So we teamed up with PyMC3 and ArviZ to do a joint Bayesian proposal to Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s call for open source software infrastructure and we we got it. This is through NumFOCUS so it pays for people on the Stan org payroll with some funds for Aki’s Global South class (teaching assistants/software). This is is $66k/year which is around half of our operating expenses–this is after taxes.
I am hoping this opens the door to follow on CZI funding and perhaps other sources. The interesting part was that this proposal was explicitly for infrastructure.
I’ve had good luck with Facebook, previously I raised $100k from the company directly so maybe their Stan based Prophet product helps ease the funding.
Thanks to Andrew Gelman for paying my salary while I wrangled the grant, Aki Vehtari for suggesting the collaboration with PyMC3 and ArviZ for a previous NASA grant that made it easier to pickup the CZI proposal. Christopher Fonnesbeck (PyMC3), Ravin Kumar(ArviZ) and Oriel Abril(ArviZ) deserve thanks for critical efforts.
Breck