Founded in 2019, the Research Software Alliance (ReSA) aims to catalyze community-led collaborations within the research software engineering community to address global challenges associated with the development and maintenance of research software. Funds from this grant support three activity areas over the next two years. First, ReSA will establish two ongoing fora targeting important groups within the broader software engineering ecosystem, providing a venue for these communities (like National RSE associations, publishers exploring software review, or research infrastructure providers) to regularly meet, surface common challenges, and propose and discuss solutions.  Second, ReSA will begin initial planning and foundation-setting for convening the first ever international research software conference, to be held in 2025 or 2026.   Finally, ReSA will create a micro-grant program, making small grants available for community-led meetings on a diverse array of international issues that, if fruitful, could blossom to become official ReSA task forces addressing pressing global challenges in research software development. Grant funds will support salary of key ReSA staff, travel, and seed funding for the micro-grants program.