The Apache Software Foundation

TAC

Travel Assistance Committee (TAC)

The Travel Assistance committee was reformed in September 2008 with the goal of providing financial assistance to those who would otherwise be unable to attend various ASF related events.

Those who are thinking of applying for financial assistance should know that the Committee has limited finances and that, as a consequence, only a few places are available for each Apache event. Applicants should have valid reasons for attending ASF related events that are of benefit to both the applicant and the ASF, and to open source as a whole.

Note, read this entire page BEFORE applying for assistance.

Application criteria

The Committee judges applications on merit, based on details each applicant provides on their application form. The application form captures the information the Committee requires to be able to make such a judgment. Bear in mind that, due to the Committee’s limited resources, it must apply its criteria aggressively. Just because someone does not receive assistance on this occasion does not mean that they are not worthy of assistance, or that the Committee does not value their contribution to the ASF or to open source in general. We would love to be able to offer support more widely, but, as always, the Committee is limited in its work by the funds available.

The Committee will notify those it deems to be most in need of assistance within a week of the closing of the application period.

What the assistance covers

The Committee provides assistance with travel (air fares or train tickets), accommodation during the conference, and conference fees. At this time, the Committee is unable to provide any funds for general living expenses during the conference.

Arrangements and planning for successful applicants

The Committee, and the ASF itself, do not have the means to distribute funds for air fares, etc, to successful applicants, who will undoubtedly be located worldwide. Therefore, the ASF and its appointed agents will arrange and pay directly for travel and accommodation for successful applicants.

How to apply for travel assistance

Visit the online application and , if you have not already done so, create an account by clicking the ‘Register’ link - or if you are an ASF Committer just login using your LDAP creds via oauth. Once logged in answer all questions as fully as possible. Note that you do not need to answer all questions in the same session: you can keep coming back until you have completed the form.

Ensure that you specify which event you are applying for. We generally give preference to those who apply to attend an event nearest their home location. In other words, those in Europe would fare better applying to attend an ASF EU event, and those in Asia, an ASF Asia event, when they next come round.

However, we will consider carefully compelling reasons you present to support going to an event further away than your nearest ASF event location. We will only notify those applicants who are successful. If you have not heard from us within one week of the application closing date, you should assume that you did not qualify on this occasion. However, you are welcome to email tac-apply@apache.org for confirmation if you wish. We do not provide explanations why a given application was not successful, but you may assume that other applicants had a greater need on this occasion.

Note that, in return for financial assistance, we do ask that you perform some duties while at the event, such as staffing the registration booth and helping spread the Apache Way message; and opening/closing talk sessions for other Speakers. But do not worry: you will still have plenty of time to attend talks that interest you, get to see the sights of the hosting city, and meet people from your projects and other folks you have been communicating with.

Also note that participants we support must themselves obtain Travel Insurance (including Medical coverage for those traveling overseas).

To apply, complete the on line application.

Events for which support is available

No events currrently, please check back again soon.

See our events page for more details. To apply for a supported event, complete the on-line application.

Stories from past TAC recipients

Are you thinking of applying for TAC funding, but wondering how it works? Wondering how it might apply for someone like yourself? Wondering if it might be relevant? Curious to know how others found the experience?

We’ve put together stories from past TAC recipients of their experiences with TAC and with ApacheCon/CommunityOverCode. You can view these on the TAC Stories pages. We’ve grouped them by project area, applicant background and the like. Take a look around!

Who are TAC?

Please see our official committee listing.

How to join TAC?

The only constraint we have due to the amount of private (PII) information that we handle, all TAC Committee Volunteers and Committee Members must also be ASF Members. As an ASF Member you are free to volunteer to help TAC by sending an email to private@tac.apache.org. The TAC Chair or other Committee member will then grant access to TAC only resources.

The Committee has a policy to clean up the Committee listing every once in a while to current volunteers. Or of course you are also free to ask to be removed from the Committee at any time should you no longer have time to volunteer.