateful to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for its support and belief in our mission. Together with our community, we are ready to build what is next. Stay tuned—we will share updates throughout the project, including progress reports, opportunities for engagement, and lessons learned along the way.