Mac Admins Foundation Announces Recipients of Community and Conference Grant

The Mac Admins Foundation, a leading organization dedicated to advancing the global community of Apple device managers, is delighted to congratulate the recipients and applaud all of the applicants of the inaugural Community and Conference Grant. This grant program aims to empower individuals who face financial barriers or lack the means to participate in transformative events in the technical field.

The Community and Conference Grant generated an enthusiastic response, attracting a diverse pool of passionate and motivated individuals with a strong desire to enhance their technical skills. The Grant committee reviewed each application, assessing factors such as relevance, depth, clarity, specificity, and originality of the responses.

After an extensive selection process, the Mac Admins Foundation proudly announces that five outstanding recipients have been chosen for the inaugural Community and Conference Grant.

These individuals will receive financial and logistical support to attend the prestigious 2023 MacAdmins Conference at Penn State University (PSU), an industry renowned conference that provides access to a wide range of enlightening sessions, workshops, and networking events. In addition to conference registration, each recipient will be awarded a grant of $2,500 (USD) to cover associated expenses including travel, accommodations, and expenses.

"We are thrilled to support these exceptional individuals in their pursuit of professional growth and advancement," said Tom Bridge, Co-Chair of the Mac Admins Foundation. "Through the Community and Conference Grant, we aim to foster the development of a new generation of technical professionals who will shape the future of the industry. We hope this is the first of many grants to come."

The Mac Admins Foundation also wishes to recognize and commend all the applicants who shared their passion. The board and grant committee recognize the efforts, enthusiasm, and aspirations of these individuals.

The Mac Admins Foundation is committed to supporting individuals seeking to excel in the technical field and invites all interested individuals to apply for future grant opportunities. The Mac Admins Foundation urges everyone to share future programs with others who may benefit from the support and resources it provides.

About the Mac Admins Foundation

The Mac Admins Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that exists in order to advance the global community of people who manage Apple devices at large and small scales. Launched in May of 2022, based on a community begun in 2015, the Mac Admins Foundation runs conference and training scholarships for Mac Admins all over the world, in addition to running the Mac Admins Slack, a free collaboration platform of more than 50,000 Mac Admins.

Apply now for the 2023 Community and Conference Grant

The Mac Admins Foundation is proud to announce the establishment of the Community and Conference Grant. The Community and Conference Grant intends to broaden the experience of deserving individuals with the intent to foster their development as a new generation of technical professionals.

This inaugural grant will provide recipients

The Mac Admins Foundation desires that the grant be awarded to those individuals who have financial need, or, may otherwise lack the means or opportunity to attend an event of this type.

Grant program applicants should self identify with one or more of the following criteria:

  • You are early in, or starting, your career in technology

  • You have not previously been able to attend an event or conference of this type

  • You are currently unable to self-fund, or secure institutional funding for event attendance

The Community and Conference Grant does not require formal submission of work or financial credentials. This grant is designed to support individuals who are passionate about advancing their technical skills and knowledge, and who would benefit from the opportunity to connect with experts and leaders in the field. 

To apply for the grant, interested candidates must submit an application that includes responses to several questions related to their experience and goals in the technical field.

Applications will be reviewed by the grant committee, who will evaluate each response based on factors such as relevance, depth, clarity, specificity, and originality.

We encourage all interested individuals to apply for this scholarship and to share this opportunity with others who may be interested. The deadline for applications is May 28th, 2023, and successful applicants will be notified on or about June 6th, 2023.

You can contact the Mac Admins Foundation at scholarships@macadmins.org or #macadminsfoundation with any questions.

Announcing the 2023 Community and Conference Grant for the MacAdmins Conference at Penn State

The Mac Admins Foundation is proud to announce the establishment of the Community and Conference Grant. The Community and Conference Grant intends to broaden the experience of deserving individuals with the intent to foster their development as a new generation of technical professionals.

This inaugural grant will provide recipients

  • Registration for the 2023 MacAdmins Conference at Penn State University (PSU)

  • $2500 (USD) to cover applicable expenses

Grant applications will be available on the Mac Admins Foundation website and open on May 18th, 2023. Submissions will close May 28th, 2023. Recipients will be notified on or about June 5th, 2023.

Mac SysAdmin & Developer Conference ticket giveaway

The Mac Admins Foundation is excited to announce a giveaway of two (2) tickets to the 2023 Mac SysAdmin & Developer Conference. This year’s conference will be in Brighton, UK with an expo on May 22nd followed by the conference on the 23rd and 24th.

This giveaway is only open to individuals located in the UK.

Two (2) names will be selected from submissions received by 5pm PST Tuesday April 18th using a random number generator. Winners will be contacted on or about Friday April 21st.

We kindly request that you consider your personal availability to attend the conference before entering the giveaway. The ticket is for entrance to the conference only. There are no funds or grants of any kind included in this giveaway.  This includes, but is not limited to, transportation, lodging, and food. 

Please refer to the Mac SysAdmin & Developer Conference website for additional details on ticket benefits and inclusions.

To enter your name in our random drawing, please submit your information here. Only one response per person will be accepted.

You can contact the Mac Admins Foundation at giveaways@macadmins.org with any questions.

Announcing Mac Admins Open Source (MAOS)

The Mac Admins community has long produced open source tools of incredible value to its members, but there hasn’t been a way to provide strong code signing resources to use when signing and notarizing binaries and installer packages for those tools. Starting today, Mac Admins Open Source is launching with the support of the Mac Admins Foundation. Mac Admins can apply for and receive secure codesigning support free of charge.

Why do Mac Admins need codesigning and notarization? Why is it important?

Codesigning and notarization ensures that an application or script hasn’t been modified since it was signed. Codesigning and notarization are also required to pass through Apple’s Gatekeeper security system at launch and at run time. Signed code helps mitigate bad actors attempting to pass off malicious code as something it’s not, under the guise of an existing tool. Notarization ensures that Apple has passed the signed code through an automated scanning process and verified that the signed code is free of malicious content. For more information about Gatekeeper and Apple’s codesigning process, please review Apple’s documentation.

How does having this functionality help Mac Admins?

As macOS has matured and grown over the years, codesigning has become a core pillar of the security model. As a result of these changes, having signed code allows a Mac Admin to grant privileges to applications and processes which cannot be granted to unsigned code, such as full disk access, managed Login Items, and more.

How will Mac Admins gain access to these signing identities?

The Mac Admin Open Source organization will work with open-source project owners who want to sign their code. All projects will go through a standard vetting process to ensure that the repository is configured in a secure fashion, good coding practices are applied, and there is a plan to maintain the project going forward. After all the criteria are met, a secure signing process will be integrated with the project’s Git repository on the Mac Admins Github.

How is the Mac Admins Foundation involved?

The Mac Admins Foundation sponsored and supported the founding of the Mac Admins Open Source organization, a non-profit registered with the state of Pennsylvania in the US. As a result, the Mac Admins Open Source organization has acquired an Apple Developer account for code signing, among other helpful services, to be administered through the Mac Admins GitHub organization. For more information, please visit #macadmins-opensource on the Mac Admins slack or macadmins.io.

Mac Admins Open Source and the Mac Admins Foundation wish to convey their deepest thanks to the following individuals who lent a hand during this process: Christos Drosos, Ashley Carroll, Tom Adcox, and Jeremy Butcher.