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What’s Next for Magento Association: An Update on the New Membership Model and Election Process

Author’s Note: In late February 2022, the Magento Association (MA) was excited to announce two major initiatives for the year. But, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacting members both in Ukraine and in the surrounding nations, we paused those announcements. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, the MA Board of Directors has been in communication with many members in Ukraine and has decided to move forward with announcing these initiatives, incorporating modifications that seek to better support members in Ukraine. What follows is our announcement of these initiatives that was originally planned for release in February.

Magento Association (MA) is excited to share updates on two major initiatives for 2022: a paid membership model and processes for the upcoming Board of Directors election. The election will bring three new members onto the Board.

Paid Membership Launching on Patreon

MA heard from the member community in 2021 that many would like a way to join the association as a paid member in order to provide direct financial support to MA. A paid membership model would then allow MA an additional source of revenue to fund activities, in addition to the support received from sponsors and partnerships.

The Membership Committee heard that feedback and has since been working on reviewing options as to how MA might best provide a paid membership model, ultimately determining that Patreon is the best path forward. The Board has accepted the committee’s recommendation to launch paid membership through Patreon, which, for anyone not familiar, is an online membership platform that enables nonprofits, creators, and more to set up an easy process for their friends, fans and followers to support them financially. MA is also starting on Patreon as a way to launch an initial version of a paid membership model quickly. The Board plans to then gather your feedback in order to improve upon membership offerings in 2023.

For launch, we're keeping things simple — there will be a number of different tiers (price points) on Patreon, but all tiers will receive the same benefits. For now, those benefits include: recognition of your support of the Magento Association, the ability to vote in the upcoming Board of Directors election and the ability to serve on the Board of Directors. The various tiers allow everyone who wants to support the association the ability to do so at a level of support that they are comfortable with. — no matter what your personal financial situation is, you can show your support to MA at a level that makes sense for you. Please consider contributing as much as you can, as your funds will be used to help advance the mission of MA.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, MA will waive membership fees and Board-related paid membership requirements for any Ukrainian community members who are unable to join the paid membership program at this time. To utilize this offer, please contact us at info@magentoassociation.org.

Next year, MA will look to provide different levels of benefits, and more specific benefits, for each tier. If you have ideas as to what those benefits should be, we would love to hear them. You can email any feedback to the Membership Committee at membershipcomm@magentoassociation.org.

Election Update

In December of 2021, I announced the election process via this blog post, and I'm excited to share progress with you.

MA leadership has seated the Election Committee, which will officially lead the charge for the upcoming Board of Directors election. The committee consists of: Jeroen Boersma of elgentos, James Cowie of Shero Commerce, Tyler Jensen of Marshall Wolf Automation, Inc., Joseph Maxwell of SwiftOtter, Mudit Shukla of CedCommerce, Tink Taylor of Dotdigitial, Andreas von Studnitz of integer_net GmbH and Slava Kravchuk, serving as the Board liaison to the committee.

The Board has provided basic objectives to the Election Committee, and has asked them to completely own both the direct and slate election process. As a quick reminder: The process will be to first host a direct election where paid members will vote on one new Board member, then we will move to a slate election where the committee will prepare a slate of two new Board members which is shared with the existing Board for approval and later ratified by paid members.

When applying to participate in the election, you will be able to select whether you wish to participate in the direct or slate election. For the direct election, your application will be shared with all paid members to review before voting. For the slate election, only the committee will have access to review your application.

I want to personally thank each member of the Election Committee — as outlined in my previous article, by accepting a position on the committee, they have removed themselves from being eligible to be elected to the Board. These individuals are volunteering their time in a very selfless manner to help ensure MA has three great, new Board members this spring who best represent the Magento ecosystem and help us as an association move forward.

Additionally, I want to thank our Election Committee for the work they have been doing to ensure that our members in Ukraine are being considered and supported as we move forward with elections. The committee and the Board continue to closely monitor the situation and will determine if and when another election should be held later in the year to bring in additional Board members and provide another opportunity for Ukrainian members to participate. I also want to share that, at the conclusion of these elections, the committee will review the results and recommend a standard ongoing approach in order to plan and schedule Board elections going forward.

If you have feedback or questions about the upcoming election, you can contact the Election Committee at electioncomm@magentoassociation.org. Stay tuned to Commerce Co-op and MA’s social media accounts for an announcement of the election application process. And, don't forget: In order to vote or run in the election, you'll need to join as a paid member — at any tier — when membership launches on Patreon.

We'll be launching Board elections at the same time as Patreon membership tiers to help spread awareness and encourage participation in programs.