A New Era of Transparency

Lynn Root

August 17, 2025 | Tag: » Global, Governance, PyLadies, Transparency

The PyLadies Global Council was formed in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to serve as a global voice for PyLadies chapters and members around the world. Over the past few years, we’ve worked hard to support our community through funding, programming, and representation within the Python Software Foundation (PSF) and the Python community.

Along the way, we’ve also learned a lot about what it takes to govern a growing, global volunteer organization. This post is about being transparent with our community: sharing both the progress we’ve made and the challenges we’ve faced, as well as how we’re moving forward.

What We’ve Accomplished

Even with a small and busy council, we’ve been able to:

Chapter Support: We’ve established clear requirements for PyLadies chapters to maintain active status and continue receiving PSF support for meetup fees (requiring two events per year)
Administrative Infrastructure: We’ve organized shared resources including password management, hosting services, social media accounts, and GitHub access
Community Funding: We’ve allocated budgets for PyCon travel grants, reviewed applications, and supported PyLadies attendance at major conferences
Event Planning: We’ve coordinated PyCon-related activities including auctions, lunches, merchandise, and sticker distribution
Process Development: We’ve drafted frameworks for microfunding proposals and conference funding requests
Recognition Programs: We’ve continued the annual Outstanding PyLady award selection process
Technical Improvements: We’ve begun planning website refreshes and reviewing proposals for better chapter membership management tools
Financial Oversight: We work closely with the PSF on budget planning, cash flow management, and trademark questions

We’re proud of this progress, and equally aware that governance processes and community input have not always been clear or consistent.

Listening to the Community

As part of our commitment to transparency, the Council has been publishing monthly meeting notes on GitHub since our formation with over 50 meetings, which is now being cross-posted to the PyLadies Slack.

But we hear the concern that increased transparency would be better for the community, about how PyLadies Global Council operates, communicates, and makes decisions. We want to acknowledge this feedback openly: it is clear we need stronger structures, clearer processes, and more opportunities for community participation.

Building a Governance Model

To address these concerns, we’ve started outlining a governance model back in July 2025 that will guide how the PyLadies Global Council - and PyLadies more broadly - works.

Our governance planning covers several key areas:

Foundational Elements

Mission and purpose definition
Council structure and relationship to local chapters
Term limits and rotation policies
Communication protocols and meeting requirements

Decision-Making Framework

Clear voting procedures and consensus-building processes
Defined responsibilities for different roles and groups
Guidelines for Global Council, local chapters, PSF liaisons, and working groups

Community Engagement

Election processes and community participation
Feedback mechanisms and conflict resolution procedures
Financial decision-making transparency
Amendment processes for future governance changes

We’ve divided up this work among council members and are currently drafting comprehensive documentation. Once it’s in place we’ll:

Review internally as a Council;
Invite a small group of community members to comment;
Open a “Request for Comments” to the wider PyLadies community;
Ratify the model based on this feedback.

This process is underway now, and we commit to sharing updates along the way. We don’t need a particularly thorough model right now; we need something to jump start us for our next elections.

Upcoming Elections

Elections are a top priority following the establishment of our governance framework. We’re targeting Q1 for our next election cycle and are working through several important considerations:

Community Awareness: Ensuring all PyLadies members know about upcoming elections and how to participate
Nomination Process: Providing adequate time for self-nominations and candidate visibility
Voter Verification: Developing fair and accessible methods to verify PyLadies community membership

The technical challenge of membership verification is significant, and we’re exploring practical solutions that balance security with accessibility. For our upcoming elections, we may implement a trust-based, self-verification system while working on longer-term technical solutions.

Community Collaboration

We recognize that effective governance requires active community participation. We set up a GitHub Discussion board as a space for community-wide conversations. While the board hasn’t been used as much as we’d hoped, we would like to encourage chapters and individual members to begin using it as a way to ask questions, share ideas, and connect with the Council.

We also want to acknowledge that community members have brought forward proposals for technical solutions to our chapter and membership management challenges. While not all proposals align with our current technical requirements or budget constraints, we appreciate the community’s initiative in identifying problems and suggesting solutions. We’re committed to working collaboratively on these challenges while maintaining responsible stewardship of PyLadies resources. We will ensure that the next Global Council will make this need a top priority.

Challenges and Reality

Leading a volunteer organization comes with inherent challenges. Council members balance PyLadies responsibilities with full-time work, family commitments, and personal circumstances including health challenges and major life events. This reality affects our capacity and timeline for governance improvements.

We’re working to distribute responsibilities more evenly among council members and explore ways to sustainably manage the organization’s growing needs. This includes potentially expanding working groups and committees to involve more community members in PyLadies leadership.

Looking Ahead

We are committed to:

Transparency: sharing Council decisions and processes openly.
Accountability: ensuring responsibilities are clear, and decisions represent the community.
Sustainability: creating processes that do not rely on a single individual’s time or energy.
Community Voice: making sure PyLadies members around the world are represented in how our organization grows.

This is ongoing work, and we know it will take time, feedback, and patience. We ask for your continued engagement, questions, and ideas as we move forward together.

How You Can Help

Share your thoughts when the governance draft is opened for comments.
Encourage your local chapter to stay engaged with the Council.
Consider running for Council in the upcoming elections.
Volunteer for working groups as they are formed.