What does building community mean to you?

As someone who grew up with an open source project, the community has been something that enables the project to be more distinctive and diverse. Focusing on building communities has been something that I care about, why? It helped me in the first place. An opportunity to collaborate, getting diverse opinions, skillsets, and structure makes an even great project, better. I have seen this first hand because I have built communities around people and projects. For the past two years, I have dedicated my time building something unique for the African continent around open source. I co-founded a project called Open Source Community Africa, a community dedicated to housing OSS projects, to help advocates and get more people in the open source culture and also work with projects like Sugar Labs and Gnome, I have been able to bring unique experience around onboarding.

Most of the time, I identify as a community builder, because of my unique ability to bring people together.

What does advocating for Drupal mean to you?

As an all-around open source advocate, giving people the ability to know the culture behind open source has been a priority for me. From collaboration to awesome projects, to the people and culture are all something that I care about. Adopting the same strategy to Drupal particularly to the continent Africa, will be something that I will enjoy doing because of my existing experience.

What is your favorite Drupal moment or memory?

My favorite memory Drupal is the people around the projects. I am new to the community, yes, while I know that seems interesting, I am very experienced in connecting with open source projects and the people leading it. In 2018, I was at Sustain Summit in London, and I had the opportunity to connect with Rachel Lawson, I got to know more in-depth about the project especially the community. I love communities, and it was interesting to know that some of my OSS friends are core contributors to the Drupal project.

Board Skills & Strengths (indicate those that apply to your experience)

Marketing/Public Relations, Strategic Planning, Product Development, Program Development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Financial Oversight, Organizational Management, Open Source Industry Knowledge, Fundraising (includes sponsorships, charitable giving, grant writing), Community Building/Understanding of Community Needs, Volunteer Training/Development, Talent Development

What best describes your personal style? (select all that describe you)

Coordinator, Observer, Director, Motivator, Inspirer, Helper, Supporter

Do you have experience as a board member? If yes, what organization(s)?

I was part of the oversight board with Sugar Labs from 2017 - 2020. Now, I am one of the board of directors of the New Sugar Labs organization beginning 2019 to date. Also, I am currently serving as a board member with Open Source Collective since early 2020.

Region Represented

Africa

Comments

e0ipso’s picture

e0ipso
Primary language Catalan
Location Can Picafort
commented

Excuse me if I make no sense in my questions. I am no lawyer either, and the U.S. is not my home country. My questions are framed around legal figures, however I only intend to get a sense of what your values are as a potential director are.

The Drupal Association (DrupalCon Inc.) currently declares itself as a 501(c)(3) (as per 2018's tax filing). According to the IRS website:

A section 501(c)(3) organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, such as the creator or the creator's family, shareholders of the organization, other designated individuals, or persons controlled directly or indirectly by such private interests. No part of the net earnings of a section 501(c)(3) organization may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. A private shareholder or individual is a person having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization.

(emphasis of my own)

I sense a lot of effort in promoting business using Drupal in what the Drupal association does (my perception might be wrong). From my limited understanding, this is typical from 501(c)(6) organizations (Business leagues, Chambers of commerce, Boards of trade, ...). For context, the Linux Foundation declares itself as 501(c)(6) (as per 2018's tax filing).

My questions are:

  1. Do you feel the current Drupal Association is living to the 501(c)(3) spirit? (I am not asking about the legality, but the spirit).
  2. Should a voting arise: do you lean towards promoting the project itself and stay as a 501(c)(3)? or do you think that promoting business with Drupal is the best course of action and, therefore, the Drupal Association should become a 501(c)(6)?

My questions are geared towards: how will you position yourself in the balance between promoting the common good vs. fostering healthy business using Drupal? But I would love to get specific answers to the two questions above.

q0rban’s picture

q0rban commented

Samson's Candidate interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQnlZdcQs3I