Title: Why Your Company Should Contribute To WordPress
Author: Bridget Willard
Published: December 9, 2018
Last modified: May 3, 2024

---

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bridgetwillard/) [Bridget Willard](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bridgetwillard/)
10:00 pm _on_ December 9, 2018      

# Why Your Company Should Contribute To WordPress

![WordPress runs a third of all websites - and it’s growing fast. WordPress has 
evolved from its humble beginnings as a blogging platform to becoming the operating
system of the Open Web. We believe that WordPress is more important than it’s ever
been.](https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/files/2018/12/Why-Your-Company-Should-
Contribute-To-WordPress-1024x536.png)

WordPress runs a third of all websites – and it’s growing fast. WordPress has evolved
from its humble beginnings as a blogging platform to becoming the operating system
of the Open Web. We believe that WordPress is more important than it’s ever been.

And WordPress is lead by volunteers. Thousands of people around the world contribute
their time and effort to make WordPress the product, the community, and ecosystem
better. _Anyone_ can contribute to it and that provides opportunity for _everyone
_to benefit.

![](https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/files/2018/12/32-5-marketshare.png)

And WordPress needs contribution. As more and more of the web gets built on WordPress,
the importance of the WordPress ecosystem being the best it can be increases. We
can do that with your help.

We, the WordPress community, want _your _company to join us in contributing to WordPress.

But why should you? You’re busy running your business, serving _your _clients and
customers. Sure, you love a good cause. But with so many other causes, why contribute
to WordPress?

## Your Clients and Customers are Already Using WordPress

With more than 32% of the web running on WordPress, WordPress is the tool of choice
for many of your current and future clients.

If many of your customers are using WordPress today, then contributing to WordPress
and investing in the WordPress community is a great way to serve them — better. 
Being an active part of the WordPress ecosystem is also great way to attract _new_
customers.

That’s the positive side and where we _believe _you should focus. On the negative
side, though, if you _don’t _invest in WordPress, if you _don’t_ provide a good 
experience to your customers who choose to use WordPress, they’ll choose the companies
who do.

Get ahead of the curve! Contribute to making WordPress better for your clients and
customers who use it today and position yourself for the clients and customers you’ll
have the opportunity to serve with WordPress tomorrow.

## WordPress is the Operating System of the Web

WordPress is built on the [four freedoms of open source software](https://wordpress.org/about/).
These freedoms, combined with the focus on providing a great user experience for
non-technical users, have been the key to WordPress’ meteoric rise.

![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wyxGYI45r2nJkHe_nb-eaDsmCXCR-aKHQUKbPhGIL4ln8l6hPqf_LAZH4tAXzz304K0CZRzd6bmkI-
kwnDAM-GS0ybCDeHU9EDkyGOz1goluU8P_17djf3TaBGcHv5O9JXEe_CZq)

It has grown from being a great platform for a blog or personal site to the operating
system for the web with a vast ecosystem of themes, plugins, and the businesses 
and organizations behind them that serve the WordPress economy.

From sites, to communities, to ecommerce, to products, to platforms, people are 
choosing to build on WordPress. The tools and resources are there and they’re getting
better all the time.

As the web evolves to serve new input and output methods, WordPress is evolving 
with it. From voice input and creating content in virtual reality to making content
accessible to users with disabilities and embracing augmented reality, WordPress
is there.

As a company, you have the opportunity to contribute to the operating system of 
the web. As you help make WordPress better, you’re helping set the stage for _new_
opportunities (like developing new “blocks” for GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg
project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process
and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler.
It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/))
and opening the doors for new possibilities (serving markets that don’t yet exist).

And why does that matter? Because…

## The Open Web Matters

The Open Web has changed the world and we have all enjoyed the benefits. As individuals
we’ve learned skills, launched careers, formed friendships, and championed causes.
As businesses we’ve reached and served clients and customers through the web that
we wouldn’t have otherwise.

WordPress’ mission is to democratize publishing for _everyone_ –, for people of 
all cultures, languages, capabilities, and means.

What if the Web wasn’t open? What if it was all behind a walled garden that only
a privileged few could access?

As the importance of the web increases more and more time and money is being poured
into _closed_ ecosystems controlled by a few that can choose to _limit_ who can 
and can’t participate.

