The Drupal Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to help the Drupal community with fun­ding, infra­structure, events, promotion and distribution.

Since we launched the Drupal Association in January 2007, roughly one year ago, we (i) improved the drupal.org infrastructure, (ii) we helped organize two international Drupal conferences, (iii) we established a relation with an accounting firm, (iv) we funded Drupal's presence at a number of events, (v) we started setting up fundraising campaigns, (vi) we entered into a relation with the Software Freedom Law Center, (vii) we are close to launching a Drupal Association membership model, etc.

In January 2008 we have to elect our second Board of Directors, so in this post, I'll explain you how you can help make a change. Despite the progress that we have made in 2007, we would like to ramp up our professionalism and activities in 2008. We are looking for people that want to become either a Permanent Member or a member of the Board of Directors, and that can provide leadership and experience to expand the reach of the Drupal Association and its activities.

If you are interested in helping to drive Drupal's explosive growth or if you want to help make a change in this world, you can submit your candidacy to become actively involved with the Drupal Association. Read on for more information ...

Currently, the Drupal Assocation is solely run by unpaid volunteers and we expect that our board members spend up to four hours/week working on their Drupal Association responsibilities and obligations. In other words, we are looking for people that are committed to help support and drive Drupal's explosive growth. Needless to say, it takes a fair amount of time and effort.

If you think you might be a good candidate, you can submit your application to become a Permanent Member of the Drupal Association at http://buytaert.net/applications. (As the current President of the Drupal Association, it is my role to coordinate the election process. This temporary site is not hosted on drupal.org because it is likely to be used for the actual voting as well. Hosting it on drupal.org would mean that several people would have access to the data and would be able to see who voted what. To protect people's votes, this site is temporary hosted on http://buytaert.net.)

All Permanent Members are listed on the membership register of the Drupal Association, filed with the Office of the Clerk of the Commercial Court of the Association's judicial district. Some Permanent Members are members of the Board of Directors. Permanent Members that are not members of the Board of Directors are referred to as Community Ambassadors. You can use http://buytaert.net/applications to submit your candidacy to become a Community Ambassador and/or to become a member of the Board of Directors.

Permanent Member applications

The General Assembly consists of the Permanent Members, i.e. both the Board of Directors and the Community Ambassadors. The General Assembly does not have voting powers in the day-to-day operations of the Drupal Association. Their main responsibility is the appointment and removal of the Directors as well as amending the statutes. In a way, they police the Board of Directors -- if they are unhappy with the Board of Directors' performance, they can appoint or remove Directors. We expect that Permanent Members spend up to two hours/week working on their Drupal Association responsibilities and obligations. The General Assembly shall, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the voting members decide on the actual admission of new Permanent Members.

Apply for a Permanent Membership.

Board of Director applications

The Board of Directors is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Drupal Association. They approve or decline proposals and work to implement those that are approved. For example, it is the Board of Directors that decides what hardware will be purchased, where the next Drupal Conference will be held, etc. They are also responsible for making sure these decisions are implemented; i.e. they raise money, they purchase and install hardware, they coordinate the organization of the Drupal conferences, etc. Being a member of the Board of Directors requires a strong commitment and is often considered to be hard work. We expect that Directors spend up to four hours/week working on their Drupal Association responsibilities and obligations.

The members of the Board of Directors are appointed by the General Assembly and may be removed at any time by the General Assembly. For both cases, a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the present or represented Permanent Members is required. An appointed office is valid for a renewable term of two (2) years for the President, Treasurer and Secretary, and for one (1) year for other offices. A Director shall receive no remuneration unless otherwise decided by the General Assembly.

Apply for a Board of Directors Membership (check the corresponding option).

More details

For more details, consult the statutes of the Drupal Association at http://association.drupal.org/about/statutes-and-internal-regulations. For a list of the current General Assembly, see http://association.drupal.org/about/staff.

Deadlines

The deadline for submitting your candidacy is January 10th, 2008. The General Assembly will vote on the submissions on January 15th, 2008 at 20:00 CET.

If you are submitting your candidacy, you want to mark this date in your calendar as your presence is likely to be required. Details will follow.

Even if you are not submitting your candidacy, you are encouraged to create an account on http://buytaert.net/applications and to ask the candidates questions in the comments of their application.