For three weeks the participants learned about everything from securing automated workflows and the tools that can be used to detect vulnerabilities through to planning for dealing with incidents and learning about the latest developments in security regarding AI/ML and MCP servers.

Attended by Project Lead Ruth Cheesley and Docker Working Group Lead Renato Castro, the training has been instrumental in helping Mautic to develop its security posture and ensure that we are operating in a way which ensures the safety and security of our ecosystem.

We’re delighted to share that we graduated from the program, which you can read about on the GitHub blog announcing the first 71 projects they worked with.

The work doesn’t stop with the end of the program, though, and that’s the beauty of this opportunity – the entire cohort of 40 open source projects and their maintainers will stay together in a private community as we all work to secure open source.

Together we will all be working through our backlog and focusing on keeping our open source projects secure.

What’s more, GitHub is also financially supporting the projects who complete the program by providing a $10,000 contribution and we’ve also been offered a substantial amount of Azure credits to support Mautic’s continued growth.

Both Renato and Ruth found the training extremely insightful:

Project Lead Ruth Cheesley said:

It was such a great opportunity to learn from the experts across GitHub and the wider technology community – not to mention from our fellow maintainers – over the course of the three weeks. We’ve already implemented many of the learnings and I’m sure it’s going to have a big impact going forward.

Renato Castro, Docker Working Group Lead said:

During the training I had the opportunity to learn more about multiple cybersecurity topics which I wasn’t completely aware of. It was awesome to discover Github’s security-driven features, and share insights with not only other open source maintainers, but also with Github experts who are very passionate about their products. The program has definitely helped us to improve Mautic’s security, making us align even more with our vision of being the most privacy (and security) focused marketing automation product on the market.

Through this certification program, we aim to strengthen the global Mautic ecosystem, support talent development, and ensure that businesses can confidently identify qualified practitioners. Whether you’re a developer, integrator, or digital marketer, the Mautic certification program will enable you to demonstrate your skills and be recognized worldwide as a Mautic qualified professional..

Why this matters

As Mautic continues to grow as the world’s leading open source marketing automation platform, organizations increasingly rely on skilled professionals to customize, integrate, and extend Mautic to meet unique marketing needs. Until now, there has been no standardized way to validate skills or help businesses hire qualified Mautic talent.

Introducing the official Mautic certification provider

As the official certification provider, Axelerant is leading the development and global rollout of a robust, credible certification program designed to elevate professional standards. Their focus areas include:

• Comprehensive syllabus design: We’re creating certification tracks tailored to the roles that matter most in the Mautic ecosystem: Developer, Integrator, and Marketer. Each syllabus is being developed to reflect both core knowledge and practical application with an aim to provide a credible, role-specific benchmark for validating Mautic proficiency.
  
• Proctored exams: Candidates will take exams through a secure, globally accessible, proctored platform to ensure fair testing conditions. This means individuals can get certified with confidence that the process upholds industry-standard verification, whether they’re in Berlin, Bangalore, or Buenos Aires.
  
• Career-advancing credentials: On passing the certification, individuals will receive verifiable digital badges and certificates that can be showcased on professional platforms like LinkedIn or shared with employers and clients. These credentials will serve as a trusted signal of Mautic expertise in hiring, consulting, and project bidding scenarios.

What you can expect

• Up-to-date content: Certification materials and assessments will be tightly aligned with the most recent stable version of Mautic. As the platform evolves, so too will the exams, ensuring relevance and longevity.
  
• Scenario-based assessment: The exams will include real-world use cases and problem-solving scenarios designed to evaluate not just theoretical knowledge but practical skill and judgment. This approach makes the certification more meaningful for both professionals and the organizations hiring them.
  
• Preparation resources: We’ll be providing candidates with structured guidance, including an exam blueprint that outlines competencies and topic weightage. Sample questions and prep recommendations will also be offered to help candidates assess their readiness and focus their learning.

