Projects

Call for Nominations: Sovereign Tech Fund (STF) Selection Committee

Introduction and Background

The Open Source Matters (OSM) Board is forming an STF Selection Committee and is inviting the community to take part. This committee will make the milestone award decisions for work funded through the Sovereign Tech Fund. We are now opening nominations and self-nominations.

Why this matters

To keep award decisions fair, transparent, and community led, these decisions are made by a dedicated Selection Committee rather than by a single person or by the Board alone. Serving on the committee is a meaningful way to give back to the Joomla! project, the STF project and to help shape how STF funding is allocated. 

What the Selection Committee decides

The committee is responsible for:

  • Milestone award decisions, based on the agreed scoring matrix.
  • Whether a milestone needs to be re-opened.

What the Selection Committee does not decide

To keep responsibilities clear, the committee does not handle:

  • Contract terms. These remain with the Board.
  • Selection of the Project Manager.
  • Technical review of submitted code. This is handled by Production Department

Composition

The committee has 5 voluntary members plus 1 reserve member:

  • 4 members elected by the community.
  • 1 full Board member.
  • 1 reserve member.

All positions are voluntary and unpaid.

Who can serve (Eligibility Criteria)

To be eligible, a nominee must meet all of the following:

  • At least 12 months of active community membership or contribution.
  • Demonstrable, active contributions.
  • Not applying to be a project manager or for any milestone through this 20 month STF project.
  • No close connection to an applying team or project manager (for example as an employer, employee, or family member). This is to avoid conflicts of interest.

Selection process

  1. Call for nominations (this announcement): Community nominations and self-nominations are both welcome.
  2. Board shortlist: The Board reviews all nominees against the eligibility criteria and publishes a shortlist.
  3. Community vote: The community selects from the shortlist using ranked based voting.
  4. Committee confirmed: The 4 elected members plus 1 Board member are confirmed, together with 1 reserve.

How to nominate

Write an email to

Please include:

  • The nominee's name (and a note if this is a self-nomination).
  • A short summary of their community contributions.
  • A brief statement confirming they meet the eligibility criteria.
  • A declaration of any potential conflict of interest.


Nomination Deadline: 19th June 2026, midnight UTC.
Voting Deadline: 26th June 2026, midnight UTC.
Committee work starts: 29th June 2026.

 

Questions:

We encourage everyone who qualifies to consider nominating themselves, and to nominate community members whose judgment they trust.

 

Changes to this RFP

June, 5th 2026 

  • Initial version.