1. Why is SPN Sunsetting?
Over the past year, however, a convergence of factors has significantly impacted SPN’s financial sustainability:
- The recent departure of at least two dues-paying member organizations
- Ongoing challenges in recruiting new institutional members amid political and economic constraints affecting higher education and cultural organizations
- Increased legal and technical expenses associated with incorporating the EAASI Research Alliance into SPN’s programming
Taken together, these dynamics placed SPN’s budget at a point where continued operation without structural change would risk instability for members, partners, and staff.
2. How did SPN come to the decision to sunset?
SPN’s Operational Reserve Policy states that if the combination of remaining revenue in a calendar year and unrestricted net assets falls below nine months of operating expenses, SPN will initiate a structured sunsetting process. We have now reached that threshold.
Prior to meeting that threshold, we held a series of SPN member townhalls to assess options to increase our revenue including changing fiscal hosts in an effort to decrease our hosting fees and other associated fees, as well as, trying to grow membership revenue by expanding internationally (this option was discarded when the EAASI Research Alliance-related collaboration between SPN and Yale Library was not renewed).. Our members came to a vote and decided to proactively sunset the organization to allow ourselves enough runway to do so gracefully.
3. What is the status of the EAASI Research Alliance?
SPN is no longer the entry point for the EAASI Research Alliance. While SPN can, and will, continue to host a deployment of the EAASI software for our remaining members, we do not have the finances or capacity to provide the level of training and support that was possible via SPN being the entry point to the EAASI Research Alliance.
To provide a solid conclusion to the work we’ve done throughout 2025, the EAASI Research Alliance project team is developing a final report that will feature reflections, retros and summaries of the work we completed in the hopes that future networks interested in organizing around the EAASI software will learn from our experiences.
Meanwhile, Yale Library continues to lead the roadmap and development of the EAASI software platform. If you have questions about the EAASI software, feel free to reach out to softwarepreservation@yale.edu. To follow ongoing development of the software, please visit https://github.com/eaasi.
4. What will happen to SPN’s educational resources after the sunset?
Two of our key objectives with our sunset project charter were developed in order to address what will happen to the years worth of resources that SPN has developed and distributed.
LEGACY PRESERVATION & COMPOSTING
Ensure that SPN’s valuable outputs—including research reports, advocacy materials, best practices documentation, technical specifications, and community-generated knowledge—are preserved, organized, and made accessible to the broader field of cultural heritage and software preservation practitioners beyond the term of the sunset.
ASSET REDISTRIBUTION & PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Identify and establish partnerships with organizations best positioned to continue specific aspects of SPN’s work (e.g., software preservation advocacy, technical standards development) and facilitate strategic transfers of organizational assets, relationships, and intellectual property.
Throughout the year, our sunset project team will comb through the archives of our work to identify partners in the field who may be well-suited for hosting key resources necessary to keep this field of work moving forward. We have an abundance of resources related to advocacy, metadata, infrastructure, community development and more! Our hope is that these resources can be distributed within our partner networks and/or featured on their websites and training systems.
5. My organization is interested in hosting some of SPN’s intellectual property within my organization, who can I reach out to?
Thank you for your interest in preserving and distributing the legacy of our work! Please reach out to chelle.sanders@softwarepreservationnetwork.org to talk through the possibility.
6. Will community programming continue in 2026?
Yes! While the bulk of our time will be dedicated to sunsetting SPN, we have plans to provide space for the community to come together around software preservation, as well as, uplift the projects that our working groups are finalizing for the year. Some programming you’ll find SPN hosting this year include:
- Quarterly Community Townhalls: for SPN members to hear about updates on our sunset objectives and come together to discuss efforts toward collaborative software preservation outside of SPN’s infrastructure
- Quarterly Public Forums: public events to work with potential partners interested in how they continue SPN’s work and/or host some of our intellectual assets
- Collaborative Events: events scheduled with organizational partners and allies to highlight the work of our organizations
You can stay up to date with more information about our events on the community calendar on SPN’s website or by subscribing to our google group where we will make announcements about our events!
7. When will SPN officially sunset?
SPN officially concludes operations on December 31, 2026.
8. Who can I reach out to if I have questions about SPN’s sunset?
Reach out to SPN’s Program Manager Chelle Sanders: chelle.sanders@softwarepreservationnetwork.org
9. Who can I reach out to if I have questions about the EAASI software?
If you have questions about the EAASI software, reach out to softwarepreservation@yale.edu. To follow ongoing development of the software, please visit https://github.com/eaasi.