The certification program is scheduled to launch within the next four months. We’re working diligently to ensure high-quality content, secure administration, and community-driven feedback loops from day one.

We need your expertise

We’re building this with the community, for the community. Whether you’re a developer, implementer, or marketer, your experience is invaluable. We’re currently inviting volunteers in the following roles:

• Technical reviewers: If you’ve implemented Mautic in real-world scenarios, customized plugins, managed integrations, built campaigns, or optimized contact segmentation, your input can ensure our materials reflect authentic use cases and technical precision. Reviewers will help validate that questions are fair, technically accurate, and free of ambiguity.
  
• Community advocates: You’ll play a key role in driving awareness about the certification, encouraging adoption, and relaying feedback from your networks. Whether through webinars, user groups, or one-on-one outreach, advocates will be instrumental in making this certification a trusted standard across global Mautic communities.

Whether you’re an experienced Mautic developer/integrator/marketer, agency leader, or passionate community member, your input can shape a certification program that benefits everyone.

Want to Get Involved?

Interested in contributing? Please fill out this quick form.

Together, let’s make Mautic stronger, more professional, and more accessible, and give professionals everywhere the recognition they deserve.

These emails are not sent by Mautic, nor by any service officially affiliated with us. They imitate our templates, use Mautic’s name as the sender, and spoof our reply-to address to appear legitimate, with the clear intent of misleading recipients.

We’re actively investigating the situation and working with relevant parties to shut down the sources of these emails. In the meantime, we’re asking for your help.

What you can do to help

If you’ve received these emails, there are a couple of ways you can help stop the attack and reduce further impact:

1. Report the Malicious Domains

Filing a report with GoDaddy (the domain registrar) and Akamai (where the emails are being sent) can help disable the domains sending these fake emails. Here’s how:

• Visit the GoDaddy abuse report form and Akamai’s abuse report form
• Under “Type of Abuse”, choose Spam as a delivery service for GoDaddy and Other Acceptable Use Policy Violation for Akamai
• List the domains:
  • pubmeets[.]com
  • mediatechold[.]shop
• When asked if a brand is being impersonated, select Yes and enter Mautic.
• Use the additional information field to explain the issue (e.g., “These domains are sending spoofed emails pretending to be from Mautic, targeting Yahoo users who are not subscribed to Mautic’s communications.“).

2. Block the Emails in Yahoo Mail

If you’re using Yahoo Mail, you can block these messages to prevent them from reaching your inbox:

• Block the individual email address with Free Yahoo mail.
• Block the domain with Plus Yahoo mail.

We truly appreciate your help in reporting and blocking these harmful messages. We’re doing everything we can to put an end to this spam campaign and will continue to share updates through our official channels.

Start your trial today

Why Try Mautic?

Mautic is the leading open source marketing automation platform designed to empower businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re looking to streamline your marketing workflows, nurture leads more effectively, or personalize your customer experiences, Mautic has you covered.

What’s Included in the Trial?

During your trial period, you’ll have access to a wide range of features and functionalities that showcase the capabilities of Mautic. From building and testing email campaigns to creating dynamic landing pages, collecting data with forms, content personalization and analyzing campaign performance, the trial provides a comprehensive overview of what Mautic can do for your business. There are some restrictions to sending addresses and the availability of some settings to prevent abuse of the system, which can be lifted by upgrading your account.

Ready to Get Started?

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to explore Mautic firsthand! Simply click here to start your trial today. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer seeking a new solution or a business owner looking to take your marketing efforts to the next level, Mautic is here to help.

Spread the Word!

Know someone who could benefit from trying out Mautic? Share the news with your colleagues, friends, and fellow marketers. Together, let’s empower more businesses to unleash the full potential of marketing automation with Mautic.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates and developments from the world of Mautic. Happy exploring!

What began as a passionate idea sparked by founder DB Hurley, has grown over the past ten years into the world’s largest open source marketing automation platform, powering the digital experiences of over 40,000 websites in 85 countries worldwide.

