Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to the second blog post in the series started last month where us Rust Foundation Project Directors will be sharing the highlights from last month’s Rust Foundation Board meeting. You’ll find the full December 2024 meeting minutes on the Rust Foundation’s beautiful new site!

Highlights from the December meeting include:

• The Foundation is contracting with a Rust training consultant to help shape a future beginner-level online course aimed primarily at organizations interested in building out their base of Rust talent. While this work is still in the early and exploratory stages, the current idea is that the content would be freely-available with an optional paid exam and certification at the conclusion of the course. No further work has been carried out on this future offering since the Foundation’s listening sessions last year, however, the staff team is working on a roadmap to present to the board at the February board meeting to outline the program. Their intention is to then share the roadmap with Rust Foundation members and to host a listening session to discuss this proposed outline for all work under a training program, including a Rust Foundation accreditation system for existing training providers. More information will be shared following the February board meeting.
• The Rust Foundation was awarded a third year of funding from Alpha-Omega, and there may be additional funding from Alpha-Omega for specific initiatives. The Foundation's application for funding from the Sovereign Tech Agency is on hold until further notice..
• The Foundation is planning on supporting some of the Rust Project’s H1 2025 goals with grants.
• After receiving and incorporating a deluge of feedback from the wider Rust community, then making revisions and getting additional feedback from the Rust Project on those revisions, the Foundation proposed a new version of the Trademark policy and the Board voted to approve it. (The revised Trademark Policy is now public!)
• Lars Bergstrom, Board Chair and representative from Google, announced his intention to step down from the board entirely when his 2 year term as Chair was completed in January 2025. Google will be sending a new representative in his place, and the Board will be electing a new chair in January. Thank you for serving as Chair and being on the board, Lars!

As always, if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email all of the project directors via project-directors at rust-lang.org or join us in the #foundation channel on the Rust Zulip. Have a great holiday season; I’ll post again in 2025!