"Joomla! is a global, non profit, Open Source project working with only volunteers and their contributions."
The Joomla! Project call for Volunteers to contribute to Joomla!
The Joomla! Project's Outreach Department Coordinator for 2025 is Angelika Prox-Dampha.
She has begun the year by calling for volunteers to contribute to the work of The Joomla! Project in a very wide range of roles.
In her January 2025 Joomla! Community Magazine article she outlines the vast array of roles that need the help of volunteers.
Here are Angelika's opening remarks from her magazine article
"You’ve probably heard or read it more than once: Joomla needs volunteers.
Without people, new releases take longer and have less exciting features, documentation remains incomplete and bugs take forever to get fixed. But who do we need, and what would they be doing?
Joomla is entirely staffed and managed by volunteers and powered entirely by their contributions. Volunteers are key to the growth, success and continuity of the project. Because our current volunteers are busy people who can only dedicate a limited amount of time, Joomla is always in need of new volunteers.
You will be part of an international team, involved in strategic social media management and participate in regular online meetings. We all work from "home office". You can gain valuable experience, broaden your knowledge, and sharpen your soft skills. If you’re ready, you can also develop leadership expertise.
Certainly, we value developers, yet there are plenty of roles that don’t require any programming knowledge."
Read more: Volunteers needed - this is your chance to contribute to Joomla
The Joomla! Project's Mission Statement
"Our mission is to provide a multilingual, flexible and free platform for digital publishing and collaboration, made and sustained by volunteers. The platform should be stable, secure and extensible. Adapting the latest technologies to the core product to be innovative and renewing as a platform."
"Our mission is to provide a stable tool for agencies, web-builders, SMB’s and non-profits to easily build, extend, maintain and edit an online publishing platform."
"For our end users our aim is that they are able to input, edit and distribute content within the CMS frontend without a big learning curve."
Source: The Joomla! Project's Mission Statement
The Joomla! Project's Vision Statement
- "Establish, maintain and support a global community of volunteers.
- Open Source Software that is free, secure, and high-quality.
- Engage ourself as a socially responsible project.
- Build trust with all our users and therefore becoming a stronger community.
- Communicate openly on all levels of the community and about our software.
- Act autonomously as a project."
Source: The Joomla! Project's Vision Statement
The Joomla! Project's Key Values
- "Freedom.
- Equality.
- Trust.
- Community.
- Collaboration.
- Usability.
- Transparency."
Source: The Joomla! Project's Key Values
The Joomla! Project is a co-founder of the Open Website Alliance
In early 2024 The Joomla! Project announced that it had co-founded the Open Website Alliance.
Fellow co-founders included the following international community organisations which are also "dedicated to championing the cause of open-source software over proprietary alternatives": Drupal, TYPO3, and WordPress.
In a statement The Joomla! Project stated:
"Joomla is immensely proud to be a founding member of the Open Website Alliance, an initiative that aligns perfectly with Joomla’s mission, vision, and values. By championing freedom, equality, trust, community, collaboration, usability, and transparency, Joomla continues to foster a platform that is not only innovative but also inclusive and accessible to all."
"Through this alliance, Joomla and its partners are setting the stage for a digital future that prioritises the open web - a future where digital publishing and collaboration flourish on a foundation of open-source principles."
Read more: What are the aims of the Open Website Alliance?
Ways you can get involved
"Volunteers are key to our growth and success. Contributing to Joomla! is easy and will give you great satisfaction. Anyone can contribute, whatever your skillset is, with as much time as you want. It’s also a great way to give back to your beloved CMS." Source: The Joomla! Project.
Visit the following links to find out how anyone and everyone can contribute to the Joomla! Project.
Read more: Finding your way in the Joomla! Community (April 2024 JCM)
Read Joomla! Documentation
Read more: Joomla! Documentation Main Page
Joomla! 5
Read more: The Joomla! 5 Portal
Read more: Joomla! 5.x Documentation
Read more: Joomla 5 Tutorials Project
A Wiki Tutorial Project focused on providing tutorials to help Beginners and Developers with the changes introduced with the Joomla 5 series.
Joomla! 4
Read more: The Joomla! 4 Portal
Read more: Joomla! 4.x Documentation
Read more: Joomla 4 Tutorials Project
A Wiki Tutorial Project focused on providing tutorials to help Beginners and Developers with the changes introduced with the Joomla 4 series.
Help write Joomla! Documentation
To find out more, read the article in the Joomla! Commuity Magazine (JCM) at the following link.
Read more: Writing documentation is a great way to contribute (JCM August 2024)
Engage with The Joomla! Forum
Engage with and learn from experienced Joomla! CMS users via The Joomla! Forum.
Read or write an article for the Joomla! Community Magazine or JCM
Engage with the Joomla! Community Portal
Blogs, user groups, events, shop and more besides.
Join a Joomla! Team
Joomla! Teams focus on specific areas essential to the future growth and development of the Joomla! CMS.
Join a Joomla! User Group
Check out if there is a user group near you.
If not then why not set one up?
