Dries Buytaert

The Drupal Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the Drupal community with fun­ding, infra­structure, events, promotion and distribution. The current Board of Directors was elected a year ago, so it's election time again!

On February 17 we will elect new Permanent Members (the General Assembly is comprised of all the Permanent Members) and our third Board of Directors (the Board of Directors is appointed by the General Assembly and is responsible for day-to-day operations). All the details can be found in the Drupal Association's Statutes and on the "2009 election website" (now offline).

In its second year of operation, the pace of the Drupal Association's work has accelerated notably. We (i) extended the drupal.org infrastructure, (ii) raised funds, (iii) helped organize two international Drupal conferences, (iv) resolved many licensing questions, (v) funded several events, and (vi) made the Drupal.org redesign a top priority. Despite the progress made in 2008, we would like to ramp up our professionalism and increase our activity in 2009.

We are looking for people that want to become a Director on the Drupal Association's Board of Directors and who can provide leadership and experience to expand the reach of the Drupal Association and its activities. All current Board positions, except the Secretary, are up for election, including President, Treasurer, Legal Officer, Marketing and Communications, Infrastructure Manager, Fundraiser, and Events Coordinator. The Association is also looking for new members with skills in marketing, local user group coordination, drupal.org webmaster coordination, project management and more.

People interested in becoming a Permanent Members are also invited to apply. While Permanent Members don't have the full responsibilities of board members, we expect them to take on regular work for the Association. Work done by Permanent Members include a wide range of activities, from processing member applications to assisting with Association projects like the drupal.org upgrade project to managing drupal.org infrastructure.

The Drupal Association is solely run by unpaid volunteers and we expect that our board members will spend a considerable amount of time working on Association responsibilities and obligations. If you think you're a good candidate, and you have the time it takes, find an existing Permanent Member to support your candidacy and submit your application. Applications are due by February 10 and on February 17, we elect the new Permanent Members and the new Board of Directors.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask them in the comments, or to contact the Drupal Association.

As the current president of the Drupal Association, I'll post my personal reflections, vision and wishlist for the Drupal Association in a follow-up blog post within the next couple of days. I expect that other Permanent Members will do the same, so keep an eye on the Drupal Association Planet as well as the Drupal Planet.