The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative which is endorsed by the United Nations Secretary-General. The goal of the DPGA and its registry is to promote digital public goods in order to create a more equitable world, accelerating adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Today, we are delighted to announce that Mautic was added to the Digital Public Goods Alliance DPG Registry. Being recognised as a DPG increases the visibility, support for, and prominence of open projects that have the potential to tackle global challenges. To become a digital public good, all projects are required to meet the DPG Standard to ensure that projects truly encapsulate open source principles. 

“Being recognised as a digital public good means a great deal. It’s a recognition of the importance of what we’re doing with Mautic – enabling equitable growth and empowering organizations worldwide to compete on a level playing field by making available powerful marketing automation software.” said Project Lead, Ruth Cheesley. “Mautic is truly changing the lives of those who use and contribute to it, and gives confidence to organizations that open source solutions are the way forward for building the digital experience platforms of the future.”

For more information on the Digital Public Goods Alliance please reach out to hello@digitalpublicgoods.net. 

We are excited to announce that Dropsolid – a leading provider of open digital experience solutions – has made a significant commitment to Mautic – the world’s largest open marketing automation platform. The company has pledged an exceptional contribution of $30,000 per year, solidifying its position as a Diamond member, the highest level of membership.

This partnership reflects Dropsolid’s ongoing commitment to enabling marketers to create world-class digital experiences which span the entire customer journey. Their annual contribution will help fuel Mautic’s mission of democratizing marketing automation and enabling organizations of all sizes to create, manage, track and personalize their customer experiences seamlessly.

“After working with Mautic for the last 6 years integrating it into our product, we are very happy Mautic became an independent project so other companies like ourselves could step up and increase their sponsorship” said Dropsolid CEO, Dominique De Cooman

While the Diamond Tier sponsorship focuses on Dropsolid’s financial contribution, they also continue their ongoing commitment as one of the top five companies contributing to the Mautic project including their Director of Engineering Mattias Michaux leading the Product Team and Marketing Expert Mike Van Hemelrijck supporting the UX/UI Tiger Team. 

“We are delighted to welcome Dropsolid as our Diamond Tier sponsor. Their generous support will significantly contribute to Mautic’s ambitious plans for growth. We look forward to working along with Dropsolid and achieving our shared vision for Mautic to become the worldwide open marketing automation platform of choice.” said Mautic Project Lead, Ruth Cheesley.

For more updates about this partnership and upcoming projects, follow Dropsolid and Mautic on their respective social channels.

About Dropsolid

Dropsolid is a world leading open digital experience provider with an open DXP and implementation services. The company, with offices in Belgium, Portugal and the United States, focuses on delivering scalable, secure, and user-friendly open source platforms which businesses can personalize to their needs, ensuring optimal interaction with their customers. Check out the the Dropsolid DXP.

About Mautic

Mautic is the world’s largest open source marketing automation project. With 40,000+ organizations using Mautic and over 700 community volunteers, we empower businesses by making it easy to manage their marketing across a range of channels.
 

We are seeking proposals from providers to offer trials to potential adopters of Mautic. The provider will be responsible for setting up a Mautic instance with appropriate limitations to be agreed, for a trial period of 14 days, and providing all necessary support and onboarding to the trial users. 

The provider will also be responsible for converting the leads into sales, and will share at least 40% of the revenue generated from each customer who becomes a paying client back to the Mautic Community.

We will consider proposals which provide worldwide coverage, and we will also consider those which cover clearly defined regions of the world which would run alongside other providers – for example provider A is selected if the visitor chooses country A, but provider B is selected if they choose country B. Please make it clear in your proposal what you are offering.

