Ramp up your knowledge about nonprofit administration. Strengthen your operational processes. Apply best practices for community engagement. Get a closer look into fiscal sponsorship agreements.
Tap into the collective expertise of our participating organizations to learn best practices and gain new perspectives on finance and operations, program implementation, and more.
In the spirit of transparency, openness, and community-building, we’re sharing public resources developed by experts to support your work.
Get the most out of resources by searching topic tags or program area.
This policy governs the use of, and payment for, technology equipment (such as computers and accessories) required for business purposes by Code for Science and Society (CS&S). This policy addresses technology devices issued by CS&S and personal employee-owned devices used for business purposes.
Instructions for requesting a card, submitting reimbursements and receipts, using your card and more.
Information for vendors and contractors receiving funds or reimbursements from CS&S.
Our financial statements including Form 990 and audited financials.
These policies govern the reimbursement of travel, entertainment and other business expenses as well as how to use company credit cards properly and know the responsibilities that come with use of a company credit card.
Greenhouse is an applicant tracking software and hiring platform that streamlines job post creation, candidate management, reporting and compliance. All of our fiscally-sponsored project teams have access to Greenhouse to meet their hiring needs.
This resource contains a summary of functions, a breakdown of services CS&S does and does not offer in conjunction with Greenhouse, and detailed instructions with links to Greenhouse support articles to walk you through every step in your hiring process.
A reference for CS&S employees and fiscally sponsored project leadership teams to understand benefits programs, billing procedures, and compensation policies at CS&S.
A workplace accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job position, work environment or workplace process that helps to provide equal employment opportunities to individuals with a disability or other need.
This policy includes an overview as well as process information regarding how to request a workplace accommodation.
The CS&S office is closed on Fridays, in observance of the 4-day workweek. On rare occasions an emergency may arise for fiscally sponsored projects while the CS&S office is closed (Fridays and US holidays). This resource details what CS&S does and does not consider an emergency requiring immediate CS&S attention, as well as actions FSPs can take in response to matters that are timely, but not considered an emergency.
This policy governs the tracking of assets purchased with federal funds, and describes the process to report new assets or changes to existing assets.
Greenhouse is an applicant tracking software and hiring platform that streamlines job post creation, candidate management, reporting and compliance. All of our fiscally-sponsored project teams have access to Greenhouse to meet their hiring needs.
This resource contains a summary of functions, a breakdown of services CS&S does and does not offer in conjunction with Greenhouse, and detailed instructions with links to Greenhouse support articles to walk you through every step in your hiring process.
As the steward of federal funds, CS&S is responsible for compliance with federal requirements to certify effort on federally funded projects. Failure to manage and certify effort could jeopardize opportunities to engage in federally funded work.
Mitigate risk and practice care by familiarizing yourself with how to navigate situations that involve terminating an independent contractor and/or employee.
This resource provides guidance for designing a hiring plan, including building a committee, structuring interview stages and interview best practices.
The following policy outlines professional development resources available to members of the CS&S core team.
Code for Science & Society strives to be a community leader on issues around meaningfully inclusive public interest technology across domains.
Primary caretakers can face hurdles when traveling for work due to responsibilities related to caring for their dependents. This policy aims to make work travel more inclusive by reducing barriers to participation related to caregiving obligations.
Before an official offer letter is sent by CS&S, projects may wish to make their intent to hire clear by sending an informal offer email, as outlined in this template. Projects should modify this template to best suit their needs.
This resource offers guidance on how to recognize that it's time to hire, budgeting for a new hire, and next steps including: assessing the makeup of your team to identify gaps, planning for professional development within a role, determining your target communities and how to reach them, and describing your team's working culture, values and goals.
This resource outlines compensation bands and promotion criteria for all members of the CS&S Core Team.
Data-driven practices and transparency are a part of our mission. In keeping with that mission, our compensation philosophy prioritizes transparent starting salaries at all levels, data-informed pay, clear timelines and processes for raises.
Reference this guide for important considerations regarding non-US hires, such as: onboarding minimums, budgeting for currency fluctuations, equitable benefits offerings, PTO and termination periods.
This template is used for CS&S core team job postings, and can be adapted by fiscally sponsored projects to suit their hiring needs.
This guide for fiscally sponsored projects is meant to address how to get in touch with CS&S and how long requests may take to process.
This resource outlines the steps and considerations necessary in order to request a compensation change for a member of your team.
