WP Engine Pledges Five for the Future

One of the key foundations of WordPress is its dedicated community of contributors, who regularly lend their time and efforts to core development, translation, and training (among other things), with the overarching goal of making WordPress better for everyone. 

At WP Engine, we’ve long been enthusiastic supporters of the WordPress community and the WordPress open source project itself. Since the inception of WP Engine, employees have contributed to WordPress in many important ways, including contributing code to WordPress Core, maintaining WordPress components such as Media, volunteering, organizing WordCamps and meetups, answering tickets in WordPress support forums, providing financial sponsorships for various projects, publishing educational and informational content for the community with our Torque publication and PressThis podcast, and of course, helping countless brands adopt WordPress for the very first time. 

WP Engine’s own Anthony Burchell (of WP Engine’s Labs team) was even honored to serve as a co-lead on WordPress 5.0 (Gutenberg)—one of the most impactful releases in WordPress history.

Today, we’re excited to announce that in acknowledgment of our continued commitment to WordPress, WP Engine has submitted our Five for the Future pledge, which is showcased on WordPress.org. The pledge, which is aimed at maintaining a “golden ratio” of WordPress contributors to users, proposes that organizations contribute five percent of their resources to WordPress.

WordPress now powers more than 38% of the Internet, and as it grows, so too does the need for additional contributors. Their work, which includes everything from core development, to marketing, translation, training, and community efforts, is instrumental in building the future of WordPress, and in many ways, the future of the web.  

“WordPress is an open source project with a thriving community built on one simple principle: democratize publishing,” said David Vogelpohl, WP Engine’s VP of Web Strategy, who also oversees WordPress strategy.

“In order to deliver on that vision, it takes an army of volunteer and sponsored contributors from all around the world working nearly around the clock. We are proud to be part of the WordPress community and to continue our commitment to contribute to WordPress along with other organizations and individuals from around the world.” 

“By submitting the Five for the Future pledge, we’re doubling down on our commitment to the future of WordPress and we encourage others to do the same.” 

Anyone— organizations and individuals— can take part in the Five for the Future initiative, which offers contributors the opportunity to learn alongside WordPress innovators and experts who gladly share their knowledge and experience with the community. 

For organizations, contributing to WordPress can provide more cost-effective training or growth opportunities than other, more traditional programs. Some of the benefits organizations see when they take part include: 

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

As mentioned above, WP Engine has long been a stalwart supporter of the WordPress community, as well as other open source projects. 

Through Engine for Good, our corporate social responsibility program, and specifically the Open Future program it supports, WP Engine devotes additional resources to increasing open source visibility and capability in the world of WordPress and beyond. 

In addition to WordPress-specific projects, Open Future has supported initiatives such as techshare volunteering, STEM student fundraising, and even Code Camps for kids, all in an effort to give back to the open source and tech communities we live and work in. 

Find out more about Five for the Future and make your own pledge today!