Code for Science and Society is an advocacy group based in Portland, Oregon that uses coding and data to advocate for answers to economic issues. In December 2021, the group held an event to promote “intersectionality” and how to use data and coding in order to advance it. 1
The group has received several grants from left-of-center organizations including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. 2
Background
Code for Science and Society was founded in 2016 to research and advocate solutions to economic issues through the usage of coding and data analysis. The group claims to also focuses on social and organization structures meant to support research, education, and technology. 3
The group is a fiscal sponsor for similar data and technology-based groups, while also providing financial operations, administrative support, strategic consultations, and community resources. 4
Activities
More Unions in Tech
In October 2021, Code for Science and Society hosted an event promoting unionization in the technology industry. The event hosted Aerica Shimizu Banks, who built a DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) program at Google. It also hosted two other union organizers who organized tech companies and gig workers. 5
Anti-Oppression Workshop
In December 2021, Code for Science and Society hosted an event on technology and social justice based on concept of “intersectionality.” The event featured open-source leaders, anarchist organizers, and community managers. 1
Research Software Sustainability
In September 2022, the US Research Software Sustainability Institute, a fiscally sponsored project of the Code for Science and Society, announced grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the National Science Foundation to develop sustainable research software. 6
Climate Sensitive Infectious Diseases (CSID)
In December 2022, Code for Science and Society announced a program to support open-source communities that practice developing modeling tools for Climate Sensitive Infectious Diseases (CSID). The Wellstone Trust funded the project and the partners on the project included the group’s fiscally sponsored projects Research Software Alliance (ReSA) and U.S. Research Software Sustainability Institute (URSSI), as well as the independent groups Ersilia Open Source Initiative and H3D Foundation. 7
Fiscally Sponsored Projects
According to the 2022 Annual Report, the Code for Science and Society’s fiscally sponsored project OA.Works integrated the ShareYourPaper tool with the Open Climate Campaign to enable researchers to easily make work addressing global climate issues freely available. Its work was presented at a United Nations panel on climate justice. 8
Funding
Code for Science and Society has received funding from several left-of-center foundations, including a series of grants from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations totaling $1,250,000 since 2021. 2
Code for Science and Society received $1,250,000 from the MacArthur Foundation in 2023 for the Distributed AI Research Institute to study artificial intelligence. The group also received $300,000 in 2023 to research machine learning. The group received $500,000 in 2023 for its Algorithmic Justice League project to prevent AI harms. The group received $19,000 in 2023 to research machine learning. The group received $50,000 in 2022 to research machine learning. 9
Code for Science and Society group received $500,000 in 2023 from the Rockefeller Foundation to research the use of AI and satellite imagery to study the residual effects of apartheid in South Africa. 10
Leadership
Code for Science and Society’s executive director is Danielle Robinson. She is a 2016 Mozilla Fellow for Science. 11
Financials
According to the Code for Science and Society’s 2023 tax return, the group had $17,043,407 in revenue, $9,735,390 in expenses, and $15,061,411 in assets. 12
The group awarded $331,556 in grants to Community Initiatives. 12
References
- “Anti-Oppression Frameworks in Open Source.” Code for Science and Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.codeforsociety.org/incubator/events/anti-oppression-frameworks-in-f-loss.
- “Open Society Foundations – Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships.” Open Society Foundations – Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships – Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=Code%2Bfor%2BScience%2Band%2BSociety.
- “History.” Code for Science & Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.codeforsociety.org/about/history.
- “2021 Annual Report.” Code for Science & Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.codeforsociety.org/news/2021-annual-report.
- [1] “Labor across the Tech Ecosystem.” Code for Science and Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.codeforsociety.org/incubator/events/labor-across-the-tech-ecosystem.
- Katz, Daniel S, Kyle Niemeyer, Nick Weber, and Karthik Ram. “Announcing 4 New Grants for Urssi.” URSSI Blog, September 4, 2022. https://urssi.us/blog/2022/09/04/announcing-4-new-grants-for-urssi/.
- Okune, Angela. “New Project Launch: Supporting Communities of Practice Working on Climate-Sensitive Infectious Disease.” Code for Science & Society, December 19, 2022. https://www.codeforsociety.org/news/new-project-launch-supporting-communities-of-practice-working-on-climate-sensitive-infectious-disease
- “2022 Annual Report.” Code for Science & Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.codeforsociety.org/news/2022-annual-report.
- “Code for Science and Society .” MacArthur Foundation. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/code-for-science-and-society-10115475/.
- “Code for Science & Society 2023.” The Rockefeller Foundation, September 18, 2024. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/grant/code-for-science-society-2023/.
- “Danielle Robinson, Phd.” Code for Science & Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.codeforsociety.org/about/people/288.
- “Code for Science and Society Inc, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/813791683/202441299349303259/full.