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How five percent is powering the next generation of the web

WordPress needs YOU!

Five for the Future is an initiative promoting the WordPress community’s contribution to the platform’s growth. As an open source project, WordPress is created by a diverse collection of people from around the world.

What is Five for the Future?

Launched in 2014, Five for the Future encourages organizations to contribute five percent of their resources to WordPress development. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg proposed this benchmark to maintain a “golden ratio” of contributors to users. 

The community has risen to the challenge, with participation more than quadrupling since launch. 

Who should participate in Five for the Future?

Anyone can contribute to Five for the Future. Many contributors focus on the technical side of WordPress, such as core development, but there are also teams working in other areas like marketing, translation, training, and community. There is always a way to get involved, whatever your skill set.

Why should you participate in Five for the Future?

Contributors have the opportunity to learn alongside passionate innovators who are more than happy to share their knowledge and experience. 

For organizations, WordPress contribution can provide more cost-effective training or growth opportunities than many traditional programs.

Participants see a number of benefits: 

  • Identifying and recruiting talent.
  • Influencing the direction of the WordPress platform.
  • Contributing to the future of the open web.

Case Study

Mika represents everything about DreamHost that we want to see in the world. With WordPress in her veins and a song in her heart, she shows us every day what it means to be a supportive and productive member of an open source community. We rely on Mika’s insights and empathy to inform our decisions and cannot imagine WordPress without her in it.

Michael Rodriguez, DreamHost CEO

Mika Epstein has reviewed 46,800 plugins for inclusion in the WordPress Plugin Directory. She managed this while working at Dreamhost, which contributes 25 percent of her paid hours to benefitting the WordPress open source project.

Learn more about how Mika contributes.

How to Participate

I am an individual interested in participating in WordPress

I am part of an organization interested in participating in WordPress