The Haskell Foundation has been at the center of a flurry of changes, all of which I’d like to share with the community today.

First, José, our executive director for the past few years, has decided to step away from his role in June 2026. José has been the longest-serving executive director at the Haskell Foundation, spending his time interacting with and supporting the community in many ways, often away from public view. Through personal sacrifices, José has allowed the Haskell Foundation to survive some tough times; today, the Foundation is in good shape. The Board of Directors, and I in my personal capacity, are deeply grateful for José’s work and dedication over the years. We wish him the best of luck for the future.

Second, the Board of Directors has decided to take this opportunity to restructure the Haskell Foundation. The principal goal is to dedicate most of the Foundation’s financial resources to technical work. The Foundation wants its members to be able to see a clear causal connection between their contributions and a series of improvements in the Haskell ecosystem. We want our members to have a voice in which projects we undertake, and thereby to take on a much greater sense of ownership of the health of our shared ecosystem.

Our use of the word member, rather than donor or sponsor, reflects a deliberate shift in tone. We want to build a greater sense of partnership and agency among our members. Rather than merely throwing money over the wall, we want membership to feel engaged in an inspiring shared mission, and that by sharing our resources we can accomplish much more than we can accomplish individually.

A new Haskell Foundation committee will direct resources toward a unified technical vision, and wield most of the Foundation’s resources to make this vision a reality. This plays to the strengths of the Haskell Foundation’s Board and collaborators, and will also include strong representation from the members of the Foundation.

To make this possible, the Haskell Foundation will remain without an executive director for the foreseeable future. Instead of having a full-time employee in charge of fundraising, events, coordination, mediation and much more, we will split these responsibilities between the Board and a new, part-time role dedicated to the Haskell Foundation’s financial sustainability.

We will share more concrete updates in the coming weeks and months.

Finally, the Haskell Foundation’s Board of Directors changed its composition last month. Departing directors are Andres Löh, former Chair, as well as Hazel Weakly and Josh Meredith. The Board warmly thanks Andres, Hazel, and Josh for their service and support over the past three years. The Board has elected Dominik Schrempf and Simon Marlow to join as new directors.

Expect more regular communications over the near term!

Laurent P. René de Cotret, Chair
on behalf of the Haskell Foundation Board of Directors

So to see Jose step away, but I’m glad that we worked together.

Thanks a lot, I look forward for the next steps of HF!

I also want to thank @jmct for all his excellent work and juggling the many challenges that the HF brings with it, allowing us to survive for this long.

At the same time, the proposed organziational structure makes me somewhat skeptical. From what I understand:

• there will be a half-time employee looking for funding
• infrastructure will be done by volunteers
• outward communication will be done by volunteers
• events will be done by volunteers
• maintaining a vision will be done by volunteers (a new committee it seems)

How many of those volunteers will have to be recruited from the board itself?

It’s also not clear to me how that new commitee will relate to the TWG.

Thanks @hasufell

Part of the restructuring is indeed that the board will be taking on more work. This is something we’ve been working through internally, figuring out who is going to do which aspects of the ED role not covered by the new part time hire.

As for TWG, this will replace it. We made this plan after consulting with the TWG and trying to figure out what works and what didn’t. There was no objection to the new plan from the TWG and many of them are going to take part in this new framework.

Thanks @jmct, @kosmikus and Josh , it’s been a real pleasure meeting and working with you.

Congratulations to the new directors and I wish you all the best of luck

@jmct It’s been a delight to serve the Foundation and the community under your stewardship, and I hope you get the rest that you deserve.

Thanks for everything @jmct!