Hi folks,
The XSF needs to decide on the future of its fiscal hosting programme.
For those unfamiliar, fiscal hosting is a service the XSF has been
offering for a few years now. It allows qualifying XMPP-related
projects to essentially use the XSF as a way to receive money (e.g.
donations from sponsors) and pay expenses (e.g. server costs). This
saves projects from the trouble of setting up their own organization,
bank account, and so on.
To help organize this, we use the Open Collective platform which was
purpose-built for this kind of arrangement. However, Open Collective
have let us know that they will be raising their prices in 2026:
https://pricing-2026.opencollective.com/
Under their previous pricing, our usage did not incur any costs and we
were able to use their platform for free.
They are planning to charge us ~$15/month per project ("collective")
that we host. This is very expensive relative to the amount of funding
we are enabling. For example:
We currently have 5 collectives, and I checked their "estimated annual
budget" earlier this year when the new pricing was announced (income
was calculated by OpenCollective based on the prior 12 months of
activity):
Mellium: $15/month == 180% of their annual budget
Prav: $15/month == 50% of their annual budget
diasp.in: $15/month == 1000% of their annual budget
Bifrost: dormant, $0 raised during past 12 months
Prav iOS app: $15/month == 178% of their annual budget
If we end the fiscal hosting programme, we will need to transfer to
existing projects any funds that we are currently holding for them.
If we continue, we need to agree that the expenses are justified.
I propose this topic as an agenda item for the next board meeting
(15th December). In the meantime, if any members have opinions, please
feel free to share them.
Regards,
Matthew
Dear all,
regarding the Google Summer of Code I would like to send a kind reminder.
You can start reading here:
https://wiki.xmpp.org/web/Google_Summer_of_Code_2026
If you and your project are interested, please list good ideas.
As I know that the interest in the program has very much declined over
the recent years, I still would like to promote this a opportunity.
Besides the 350 and 175 hours, Google offers to also have just a 90
hours length. This might lower barriers and let reconsider to introduce
people working with XMPP rather than expecting them to implement heavy
lifting such as MUC or A/V. The 90 hours could also be taken to do this
as a more academic implementation and working with rather simple topics
but increase interest in the technology.
Another thing to reconsider is finding people through talks with your
community but also in your local sphere such as university and contacts
you have and that might be suitable.
-
https://mov.im/community/news.xmpp.org/News/e65a1483-2449-4eb7-b1fd-09f3641…
- https://fosstodon.org/@xmpp/115805273794678126
- https://bsky.app/profile/xmpp-official.bsky.social/post/3mb5vxmszad2b
Best regards,
Eddie
On 05/12/2025 19:47, E.M. wrote:
> Dear XMPP Community,
>
> Google has announced their stipend program for 2026.
>
> https://opensource.googleblog.com/2025/12/shape-future-with-google-
> summer-of-code.html
>
> In this regard, the XSF is considering to apply as umbrella organisation
> again. To do so, we would expect the community and its projects to come
> up with good and interesting ideas.
>
> Hence, if you are interested to participate and until we come with more
> details, please start thinking about your potential participation and
> also communicating in your community to find also potential candidates
> that contribute.
>
> A good start is to read Google's resources: https://
> developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/resources/
>
> You can also join our GSoC XMPP chat: https://xmpp.org/chat?gsoc
>
> Kind regards,
> Eddie
> GSoC Org Administrator
Hello all,
In advance to the FOSDEM 2026 and a possible recap article on this years
highlights the XSF Communication Team would like to collect highlights
of this year. We can promote this through our channels but also prepare
a nice handout.