Scope of Work

The provider will be responsible for the following:

• Setting up a Mautic instance based on the Open Source version of Mautic without any additional customisations (we expect this to be within 20 minutes of a trial request being received) 
• Enabling the installation of plugins and themes, with appropriate limitations to be agreed
• Providing a trial for a period of 14 days for trial users
• Providing all necessary support and onboarding to the trial users
• Converting the leads generated from the trials into sales
• Sharing at least 40% of the revenue generated from each customer who becomes a paying client back to the Mautic Community
• Providing a public-facing dashboard with export capabilities showing the key metrics of trials to include at a minimum
  • Number of trials signed up by month
  • Number of conversions to paying customers by month
  • Source of referral
  • Country of signup
  • Revenue share generated for Mautic

Proposal Requirements

The provider should include the following information in their proposal:

• Company background and experience with Mautic
• Details of the proposed trial setup, including any limitations and restrictions proposed
• Details of proposed mitigation against abuse of trial accounts
• Description of the support and onboarding process for trial users
• Proposed strategy for converting trial users into paying customers
• Proposed strategy for ensuring full data portability when users wish to change providers
• Proposed strategy for engaging and supporting a worldwide audience
• Proposed revenue sharing model and how it will be executed
• Pricing for the conversion from the trial service
• Any additional value-added services that will be provided during the trial, and available post-conversion for paying customers
• Any contributions to the Mautic Project that will be made in the course of the contract

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Experience and expertise with Mautic
• Existing involvement with the Mautic Community
• Quality and feasibility of the proposed trial setup and support process
• Effectiveness of the proposed strategy for converting trial users into paying customers
• Clarity and fairness of the proposed revenue sharing model
• Pricing competitiveness and value for money
• Additional value-added services offered
• Benefit to the Mautic project and community

Submission Information

Proposals should be submitted in writing to the contact person listed below no later than Friday, 21st July 2023. 

RFP timeline

1. Release RFP: Monday, June 19, 2023
2. Deadline for questions: Friday, June 30, 2023
3. Responses to questions provided: Monday, July 3, 2023 – questions and answers are available in this Google Sheet.
4. Deadline for proposals: Friday, July 21, 2023
5. Evaluation of proposals: Monday, July 24 – Friday, August 4, 2023
6. Feedback provided to all bidders: Monday, August 7, 2023
7. Contract negotiation and award: Tuesday, August 8 – Friday, August 18, 2023

Any questions or requests for clarification should also be directed to the contact person.

Ruth Cheesley

Mautic Project Lead

rfps@mautic.org

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Throughout this time the Community Leadership Team has been working closely with Acquia on building the foundations from which we can grow as a project and a community.

We have some exciting updates to share with you today from across the project.

A full time Project Lead appointed

Key to the success of any Open Source project is a strong leadership team who are engaged and dedicated to the growth of the project with a shared common vision.

Today we are delighted to announce that – with the full support of the Community Leadership Team and DB Hurley – Acquia has appointed a new, full-time project lead. Community Manager Ruth Cheesley will be taking up the position of Project Lead.

After leaving Acquia, DB Hurley scaled back his participation in the Mautic community and felt it was in Mautic’s best interest to have a full-time Project Lead.  He will continue to act as an ambassador for the Mautic project. We are grateful for DB’s leadership and having guided us this far.

Ruth has been involved with Mautic for a long time, and is excited about the opportunity to take up the baton from DB.

This will mean some changes to the governance structure which are outlined here.

Setting the direction for Mautic

As a community, our underlying mission is to help people succeed with Mautic. Everything we do as a project aligns with this vision.

We have six areas we are currently focusing on – ways we are helping people to be more successful with Mautic.

1. Develop the features and functionality so that Mautic becomes the tool of choice for Marketing Automation, and the market leader in this space
2. Improve the ease of use for marketers
3. Improve the stability and reliability of Mautic
4. Improve the way we support people to succeed with Mautic
5. Enable organisations to scale Mautic as they achieve success
6. Build a community that is self-reliant, welcoming, diverse and engaged

We have multiple initiatives and projects which we will be sharing – some today and some over the coming weeks – all of which contribute toward our mission.  The first of these initiatives from the Product Team follows below.

