On May 14, 2008, The Perl Foundation received a philanthropic donation of US$200,000 from Ian Hague. Mr. Hague is a co-founder of Firebird Management LLC, a financial fund management company based in New York City. This donation was the result of extensive discussions between Mr. Hague, The Perl Foundation and a Perl community member who wishes to remain anonymous.
The purpose of the donation is to support the development of Perl 6, the next generation of the Perl programming language. Roughly half of the funds will be used to support Perl 6 developers through grants and other means. The balance of the funds will be used by The Perl Foundation to develop its own organizational capabilities. This will allow The Perl Foundation to pursue additional funding opportunities to support Perl 6 development. Mr. Hague wants his contribution to be seed funding in that effort.
The Perl Foundation thanks Mr. Hague in the deepest possible terms. This donation is unprecedented in its generosity, scope and vision, and it is precisely what was needed at this junction in the development of Perl 6. We look forward to the greatest of successes with Perl 6, and this contribution is a key part of making that happen. The Perl Foundation will communicate further developments with the Perl community and Mr. Hague as the pieces of this plan are executed.