This resource contains CS&S hiring process requirements, tips for what to include and avoid in a job post, and a list of suggested posting locations.
This resource contains company-wide policies applicable to all employees of CS&S.
Instructions for requesting a card, submitting reimbursements and receipts, using your card and more.
The CS&S FSP Management and Operations teams are available to support your project with hiring guidance and the administration of an application management system. At a minimum, all projects are required to complete the steps detailed here as a part of any hiring process.
Information for vendors and contractors receiving funds or reimbursements from CS&S.
This guide is intended to support CS&S employees in understanding the applicable policies and processes required to take a paid leave in the event of the birth or placement of a new child.
A reference for CS&S employees and fiscally sponsored project leadership teams to understand benefits programs, billing procedures, and compensation policies at CS&S.
These policies govern the reimbursement of travel, entertainment and other business expenses as well as how to use company credit cards properly and know the responsibilities that come with use of a company credit card.
This policy governs the use of, and payment for, technology equipment (such as computers and accessories) required for business purposes by Code for Science and Society (CS&S). This policy addresses technology devices issued by CS&S and personal employee-owned devices used for business purposes.
The Company observes a specified number of holidays per year, currently 16 days, where team members can expect that most other employees and core staff are off.
We are excited to share our report about the changing landscape of research-driven open source software. What will prove sustainable in the next 20 years? How can the projects and organizations emerge with the resources needed to prioritize innovation in data science for the pursuit of research?
Determining IP risks to an open source project may feel daunting, however the first step is simply to make a list.
Shared resources from the event on May 3, 2022.
Collected resources from the event on February 23, 2022.
Collected resources from the event on December 8, 2021.
Observations from working with project leads as they consider sustainability and community health.
Observations from working with project leads as they develop plans for localization, translation, and more.
Observations from working with project leads as they deepen community engagement.
Observations from working with project leads as they develop their project governance.
This impact report submitted to the Moore Foundation in August 2022 details the observed impacts of the Event Fund from 2020-2022.
Examples of and resources for developing a code of conduct and other guidelines for community participation
A curated list of event planning guides for in-person and virtual events
A worksheet to sketch linkages between event goals and activities in your upcoming event
There are a great number of funding sources for those in open source to consider. Any funding - taking investment or receiving a grant - comes with strings attached
A guide to identifying your projects a core goals and enable better community collaboration.
Our financial statements including Form 990 and audited financials.
A guide to mapping out and evaluating how the specific features of your project speak to the meta goals of your project.
A general guide to US nonprofit legal requirements around donation receipts
Documentation for the activity of the CS&S Board of Directors.
A toolkit of nine activities for those interested in hosting a cross-disciplinary workshop
An incomplete list of things we have read, are reading, and are thinking with.
To develop governing bodies in a way that is mindful of historical racism in nonprofits and across science and technology, we engaged leaders in equity, DeEtta Jones and Associates (DJA), to work with us to develop processes to center anti-racist values in the way we develop governance.
It’s time for scholars to ask whether today’s data preservation technologies align with open scholarship’s values of access, preservation, privacy, and transparency.
Methods to develop requirements centered around your audience.
Common approaches to ask a funder for assistance and approaching them in a way that will make success most likely.
Understanding how how funders make funding decisions can help a project understand how it fits in.
Expectations of leaders have shifted, big time.
If our goal is to tackle complex problems, then we need complex organizations with diverse leadership.
Open scholarship challenges systems of scholarly production, and provides an opportunity to embed anti-racism, anti-capitalism, and intersectional feminism in our scholarly communication system.
There's no one path to financial sustainability that is right for all projects.
What is fiscal sponsorship, and how does it support project in open source?
Before you start making decisions about your favorite technology stack or development platform, think about the infrastructure and trajectory of your project.
While you’re defining your approach to budgeting, you might consider the following questions early to set yourself up for success.
When considering how any project will run, you typically need to understand the roles that project members play and how decisions are made.
Defining project requirements is a good way to check what your project should do and, more importantly, why.
How do we grow a truly decentralized, inclusive, and resilient movement?
When open science, open access, or open scholarship are discussed, we encourage communities to question it.
There's no magic formula for sustainability in an open source project.
Working as an individual can be challenging, but we provide some guidance on how to grow your project and transition to a team environment as your work develops.
Considering the actions of the many players in the open scholarship space as a unified collective action – a movement -- offers an opportunity to have dramatic impact.