Updates from the Product Team

With the launch of Mautic 3, the Product Team will be making some changes to move us toward our vision of helping people succeed with Mautic.

We hope that we explain them fully below, however if there are any unanswered questions we will be running a series of live discussions and Q&A sessions where you can ask questions.

Release strategy and cadence

Mautic 3 is the first major release in nearly four years. Between Mautic 2 and Mautic 3 there hasn’t been a clear cadence to the releases.

This creates challenges for everybody who relies on Mautic.

Organizations who rely on Mautic don’t know when to expect updates, which makes it very difficult for them to plan maintenance windows into their business cycles.

Community contributors who are submitting fixes and features don’t know when pull requests are going to be merged, or which releases they should be aiming for when they are creating their contributions.

Users of Mautic do not have forewarning of when to expect an update, or when features that they really need are likely to be delivered.

We appreciate that this not only causes confusion and frustration, but also makes it difficult for people to adopt Mautic when there is such uncertainty.

As a result the Product Team has decided to implement some changes to the way that we release updates for Mautic.  We follow semantic versioning in our releases, for more information please read semver.org.

Monthly patch releases

We will be making a patch release every month. Patch releases include bug fixes only.

An example of a patch release would be 2.15.1, 2.16.2, 3.0.1.

Quarterly minor releases

Every three months we will issue a minor release. Minor releases can include features which do not break backwards compatibility, and bug fixes.

An example of a minor release would be 2.15, 2.16, 3.1.

Yearly major releases

A new major release will be made any time there are backwards compatibility breaking changes ready for release.  We estimate a new major release every few years, but the exact frequency will depend on Mautic’s dependencies (e.g. Symfony, jQuery, etc).

As an example, we will need to upgrade from Symfony 3 to Symfony 4 or 5, well before Symfony 3 is end-of-life.  The upgrade from Symfony 3 to Symfony 4 or 5 will likely require us to release a new major version of Mautic.

Major releases may include backwards compatibility breaking changes, features and bug fixes. An example of a major release would be Mautic 2, Mautic 3.

Anticipated release schedule

• Mautic 3.0.0 – Symfony upgrade [Stable due May 2020]
  • Mautic 3.0.1 – June 2020 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
  • Mautic 3.0.2 – July 2020 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
• Mautic 3.1.0 – 3.x improvements and new features [August 2020]
  • Mautic 3.1.1 – September 2020 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
  • Mautic 3.1.2 – October 2020 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
• Mautic 3.2.0 – 3.x improvements and new features [November 2020]
  • Mautic 3.2.2 – December 2020 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
  • Mautic 3.2.3 – January 2021 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
• Mautic 3.3.0 – 3.x improvements and new features [February 2021]
  • Mautic 3.3.1 – March 2021 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
  • Mautic 3.3.2 – April 2021 Bug fixes [monthly releases]
• Mautic 4.0.0 – Backwards compatibility breaking changes [May 2021]

Requirements for merging pull requests

Automated Tests

From the release of Mautic 3, we will be requiring all pull requests to include automated tests before they are considered a candidate for being merged into a release.  This will help us improve the stability of Mautic and prevent regressions occurring.

We appreciate that this may be a challenge, and we are planning a sprint in the near future to improve our test coverage, up-skill developers in writing automated tests, and updating our documentation.  If you are experienced in writing automated tests and would like to help with this, please reach out to the Product Team.

Documentation

We already have a requirement for pull requests to include documentation, however this has not been strictly enforced.  This has led to outdated documentation and incorrect code examples.

From the Mautic 3 release forward it will be mandatory to include an update for the End User Documentation and/or Developer Documentation before a pull request is considered a candidate for merging into a release.   The Education Team will be working closely with the Product Team in all releases to ensure that this requirement is met.

Google Season of Docs

We were also recently selected for the Google Season of Docs, so over the summer we will also have technical writers helping us further improve our documentation.

