The Perl 5 Core Maintenance Fund was established at YAPC::NA 2011 by Jesse Vincent and Karen Pauley as a continuation of the previous Booking.com grant. It is intended to be "used for the maintenance and improvement of the Perl 5 core."

Since its inception, the P5CMF has received over half of a million dollars in donations, and has provided funding for eight different individuals to contribute over 9,000 service hours towards improving performance, stability, and features for Perl 5. (Full history here)

Two of the current recipients of the P5CMF grants are nearing the end of their allocations: Tony Cook will have depleted his allocation by the end of October and has already requested an extension. David Mitchell will likely need an extension to his fund in February 2018. Typically these grants are extended in $20,000 increments.

Presently, the P5CMF has $8,426 remaining in unallocated funds. The Perl Foundation board has already moved $20,000 from its general fund to the P5CMF (as well as a matching $20,000 to the sister Perl 6 fund) in July of this year and is currently considering moving an additional $20,000 to the fund to cover Tony Cook's current grant extension request. These extensions were made possible through the generous support of our annual sponsors: craigslist, cPanel, bluehost, Grant Street Group, and Assurant.

For targeted funds like the Perl 5 core maintenance fund, the goal is to allow donors to show their support for the work the fund enables through new donations. We believe this fund is important and valuable for everyone who relies on the health and continued development of Perl 5, but without additional donations we may need to consider closing the fund. We need your support to make sure that doesn't happen.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to The Perl Foundation's Perl 5 Core Maintenace Fund, you may do so here. As a thank-you gift, we will send you an "I patched Perl" adhesive patch for every $50 contributed to the fund (maximum 5 patches).