Well, we’re into the new year and, like most, the CiviCRM Core Team has laid out a set of ambitious objectives. Much of the past year was spent consolidating our capacity and driving a few key projects forward, specifically CiviCase updates (look for these to roll out soon), improvements to APIv4 and, of course, Mosaico integration. We also spent much of the year gathering community feedback and assessing overall project needs. As a result, our focus for 2018 will be different. This year we plan to shift gears and focus not only in technical improvements, but on strengthening the CiviCRM community’s capacity and appetite to help drive the project, and on actively growing the CiviCRM user base. In addition to those near term objectives cited by Core Team member Coleman Watts, we’re excited to highlight a few more objectives for 2018, specifically: 1. An overhaul of our Make It Happen process such that it better promotes new initiatives and makes it easier for the community to support them. The Core Team has a long history of subsidizing new developments, as does its incredible group of partners. At the end of the day, we want and need a more engaged community that actively supports improvements to the project. CiviCRM may be free software, but it’s in every user’s interest to invest in improvements to the software! 2. Introduction of CiviCRM “Spark”, a lightweight, hosted version of CiviCRM intended to onboard new potential users quickly. Look for a launch in February. 3. In lieu of CiviCon this year, we’re pushing for more user-focused CiviCamps, and we’re working on a major annual CiviCRM sprint beginning on September 25th with a tentative location in the Northeast of the United States. Stay tuned for more details very soon. 4. To support US-based CiviCamps and meetups, we’re adopting CauseIQ, an online database of nonprofits with powerful search filters. It’s time to be more proactive in our marketing and communications. If you’re running a CiviCamp or meetup (or thinking about it), email josh@civicrm.org to learn about CauseIQ. 5. Improving the process of reviewing and ultimately merging PR’s to be more systematic and to include a larger number of mergers within the community. Look for a Core Team presentation on this process in early February (details forthcoming). 6. Finally, we’re going to begin a big roadmap objective in the first quarter of 2018… a native form builder in CiviCRM. This will be both a massive undertaking as well as a significant enhancement to CiviCRM. We’re working on a Make It Happen campaign now, so look for more details soon. If you’re already familiar with this effort and want to make a pledge, email josh@civicrm.org We’re a very small core team presently, but as you can see we have some big ambitions. We believe that the goals we’ve laid out for 2018 will help grow the community, improve the software, and, hopefully, continue to foster contributions and financial support for our work. We need all the help we can get! If you’re interested in getting involved, send us an email. If you want to get a jump start on your financial giving this year, donations are graciously accepted. Here’s to a great 2018 for CiviCRM! CiviCRM Core Team |