Become a Joomla! Volunteer
The Joomla! Community is always looking for volunteers.
Browse the current open positions across the teams to find a position of your interest.
In February 2025 the Volunteer Enagagement Team published a summary of progress made in the preceding four years.
Test Joomla! CMS Release Candidates every six weeks
"Minor updates of Joomla are released every six (6) Tuesdays (schedule may change). One week prior to the release, the update is set for RC (Release Candidate) and available for testing.
People are needed to conduct such tests. The more people that test, the better releases can be." Source: Joomla! CMS Release Team Page.
Find out what is involved at the following link.
Report Bugs and Issues
Reporting bugs and issues is a great way to get involved even if you choose not to periodically test Joomla! CMS Release candidates.
Read more: How to report bugs and issues
The February 2024 issue of Joomla! Community Magazine included a very good illustration of how one Joomla! user making one small contribution can result in every Joomla! user benefiting.
Read more: It Started With A Glitch - How I Helped Improve The Joomla Core
Follow the progress of reported bugs and issues.
Help resolve issues reported by others.
Participate in periodic Pizza Bugs & Fun events
"Pizza Bugs & Fun" (or PBFs for short) are events "where designers, developers and users meet and work together on Joomla! to make it even better. No matter if you are a beginner or a professional, everyone is welcome".
Everyone and anyone can take part regardless of whether they are a beginner or an advanced user of the Joomla! CMS.
Become a Joomla! Programmer
If you are an experienced user of the Joomla! CMS then maybe you would like to learn how to develop your own custom extension?
The Joomla! Project provide the following resources to help you get started.
The Joomla Academy
The Joomla Academy is an Open Source Matters (OSM) initiative.
The Joomla Academy "provides funding via sponsors to educate students to code through the generous help of mentors, focusing on projects that will enhance the Joomla core."
Source: Philip Walton, the man behind The Joomla! Academy, when interviewed by the Joomla! Community Magazine (October, 2024)
Who is the Joomla Academy for?
"Students who wish to work on core Joomla projects. We are not limiting age as long as over 18 at registration and from a non-US embargoed country."
"Ideally, they would be studying computer science but there is no restriction as long as they will have the time to do a few months of familiarisation and the 6 months of work."
What’s in it for the students?
Mentorship, help with funding and the chance to feature in many publications.
"Getting a Joomla core project into the next release after they start. That is a huge boost to anyone's CV and potentially worth much more than it costs."
If this sounds interesting to you then find out more at the link below.
Read more: An opportunity for students to contribute to Open Source Software
We need Mentors
When interviewed, Philip Walton said:
"We need mentors. They can be members of the community, people with coding skills but also people who have people skills. We learnt from GSoC that a good mix of mentors in each team is what we need."
"People who are great at code, people who can document and help with writing and people who can look in on the team and make sure that it's all going to plan and if it's not take action."
More Useful Links
Joomla! CMS Release Team
This team is responsible for coordinating all aspects of Joomla! CMS releases. Also, one main task is to test CMS release candidates extensively on complex testing environments.
Its Meeting Notes are sometimes very informative.
Joomla! Downloads Portal
Launched in November 2016, this great new centralised resource is a one stop shop for the latest and every past version and release of Joomla! since its launch more than 10 years ago.
Legacy versions and releases can be found here but we recommend you stick to using the latest available Joomla! version and release in your live website!
You will also find Official and Decoupled Extension downloads here.
Decoupled extensions so far include:
- Install from Web, and
- Weblinks.
3rd party extensions will continue to be listed in the Joomla! Extensions Directory - see below.
The Downloads Portal also links into Joomla! Documentation (lots of learning resources) and Joomla! Technical Requirements.
Visit: Joomla! Downloads Portal
Joomla Extensions Directory (or JED)
This is the only place you should find 3rd party extensions for your Joomla! CMS.
If they are legitimate they will be listed in the JED.
Joomla! Security Strike Team
The Joomla! Security Strike Team or JSST focuses on managing and improving Joomla! CMS security.
The team comprises security experts from within and beyond the Joomla! Project.
The team anticipates, investigates and responds to security issues.
RSS News Feed Links
Visit the link below for latest RSS News Feed links provided by The Joomla! Project, including:
- Security Announcements,
- Joomla! Announcements, and
- Community Magazine.
What is Open Source?
"Open Source software is software that can be freely accessed, used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone." Source: Open Source Initiative.
Read more: Open Source Initiative
The Joomla! Project is supported by Open Source Matters (OSM)
"Open Source Matters (OSM) is a not-for-profit organisation, incorporated in the United States, created to serve the financial and legal interests of the Joomla project. OSM has been designed to be flexible and change as the needs of Joomla! expand. At all times, OSM is fashioned to suit the needs of the Joomla project. OSM will also engage in regular self-assessment to ensure it is accountable to Joomla!, acting in Joomla!'s interest and ensuring that it is the right shape and size to support Joomla!."
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We help and support managers responsible for Joomla! CMS websites in UK business, academy school and third sector organisations across Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and North West England.
