Announcing Ecosystem Partnerships

Haskell Foundation
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Wider investment in Haskell through Ecosystem Partnerships

The Haskell Foundation is pleased to announce a new initiative: Ecosystem Partnerships. These are joint efforts between the Haskell Foundation and service providers with the aim of increasing investment into the wider Haskell ecosystem. These partners sell targeted work on open-source projects important to the Haskell ecosystem, with some of the funds being contributed to the Haskell Foundation for its continued community, infrastructure, and organizing work.

In collaboration with the Haskell Foundation, our Ecosystem Partners create an offering to the public for Haskell services. We’ll call this offering an Ecosystem Contract (though different partners may choose different names for their products). Commercial users of Haskell would then be able to purchase an Ecosystem Contract directly from a partner.

Motivation

The sustainability and growth of the Haskell ecosystem is the primary concern of the Foundation and we encourage investment in shared infrastructure and tooling. Ecosystem Partnerships will allow investment in the ecosystem to be recognized even if it is not funded via the Foundation. This aligns with our desire to recognize any organization that funds maintenance, development, or support of the open source tooling that Haskellers use.

What does an Ecosystem Partner get?

The Ecosystem Partner is able to benefit financially from work that benefits the Haskell community, and leverages their expertise on Haskell infrastructure/tooling. This allows them to sell their services to organizations that have an interest in that same infrastructure/tooling. In addition, the Haskell Foundation lists partners and their offerings on our website.

What does the purchaser of an Ecosystem Contract get?

The purchaser gets the specific support they desire for their Haskell needs, while still ensuring that the Haskell Foundation (and therefore the wider ecosystem) receives investment. This also entitles the purchaser to certain HF sponsorship benefits, in recognition of their contribution to the ecosystem.

What does the Foundation get?

Some of the funds from every Ecosystem Contract get passed through to the Foundation, granting the funder official sponsorship status, and the ecosystem receives investment. This allows the Foundation to continue investment into areas of the ecosystem that would ordinarily receive less attention.

For example, the Foundation often experiences the following scenario: A potential sponsor wishes to support the ecosystem, but has constraints on what activities can be supported. With Ecosystem Contracts, sponsors decide where their funds are deployed, to the benefit of the Haskell ecosystem. This allows the Foundation to point any potential sponsor with these constraints to a provider that meets their needs.

Framework

A contract made under an Ecosystem Partnership can cover a wide variety of activities as long as it meets the following guidelines:

  • The product of the work must be open-source
  • The work must be widely applicable
  • A proportion of the contract is used to directly support the Haskell Foundation

In other words, the wider community benefits from the work, not just the purchaser.

Closing Thoughts

The potential shapes of these partnerships is purposefully broad, we are not trying to be too perscriptive about how companies can team up with the Haskell Foundation. We’re currently working with some organizations to establish more of these offerings. We’re always happy to hear your ideas about how your organization might benefit from a partnership! Reach out to me at jmct@haskell.foundation

A note on potential conflicts of interest

Members of the Haskell Foundation board of directors often have ties to the companies that would be providing or purchasing any potential contracts. We have taken the following steps to ensure that conflicts of interest have been attended to:
Andres (chair of the Foundation and Partner at Well-Typed) recused himself from all discussions at the Foundation pertaining to Well-Typed’s Ecosystem Contracts. Additionally, Ryan Trinkle, Treasurer of the Foundation, is the founder of Obsidian Systems and wanted to ensure that the agreement the Foundation made with Well-Typed left the opportunity for other consultancies, such as Obsidian System, to offer similar services. Ryan was happy with the arrangement and felt that it did not favor Well-Typed over other consultancies. We have also discussed the design and arrangement with Haskell Foundation sponsors.

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Great initiative! I hope we see more such partners soon!

However, that raises the question: where is the list of current partners, and how can one become a partner?

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List will go live very soon! (It’s only one partner at the moment, but we’re in talks with others).

As for becoming one: first step is to reach out to me and get the conversation started. :slight_smile:

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As the partner in question, Well-Typed are delighted to be working with the Foundation on this:

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Maybe I am stating the obvious, bear with me please, I try to understand the commercial values here:

I guess here is the main incentive to becoming an ecosystem partner: a distribution channel for their services.

If so, the more this distribution power is highlighted and communicated, the more likely a partner would like to join.

Conversely, this should also allow the foundation to filter out free riders or grifters. The details here are missing. Would this be negotiated on a partner-by-partner basis at the discretion of the foundation?

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You’ve nailed it on all counts.

Just to hammer home a few things:

The ‘distribution channel’ isn’t just a page in the website it’s also the conversations the HF has with other orgs. This isn’t hypothetical, there has already been at least one case where it made more sense for an organization to purchase a package with Well-Typed than it did for them to sponsor the Foundation directly. So part of partnering with us is that we can help guide clients to you when it makes sense.

For your last point, you’re exactly right. There aren’t specific rules because there isn’t one specific shape. In fact the other company we’re in discussion with would have an offering that’s completely different to Well-Typed’s in many key ways, and that’s great!

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