We are thrilled to announce that, in collaboration with the Drupal 8 branch maintainers, the Association is launching a brand-new program: Drupal 8 Accelerate. Modeled after our Community Cultivation Grants program, Drupal 8 Accelerate is a $125,000 fund to help solve critical issues and accelerate the release of Drupal 8.

The Drupal community is filled with a plethora of opinions and ideas, but there’s one thing we likely all agree on; we’re ready for Drupal 8 to be released! This anticipation is underscored by the record number of contributors to D8 - over 2400. Now it’s time for the Drupal community to rally and finish the job. The Drupal Association wants to help you make that happen. After all, our mission is to unite a gobal open source community to build and promote Drupal.

The Drupal 8 Accelerate Program is a $125,000 fund provided by the Drupal Association (and by extension, all the Association members and Partners who fund our work - so thank you). Grants will be made in two categories: branch maintainer requests and community requests. This two-branch system means that funds can be directed by the people most intimately familiar with the project needs while still allowing for our amazing community to come up with innovative ideas that have a big impact. The Association will also be providing logistical support to the branch maintainers throughout the process.

While the Association is providing the funds and the support, we are not deciding WHAT gets funded. This gets handled by the branch maintainers, keeping the Association on the right side of the “we don’t direct the project” line. The Drupal 8 Accelerate program is a fantastic opportunity for the Association to support and amplify community efforts. All of our favorite work at the Association follows this model - DrupalCon session selection, Community Cultivation Grants, Global Training Days, and DrupalCamp Fiscal Sponsorship to name a few. We’re here to make it easier for you to innovate, and this program is yet another example.

Of course, this is the first time our community has tried anything like this, so we expect that we’ll be learning a lot as we go. As always, we are looking for your feedback and help so that we can improve.

How can you help? Let me count the ways:

• Help promote the program. Share this blog post on Twitter, Facebook, and other places your Drupal friends hang out online.
• Apply! Take this program back to your user group, company, or friends and dream big. If you have a great way to help push Drupal 8 to release, we want to hear about it.
• Help fund the grants. The Association has pledged $125,000 because we think this program is THAT important. But we’re looking for community support to help make this investment. You can become member, a partner, or talk to us about making a contribution directly to the fund.

A huge round of thanks goes to Angie, Jess, Gabor, Cathy, Nate and the other branch maintainers who helped develop and review this program. We’re excited to see what happens next!