Sneak peek at upcoming changes

The Product Team are currently working on some updates to our code governance workflows which are being reviewed and finalized.

The Community Team and Product Team are working together on a project which will enable contributors to take responsibility as a small team for specific areas of the Mautic project – for example specific bundles or features – becoming community experts in this area.

This will allow contributors to specialize with a small team in a focused area, and support the rest of the project with updates, improvements and features.

Interested to know more? Join the Product Team chat on Slack – get an invite at mautic.org/slack.

Questions?

We appreciate that this is a lot of information to take in, and we expect that you may have some questions.

We will be holding several AMA-style sessions and webinars over the coming weeks with our communities around the world, giving you the opportunity to put any questions you may have directly to the Community Leadership Team.

We are excited to be moving into a new phase as a project, and look forward to a bright future.

Live discussions and Q&A:

Please note, we are in the process of setting up webinars and meetings with our international communities and we will update the list below as we confirm dates and times. Would you like to host a webinar, call, podcast or something else? If so please contact Ruth directly at ruth.cheesley@mautic.org.

Ruth and the entire Mautic Leadership team will be available in a livestream event, where they will talk about the changes and answer your questions – Friday, 22nd May at 1500hrs UK time

Les mises à jour de la communauté Mautic en Français avec Ruth Cheesley, nouvelle Project Leader – Wednesday, 27th May 2020 at 1000hrs UK time

Deutschsprachiges Mautic Community Update und Fragerunde mit Ruth Cheesley (neuer Project Lead) – Wednesday, 27th May 2020 at 1130hrs UK time

Últimas noticias, preguntas y respuestas sobre la Comunidad Mautic con Ruth Cheesley, la nueva leader del proyecto – Wednesday, 27th May 2020 at 1630hrs UK time

Regular Office Hours

Join this open call with Ruth Cheesley, Mautic Project Lead, once a fortnight in each timezone.

Ask product questions, suggest feature requests, lodge complaints, offer praise, share ideas, discuss recent blog posts, or talk about good or bad experiences using Mautic.

Anything that’s on your mind is fair game. I’m here to listen, share, and be available to help in any way I can.

Office Hours with Ruth Cheesley EMEA/Americas – Fortnightly from 28th May at 1500hrs UK time Link to join: https://acquia.zoom.us/j/98583607751 (Password: 815478)

Office Hours with Ruth Cheesley APJ – Fortnightly from 3rd June at 0700hrs UK time Link to join: https://acquia.zoom.us/j/91119231380 (Password: 502111)

On 27th August, a proposal was shared to establish a governance model within the Mautic Community.

Members of the community were invited to review the proposed governance model and provide their feedback over the following two weeks, via the Mautic Community Forums. 

We would like to publicly thank those who took the time to provide their feedback on this important proposal.

Key issues raised during the consultation period

From the feedback received, the following key points were raised:

1. Clarification was requested on: 
   1. The casting vote held by the project lead
   2. Whether an NGO will be established
   3. How the community will manage legal and financial issues without an NGO if one is not to be established
   4. Distinction between mautic.com and the Open Source product
      
2. Operational details were requested including:
   1. How will the election of leadership positions happen
   2. Who will carry out reviews of leadership roles within the structure
   3. What is the scope and authority of the Community Council with specific examples
   4. What is outside the authority of the Community Council and Steering Groups with specific examples
   5. How will decisions be made
   6. How will success be measured (both at the individual volunteer level and at team/project levels)

1. Points of clarification
   1. The casting vote held by the Project Lead

   The Mautic Open Source project has, since its launch, been led by DB Hurley as Project Lead.  The Project Lead has always had a casting vote on decisions impacting the direction that the project will take into the future. 
   
   This will not change (in the proposed model, the Project Lead retains a casting vote which may be used in exceptional circumstances, with examples provided), and this models the structure successfully used in both the Drupal community and the Ubuntu community.