WordPress today represents the _future _of the Open Web and while we firmly believe
that it’s a _bright_ future it’s also a future at risk. As a project lead by volunteers
we _don’t_ have the resources that these closed, proprietary platforms have.

We have something better, though. A community and an ecosystem that values the _freedom
_to create and to live and serve as citizens of an Open Web.

You and your company benefit from the Open Web. Please, join us in investing in 
the Open Web and making it better for all.

### Be Part of the WordPress Project

As a company, you have the unique opportunity and privilege to contribute to WordPress.
By doing so, you can serve your existing clients and customers better _and _reach
new ones. You can be a part of making the operating system of the web _better_ and
in so doing help ensure a future where the Open Web is vibrant and strong.

So what’s next? How can you join us?

[Learn more at Make WordPress.](https://make.wordpress.org/)

Special thanks to [@sirjonathan](https://profiles.wordpress.org/sirjonathan/), [@gidgey](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bridgetwillard/),
[@mcdwayne](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mcdwayne/), [@Breann McDede ](https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/DGYM7TM1R)
and [@miker](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikerbg/) for their contributions on
this post.

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 * [To-do](https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2018/12/09/why-your-company-should-contribute-to-wordpress/?output_format=md#)

 1.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/843d6bdf2ce104d96b205e682c4ecaab8567b2571caa7056a7f55a1d4d9b5521?
     s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=NM)
 2.   [Neil Murray](https://profiles.wordpress.org/buzztone/)  10:57 pm _on_ December
     9, 2018
 3.  We pay all remote staff working on our team, doing 20+ hours/week, to contribute
     10% of their time to the WordPress project.
 4.  We don’t do this for altruistic reasons – though we’re glad it also helps the 
     WordPress community. We do it because it allows our staff to learn from some of
     the best WordPress Developers, Designers etc. in the world (for free).
 5.  Doing this has helped our developers to learn professional ReactReact React is
     a JavaScript library that makes it easy to reason about, construct, and maintain
     stateless and stateful user interfaces.
      [https://reactjs.org](https://reactjs.org/)
     based JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming
     language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress
     makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed 
     on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. [https://www.javascript.com](https://www.javascript.com/)
     development for WordPress from the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is
     the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience
     of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’
     to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/)
     project/team. I honestly can’t see how we could have done otherwise that in last
     year.
 6.  It’s also helped with recruitment of new staff. We’ve definitely attracted skilled
     staff we likely would not have got without this opportunity.
 7.  I personally think that business leaders that don’t capitalize on the opportunity
     for their team to contribute to WordPress are likely missing a significant opportunity
     to improve their business.
 8.   * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d25be2c03648810b096ba1f7e7ba431cc8bf7c532e6551b433a9db191ebe6cf7?
        s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=BW)
      *  [bridgetwillard](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bridgetwillard/)  2:24 am 
        _on_ December 12, 2018
      * That’s awesome.
 9.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/80c838b93c23e1188834951292bef5eabd69d9f171f22841d643b94cc7970430?
     s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=DL)
 10.  [Dave Loodts](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davelo/)  8:58 am _on_ December 
     10, 2018
 11. Calling out this way is more towards developers, community jobs, etc. Cause most
     companies have these profiles as employees, but not for example accesibility-expert,
     technical copywriters, documentation, … And probably they never put resources 
     in to get them. Last week i thought it would be a good idea to budget that with
     the WP Foundation. Now i’m not, i understand the reasoning of [@matt](https://profiles.wordpress.org/matt/).
     I think it’s important too that the Foundation keeps being ‘neutral’ on that aspect
     too.
 12. Last years, i get the feeling that it’s hard for a freelancer to keep up with 
     all the stuff in his/her contribution work. Things going real fast, SlackSlack
     Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform [https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/).
     The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at [https://make.wordpress.org/chat/](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/)
     is spitting characters are 100 miles per hour. Since freelancers have a passion
     for it, they harm themselves.
 13. So i’m more and more into an official “adopt a volunteer’ campaign program. I 
