Drupal Association
The Drupal Association is the nonprofit focused on accelerating Drupal and fostering the growth of its community, separate from the project.
The Drupal Association is the nonprofit organization that supports the Drupal project and its community. Its governance post describes it as a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 2008. It administers Drupal.org on behalf of the community, owns or controls the infrastructure behind it, and organizes DrupalCon.
What the Drupal Association does
Its stated mission is to drive innovation and adoption of Drupal as a high-impact digital public good. The governance post calls it a fundamental obligation to ensure that Drupal is available to anyone, anywhere in the world, free of charge. The infrastructure it owns or controls includes the Drupal.org user database, the self-hosted GitLab with all core and contributed code, software packaging, the update feeds and the Composer endpoint, and the contribution credit system. It also manages Drupal Slack.
For DrupalCon, the Association runs a grant and scholarship program for community members who could not otherwise attend.
How it is governed
A board of directors sets the mission and vision. The at-large board members are elected by Association members, and board terms begin on 1 November. One seat is the Founding Director seat, which only Dries Buytaert can fill. The board meets several times a year, including two public meetings at DrupalCons.
The Association is separate from the code project. It has no contracts with Dries Buytaert or the Drupal Project beyond the trademark license. Dries owns the Drupal trademark and has licensed the Drupal, Drupal.org and DrupalCon names to the Association, and keeps ultimate control over what software can be named Drupal.
Where you meet the Drupal Association
Most people meet it without noticing: when you download a module or theme, or Composer fetches one, the files come from packaging and update services the Association runs. At DrupalCon you meet it in person, and on Drupal Slack you use a channel it manages.
Common mistakes
- Expecting it to run every Drupal event. The Association organizes DrupalCon. Drupal camps are volunteer-led, and meetups are informal local gatherings.
- Treating a membership as a license fee. Drupal is free to use. Membership is a way to support the project.
For marketing and content teams
Your site runs on open source software, and the Association is one of the ways the community pays for shared services such as Drupal.org. If your organization wants to give something back, the funding options are listed in the questions below, and they differ for individuals and for organizations.