“Ambition” is a great term, and for Drupal it’s a good position from which to start carving out a point of difference. Who can’t relate to ambition, or being ambitious? Especially within the Drupal community.

But does the term “ambitious” lock people and organisations out? Yes, and deliberately so.

Are for not-for-profit and non-governmental organisations (or government organisations for that matter) ambitious? And is Drupal for them? Well, I’ve never met an organisation that wasn’t ambitious. Wanting to eliminate homelessness? Ambitious. Revegetating local parks and community spaces? Ambitious. Coordinating organisations to advocate together? Ambitious. Teaching kids... well teaching them anything really. Ambitious. Small and grassroots organisations punch massively above their weight, and ambitiously so.

 

Whether Drupal is the right tool for the job is okay to ask, and it is asked often. However, I can’t easily name an organisation that Drupal wasn’t the right tool for. I can name organisations where I’ve recommended something else for cost reasons, but I still did so knowing that Drupal would have been the better option.

Because these organisations are ambitious.

Not just in the people and work that they deliver and advocate for, but in how they are run, what they want to achieve, and the potential of technology to increase their impact, reach, and operational effectiveness. These things they could do with Drupal better than other platforms.

When I see a new site in another platform, my tendency is to assess the functionality and usability. Too often I lament the lost flexibility that Drupal could have afforded them. Extending a directory to be split or refined into more meaningful search; the extension of content types to make digesting hundreds of resources easier; the creations of a grants management function to reduce administration overhead. This is functionality Drupal does well and that many organisations need.

The time technology such as Drupal can save an organisation, the reach we give them, and the information we help unlock and put in the hands of community — that’s ambitious.

A great many people in the Drupal community realise the opportunity of #DrupalForGood as not just a way of creating parity and giving back, but as an important opportunity for the community to innovate, collectively build, and work together. 
It is also a way to advance Drupal and the evolution and adoption of the code.

Frankly the more people that are using Drupal the better, and Drupal Dojo is part of that contribution. 
The community-led project I’m helping to pursue first via the Drupal Dojo is an accessible not-for-profit theme. Why? Accessibility and equality on the web: for one, that’s ambitious. Being able to on-board small organisations and grassroots groups to use Drupal for good is also ambitious.

This community and the code was founded and evolved by people who saw the opportunity for open source technology to be an equaliser, a way to allow groups and individuals to access technology they could otherwise never dreamed of affording.

Drupal is built on a foundation of ambition.

0 Comments
Sep 20, 2017 By lyndsey

Add new comment