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PROCESSING FOUNDATION
BROOKLYN, NY · EIN 460830259 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE B99 · Education · Small ($100K-$1M) · processingfoundation.org
revenue
$649K
expenses
$1.5M
net assets
$9.5M
employees
9
volunteers
62
program ratio
96%
mission · from form 990

THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION IS TO PROMOTE SOFTWARE LITERACY WITHIN THE VISUAL ARTS, AND VISUAL LITERACY WITHIN TECHNOLOGY-RELATED FIELDS - AND TO MAKE THESE FIELDS ACCESSIBLE TO DIVERSE COMMUNITIES.

profile · synthesized from sources

The Processing Foundation promotes software literacy in the visual arts and visual literacy in technology, with a focus on accessibility for underrepresented communities. It supports open-source creative coding projects like Processing, p5.js, and Processing.py through advocacy, education, and community-building programs. The organization runs workshops, conferences, and microgrant initiatives to expand inclusive participation in tech and art.

named programs · 7 · from sources

What they call their work

Advocacy Program
Facilitates events and collaborations to broaden access to technology, code, and art for historically marginalized groups based on race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability
Code, Decolonized (2021–2022)
Project and living archive exploring new, socially engaged pedagogies for web programming through queer, Black, abolitionist, and intersectional feminist lenses
Google Summer of Code (2011–2026)
Engages college-level students in open-source development of Processing, p5.js, and Processing.py
Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn (2016–2026)
Conference series for educators teaching programming in creative and artistic contexts, co-organized with the School for Poetic Computation
Open Source Software Microgrants Program
Provides microgrants to support narrow-focus, high-impact contributions to p5.js and Processing, including documentation, accessibility, and feature development
Processing Community Day
Worldwide community celebration of Processing with distributed events, artwork, and educational activities
p5.js Contributor’s Conference
Gathers interdisciplinary contributors to advance the p5.js codebase, documentation, and community outreach tools
activities · 5 groups

What they do

  • Free and Open-Source Software Advocacy & Development 2 activities
    • Develops and maintains open-source creative coding software
      Develops, maintains, and distributes free and open-source software including p5.js, Processing for Android, and Processing Java, used by tens of thousands of students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists globally for learning, prototyping, and production.
    • Promotes software literacy and visual arts accessibility
      Promotes software literacy in the visual arts and visual literacy in technology fields, with a focus on accessibility for diverse communities, through open-source tools, educational initiatives, and inclusive community engagement.
  • Artist Support Grants 1 activity
    • Administers fellowship program for equitable technology projects
      Operates the Processing Foundation Fellowship as an incubator that funds and supports early to mid-career developers, artists, and educators in creating technical and socially engaged projects that explore just and equitable relationships with technology, including past support for p5.js and the p5.js Editor.
  • Educator Conferences & Professional Development Events 1 activity
    • Hosts public events and conferences for educators and contributors
      Organizes recurring virtual unSymposia (2021–2026) and co-founded a conference series with the School for Poetic Computation for educators teaching programming in creative contexts, focusing on pedagogy, generative AI integration, and remote teaching strategies; also hosted the inaugural p5.js Contributors Conference in 2015 and a week-long p5.js development conference with ~30 participants.
  • K–12 Computer Science & AI Education 1 activity
    • Provides educational resources and curriculum for creative coding
      Offers a structured curriculum and online tutorials that teach learners to create interactive artworks and apply computational thinking through coding; partnered with code.org to create Hour of Code tutorials for middle and high school students and with Kadenze to produce free online courses such as “Introduction to Programming for the Visual Arts with p5.js.”
  • Uncategorized 4 activities
    • Advances equity and inclusion in creative technology through advocacy
      Organizes and moderates public panels and discussions on diversity, intersectionality, biased data, and internet ethics in FLOSS and web technologies, including events at Carnegie Mellon University and collaborations with W3C and Bocoup; makes panel transcriptions publicly available online.
    • Conducts research on decolonizing technical education
      Initiates and supports Code, Decolonized—a research project and living archive—that explores and practices new approaches to teaching web programming from historically underrepresented perspectives, including co-teaching courses and hosting public symposia in partnership with POWRPLNT.
    • Funds open-source software development through grant programs
      Funds open-source software development via the pr05 grant program, awarding $10,000 stipends to three developers annually for 200 hours of work, and provides 20 microgrants for p5.js 2.0+ development and documentation; requires all funded projects to be released under Free Software licenses such as LGPL 2.1 or GPL 2.0.
    • Supports community-driven technical development through mentorship programs
      Mentors college-level students and new contributors annually through Google Summer of Code (2011–2026) and compensated short-term engagements to support technical development and community outreach for Processing, p5.js, and related tools, including the creation of the Friendly Sketch Embedder.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$649K
Contributions & grants$464K72%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$184K28%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$1.52M
Program expenses96%
Admin / overhead3%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$733K
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$9.54M
Cash$2.28M
Investments$7.23M
Liabilities$53K
Net assets$9.48M
Liquid reserves75.2 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +26.5%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

board members · 6
  • AMELIA WINGER-BEARSKIN — BOARD MEMBER
  • AX MINA — BOARD MEMBER
  • CASSIE TARAKAJIAN — BOARD MEMBER
  • SABER KHAN — EXECUTIVE DI
  • SHANA WHITE — SECRETARY
  • WES TAYLOR — PRESIDENT
relationships · 59

