Contribute
The Contribute module enhances Drupal's status report with a section that encourages users to engage with the Drupal community and contribute to its projects, events, and the Drupal Association. It aims to foster a culture of contribution by highlighting various ways individuals and organizations can give back to the open-source project.
The question is not should you contribute, but how can you contribute
The Contribute module adds a 'Community information' section to Drupal's status report (/admin/reports/status) which encourages individuals and organizations to join the Drupal community, become members of the Drupal Association, and contribute to Drupal projects, events, and more.
Drupal is an open collaboration to build Open Source software that guarantees everyone the freedom to use and alter the software to suit their needs.
As soon as you install Drupal you are part of the Drupal community, which is a collaboration of developers, designers, project managers, organizers and leaders like you.
Come for code, stay for the community
Below is a preview of the 'Community information' section included and managed by the Contribute module.
Of course, as with everything in Drupal, you can easily disable this 'Community information' section.
The long term goal of the Contribute module is to change the Drupal community's mindset and approach to why, who, what, how, and when people should contribute something back to Drupal.
NOTE: A discussion is already in place for including Contribute module into Drupal core #2944651: Encourage participation, acknowledge contributions, and improve sustainability within Drupal (the software).
Why contribute back to Drupal?
Open Source is not sustainable unless people contribute back to the project and/or community.
Who should contribute back to Drupal?
Everyone needs to contribute something back to Drupal and Open Source so that it can continue to grow and thrive. You don't need to be a programmer to contribute to Open Source, you just need to understand the value and benefit of Open Source and its community.
How should you contribute back to Drupal?
Some contribution can be big like supporting a major project or initiative. Even creating an issue and/or following up on a bug report is a valuable contribution. At the very least, everyone should join the community and become a member of the Drupal Association.
Learn more about getting involved
When should you contribute back to Drupal?
Register an account on Drupal.org today and join the Drupal community.
What is next for the Contribute module?
Ultimately, if the user experience and messaging provided by the Contribute module is successful, we should consider also highlighting installed projects that need additional resources, support, and funding.