How We Allocate Financial Aid

We take deciding how to allocate our financial aid budget very seriously.

This year, we are able to provide free conference tickets to all speakers, and we offer discounted student/diversity tickets to anyone who needs a reduced-price ticket. In addition, we work with sponsors to provide funds for travel, lodging, and other expenses to applicants who need financial assistance. We’re thankful to Django Events Foundation North America (DEFNA), the Django Software Foundation, and the Python Software Foundation for their contributions to help us grow our community through financial aid.

The DjangoCon US team uses Grorg, a Django app created by Andrew Godwin, to score applications. It assists in reducing bias in scoring through randomization of application order and preventing reviewers from seeing each others’ comments before they have scored an application. Once all applications have been scored, the conference organizers make the final decision on how our funds should be allocated.

We score each application from 1 to 5 based on the following criteria:

• What is the realistic benefit to the applicant?
• Does the applicant have clear and specific ideas about what they will gain from attending the conference?
• Does the applicant seem really excited about attending DjangoCon US?
• What is the value for money? The goal is to help as many people as possible attend DjangoCon US who otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

We look for concrete ideas and commitments in applications. We try to ensure that speakers are able to attend while also giving opportunities to non-speakers, attendees who are new to the Django community, and those whose lives and careers will most be affected by attending DjangoCon US. As you can imagine, the choice is not easy.

Our selection criteria and process are modified from one suggested in the Django Girls Organizer’s Manual and suggested by Daniele Procida.