Who they work with

  • Allison Parrish Partner — Creator of Python Mode examples, reference, and tutorials for Processing
  • Ben Fry Partner — Former member of the Board of Directors
  • Ben Fry Partner — Provided guidance and encouragement for Python Mode for Processing
  • Bocoup Partner — Collaborated with W3C and the Processing Foundation to curate sessions at the W3C Conference.
  • Bocoup Partner — Provided generous support for the p5.js Contributors Conference
  • Butter Partner — Provided support for the Developer in Residence for p5.js focusing on WebGL and WebGPU
  • Casey Reas Partner — Provided guidance and encouragement for Python Mode for Processing
  • Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) Partner — Hosted the 5th Choreographic Coding Lab in partnership with the Processing Foundation.
  • Daniel Shiffman Partner — Provided guidance and encouragement for Python Mode for Processing
  • Darius Kazemi Partner — Provided generous support for the p5.js Contributors Conference
  • Data & Society Partner — Source of inspiration for the Processing Foundation's Land and Digital Acknowledgements.
  • Design Media Arts (DMA), UCLA Partner — Partnered on hosting the 5th Choreographic Coding Lab at UCLA.
  • Disability Futures Partner — Source of inspiration for the Processing Foundation's Land and Digital Acknowledgements.
  • Emergent Digital Practices | University of Denver Partner — Provided generous support for the p5.js Contributors Conference
  • Emma Cunningham Partner — Co-hosted Open Tech Lab community events with the Women's Center for Creative Work.
  • Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry Partner — Hosted the p5.js Contributor’s Conference at Carnegie Mellon University
  • Generative Art Foundation Funder — Provides financial support for the Open Source Software Microgrants Program.
  • Generative Art Foundation Partner — Provided support for multiple Developers in Residence for p5.js (2026)
  • GitHub Secure Open Source Fund Partner — Provided support for Developer in Residence for p5.js focusing on maintenance and graphics (2025)
  • Golan Levin Partner — Provided guidance and encouragement for Python Mode for Processing
  • Google Partner — Partnered with Google on the Google Summer of Code program from 2011 to 2026 to support student contributions to Processing and p5.js.
  • Google Summer of Code Partner — Supported Nwakaego Ego's contribution to build the Friendly Sketch Embedder tool in 2025
  • James Gilles Partner — Contributor to Python Mode for Processing and porting of examples, reference, and tutorials
  • Jonathan Feinberg Partner — Chief developer of Python Mode for Processing
  • Jonathan Feinberg Partner — Former advisor
  • Kadenze Partner — Partnered to produce free online courses on Processing and p5.js.
  • Lauren Lee McCarthy Partner — Former member of the Board of Directors
  • Medium Partner — Hosts content from Processing Foundation Fellows on its platform
  • Miles Peyton Partner — Creator of Python Mode examples, reference, and tutorials for Processing
  • NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program Partner — Provided generous support for the p5.js Contributors Conference
+ 29 more
strategies · 4

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Community-Driven Technological Innovation
    methodology: community_driven_innovation
    By integrating community contribution, consensus-based governance, and compensated collaboration into the development lifecycle, the foundation produces more sustainable and equitable technological tools, because participatory design ensures that innovation reflects diverse needs and lived experiences rather than top-down technical assumptions.
  • Critical Digital Literacy Framework
    methodology: critical-digital-reflection
    By embedding critical reflection on colonialism, white capitalism, and algorithmic bias into technical education and development practices, the foundation cultivates awareness of technology’s sociopolitical dimensions, because interrogating the power structures within digital infrastructure enables learners and developers to build more just and liberated systems.
  • Equity-Centered Creative Coding Education
    methodology: equity-centered_access
    By designing pedagogy and access initiatives around historically excluded communities—through inclusive pedagogy, decolonized methods, and liberatory education frameworks—the foundation increases meaningful engagement in technology fields, because centering marginalized perspectives in curriculum and mentorship challenges systemic biases and redefines who can be a creator in digital spaces.
  • Open-Source as Creative Pedagogy
    methodology: floss
    By using FLOSS (Free, Libre, Open Source Software) and open-source collaboration not just as a technical model but as an educational framework, the Processing Foundation enables creative exploration and universal access to learning tools, because treating software as a medium for expression lowers barriers for artists, designers, and beginners and fosters equitable participation.