https://pad.nixnet.services/x87ng-viRoGzVtjeIv7Luw?view
Cheers,
Eddie
I have created the membership application page for Q1 2026 at:
https://wiki.xmpp.org/web/Membership_Applications_Q1_2026
The following XSF members have to reapply:
* Benson Muite
* Ludovic Bocquet
* Jan-Carel Brand
* Dave Cridland
* Nicola Fabiano
* Alexander Gnauck
* Daniel Gultsch
* Tim Henkes
* Edward Maurer
* Jérôme Poisson
* Mario Sabatino
* Jonas Schäfer
* Florian Schmaus
* Winfried Tilanus
* Trần H. Trung
* Arne-Bruen Vogelsang
* Matthew Wild
* Heiner Wolf
Regards,
Alex
Dear XSF Members,
The Board has revisited the topic of establishing a minimal EU-based
presence for the XSF, a subject with considerable history in our
discussions over the years. While no decision has been made to create a
European legal entity, we would like to move from open-ended discussion to
action by conducting a time-boxed investigation.
The goals of this investigation are:
- Explore one or two lightweight options for an EU presence.
- Identify potential benefits, estimated costs, administrative effort,
and key risks.
- Produce a short, public proposal suitable for member feedback, with a
clear recommendation (go / no-go).
Timeline: The investigation should report back within two Board meeting
cycles.
We are now seeking volunteers to help carry out this investigation. If you
are interested or have relevant expertise, please reply to this message or
contact the Board directly by January 7th.
This effort does not commit the XSF to creating an EU entity. Its purpose
is to gather sufficient information to make an informed decision in the
future.
Thank you for your attention and support.
Kind regards,
Guus
Hello,
you can find the meeting minutes here:
https://wiki.xmpp.org/web/Meeting-Minutes-2025-12-11
All applicants and reappliers were accepted. Congratulations to everyone.
I will setup our next application page shortly
Thanks,
Alex
Hello everyone,
It is that time of the year again, and the Chaos Communication Congress¹
is coming soon. I have registered an XMPP assembly - a way to have a
fixed landing point with tables and chairs where people can chill, code,
discuss about XMPP among other things - which has been accepted.
This year, to ensure space is distributed somewhat fairly, Congress
participants are asked to register an assembly with their tickets, so
that organizers have a rough idea of what to expect.
I am therefore asking any community member that is coming and plans to
be there a significant portion of the time to set their assembly to the
XMPP one with their tickets, so that we have the appropriate amount of
space.
We will be welcomed into the Critical Decentralization Cluster² habitat
this year, and we are welcome to organize talks or workshops within the
cluster, as long as there is still room for it (since it is getting
quite late for proper planning).
Cheers,
Mathieu
P.S. : I am in the process of making the assembly name change from "XMPP
Assembly" to "XMPP" because the information is redundant.
¹: The congress is an annual hacker conference which is being held in
Hamburg, Germany this year, between the 27th and the 30th of December
(inclusive). Tickets are hard to come by and the official sale has
already ended, though I don’t doubt some tickets will pop on the
secondary official market every once in a while. For more info, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Communication_Congress and
https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/hub/en/index
²: https://decentral.community/39C3/
According to my records the following XSF members have voted via proxy
in the current voting period:
* intosi (at) ik.nu
* edhelas (at) movim.eu
* nicoco (at) nicoco.fr
* mathieui (at) mathieui.net
* flo (at) geekplace.eu
* zash (at) zash.se
* neox (at) a-lec.org
* badrihippo (at) disroot.org
* singpolyma (at) singpolyma.net
* jabberjocke (at) jabber.org
* emus (at) jabbers.one
* dele.olajide (at) igniterealtime.org
* benson_muite (at) disroot.org
* trần.h.trung (at) trung.fun
* kevin.smith (at) isode.com
* daniel (at) spacecloud.one
* dan.caseley (at) igniterealtime.org
* jabber (at) larma.de
* guus.der.kinderen (at) igniterealtime.org
* gnauck (at) conversations.im
If you have not yet voted, please send a message to xmpp:memberbot@xmpp.org.
If you have problems with memberbot please contact me directly by email
or xmpp.
Thanks,
Alex