     can bet there are companies willing to sponsor a freelancer working on a very 
     specific task. I want an end of those stories: ‘OMG, i lost 30% income this year
     because of contribution. I got myself caught in the flow’. These things happen,
     really. We need to support them. 5% for the future is perfect, not 20% to 50% 
     and certainly not for freelancers with no financial backup. We need to make sure
     that contributors take care of them first, then the rest.
 14. By the way, it’s in fact not all about the money. Some contributors can earn more
     money else where. Pretty sure about that. But they have chosen WordPress as their
     passion.
 15. So, good idea or not?
 16.  * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d25be2c03648810b096ba1f7e7ba431cc8bf7c532e6551b433a9db191ebe6cf7?
        s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=BW)
      *  [bridgetwillard](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bridgetwillard/)  2:25 am 
        _on_ December 12, 2018
      * I think it’s a great idea.
      * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b637d7016c15fb187906a8bad791f77ebf740c160f1a70bf5593a59372b01c54?
        s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=S%28)
      *  [Stefan Kremer (stk_jj)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/stk_jj/)  9:03 am 
        _on_ December 12, 2018
      * love this approach! Sounds like we should have a platform for matching both
        volunteers (showcasing their contribution) and adopters willing to enable this(
        by donation of money, trip-costs, hardware, … )
 17. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/af9ca9995b51714ffa362065f466efa87b95f3d3bfade28ec092773385313aa5?
     s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=gt)
 18.  [gtarafdar](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gtarafdar/)  5:49 am _on_ December
     12, 2018
 19. “Contribution to the community”
 20. This article is so much influencing. In addition, I just want to share my opinion.
 21. Day by day the world becomes very commercial. We’ve to keep pace with the cruel
     reality for our survival instincts. But reward always works as fuel for voluntary
     acts. The reward could be anything. It could be a candy or any kind of social 
     recognizations.
 22. Personally, I like to contribute to WordPress because of the Contributor Badge.
     It’s just like unlocking the achievements for me. Maybe we can arrange something
     like that. If we found consistent contributors from an organization we can honour
     that company by providing a special contributor Badge. Seeing that many of the
     organization will come forward to contribute.
 23. It’s just my personal thought. Maybe I’m wrong. But it could be an alternative
     solution to invite the organizations.
 24. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/81763e05a8e8b1f4a9212958f700c468820ff7e1221e2bebce36b8be6d7a9e57?
     s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=Pr)
 25.  [Presslabs](https://profiles.wordpress.org/presslabs/)  5:15 pm _on_ December
     13, 2018
 26. The numbers regarding the market share really put things into perspective. With
     so many sites running on WordPress, the impact on both the users and the readers
     is monumental. However, it would be even more helpful to find an indication of
     the effort needed for this giant project to stay afloat—metrics to depict investments
     of resources and time, and also the number of contributors and the average work
     profile. There’s more to this than meets the eye.
 27.  * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d25be2c03648810b096ba1f7e7ba431cc8bf7c532e6551b433a9db191ebe6cf7?
        s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=BW)
      *  [bridgetwillard](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bridgetwillard/)  7:12 am 
        _on_ December 14, 2018
      * That’s a fair statement. I spend a minimum of 10 hours a month volunteering
        for Make WordPress’ marketing team. This doesn’t take into account speaking
        at WordCamps or organizing them.
 28. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e03471697631ac08958acee099612ad363fec4b8669d8fe4985e4ac9bfed150f?
     s=32&d=initials&r=g&initials=YS)
 29.  [Yvette Sonneveld](https://profiles.wordpress.org/yvettesonneveld/)  5:02 pm 
     _on_ December 19, 2018
 30. I would still like to encourage freelancers to contribute. And to keep tabs of
     the time they invest. There needs to be a healthy balance. But I have been able
     to land clients I may have never dared to reach out to. They reached out to be
     because they had gotten to know, like and trust me as a result of the volunteer
     work I did. Also, I have grown my self-confidence to a much healthier level as
     a result of the volunteer work I do. I now know most forty-some aged professionals
     taught themselves to code and learned the principles of online marketing by trial
     on error. I thought I was the odd ball. I now know my expertise does measure up,
     and I am able to provide value to projects I thought were way out of my reach.
     Without paying thousands of dollars for training and coaching. By working alongside
     some true WordPress and internet marketing rock stars instead. Well worth the 
     time investment. But. Again. All in balance. And that’s not always easy either.

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