Open source CMSs have been under a lot of pressure lately, mainly due to artificial intelligence (AI). For this reason, they are undertaking a series of major changes so they do not miss the AI wave and can continue to be leading software in the future.
One of the main challenges is, of course, funding, since many take the software but then do not contribute. To mitigate this, Acquia, the company founded by Drupal founder Dries Buytaert, has announced the launch of the Acquia Fair Trade Initiative, integrated into its partner program. Now, when an Acquia partner closes a Drupal deal, 2% of the value of the deal is donated directly to the Drupal Association.
It is important to note that this 2% contribution is paid by Acquia, not the partner, so Acquia’s client does not have to cover this bill. It should be remembered that Acquia is one of the global giants in enterprise software and customer experience platforms (DXP), so its deals tend to be substantial. And Dries gives the following example on his blog: in a $100,000 Drupal deal, $2,000 would go to the Drupal Association, attributed to the partner.
The donation is publicly credited in the Acquia Partner Portal and counts toward the partner’s position in the Drupal Association’s Certified Partner Program. In other words, it fully counts as a contribution from Acquia’s client.
Dries also stresses that this initiative is not a one off donation or a sponsorship campaign, but a structural mechanism built into the economics of the partner program. In this way, everyone seems to win, since Drupal receives more predictable funding, partners gain recognition and Acquia strengthens the ecosystem on which its business depends.
We will see what impact this initiative has, which seems more solid than relying on voluntary donations.
This measure comes almost a year after Chris Tranquill was appointed as Acquia’s new CEO. The new CEO’s sensitivity toward the open source version of Drupal carried a lot of weight in the decision and it is important because it means directly cutting Acquia’s business by 2%. Even so, it seems like a completely necessary measure to counter Drupal’s slow decline, which for the moment seems unable to be reborn even with the new Drupal CMS.
* Original article written in Spanish, translated with AI and reviewed in English by Jorge Mediavilla.