   2. Whether an NGO will be established

   The team working on this project have all been involved in setting up, managing and working with communities in the Open Source world.
   
   In the experience of the team, establishing an NGO and managing it takes an incredible amount of work, requires a significant investment in time from volunteers and extensive legal consultation to both establish and maintain.  Furthermore, there must be an active and engaged team of volunteers to establish and maintain such an organisation, who are willing to hold the legal responsibilities that such roles entail.
   
   In our experience, such an organisation often results in a significant slow-down in development and progress of the project without significant benefits for the project as a result.  At this point in the life of the Mautic Community, we believe this would be detrimental to the project, and would hinder progress, which is much needed.
   
   We do, however, appreciate that as the project grows, the community develops, and volunteers begin to take an active role in the proposed structure, a time may come when an independent NGO could be both helpful to the project, and there may be volunteers willing to take on the task of establishing and managing it.
   
   Therefore, we propose to revisit this discussion in twelve months (September 2020) in the context of the Community Council to determine whether the community is at a point where an NGO would be of benefit.  At this point, if it is determined by the Community Council that an NGO should be established, Acquia will fully support any processes necessary to enable its creation.
   
   In response to concerns regarding how this impacts organisations who are basing their business around the Mautic Open Source project:
   
   We believe that the proposed model provides a clear way for community members to get involved with the project, and to be actively involved in its future direction by becoming team leaders and joining the Steering Groups and Community Council. It also provides transparency on how Acquia will support the community to grow and thrive.
   
   Anybody can get involved in the community, whether an individual contributor or a company who wish to support the Open Source project.  We do not see any threats to organisations who wish to build a business around the Mautic Open Source product. They will continue to be able to use the product, and if they wish to be able to direct the future of the product, they can enable their employees to contribute in the same way as individual contributors, and may take up roles on the Steering Groups and Community Council.
   
   In response to a request for clarification on terms used:
   
   The model explains how the community teams will be delegated the responsibility of managing Mautic community assets owned by Acquia – for example managing content on the mautic.org website, social media channels, and organising Mautic Community events – once appropriate structures (e.g. teams and workflows) are in place.  This is referred to in the proposed model as stewardship – see definition here.
   
   In response to a request for clarification on finances:
   
   The proposed model explains how financing will operate via budgets proposed by team leaders which will be submitted on an annual basis and managed via the Steering Groups and Community Council.  We believe this to be an effective way of enabling the community to self-manage its financial matters, with support from Acquia.

   3. How the community will manage legal and financial issues without an NGO if one is not to be established

   Provision has been made for a Legal & Finance team in the proposed model, which will oversee and manage any legal and financial issues arising within the Community. 
   
   It is envisaged that an Acquian will lead this team, at least in the interim, and support will be provided by Acquia’s legal and financial teams.  Over time, it is hoped that the team will grow with volunteers from within the community who may have existing skills, or be trained by the team leaders, to fulfil the roles identified within this team.
   
   Any issues arising within the team which require wider consultation can be escalated to the Community Council, in the same way as any other team within the structure.
   
   The team leader will provide support to other team leads in regards to preparing budgets and dealing with any legal issues. 
   
   Finance will be managed via a budgeting process outlined previously.

   4. Distinction between the hosted version of Mautic operated by Acquia (mautic.com) and the Open Source product

   The Open Source project remains as it has always been, freely available and licensed under the GPL (questions around this were answered in Acquia’s response to the Mautic Community Manifesto). Development occurs on Github and is open to all.
   
   Acquia acquired Mautic Inc. and all associated brand assets, including the hosted platform at mautic.com.
   
   Acquia continues to provide services (as Mautic Inc. did before the acquisition) based on the core Open Source project repository, and the team continue to provide bug fixes and features by committing to the Open Source project on Github where appropriate.
   
   There are various plugins and tweaks relating to architecture and client development which Acquia develop internally to ‘sit on top of’ the core Open Source project and which are mostly proprietary.  This is common practice with companies who offer services relating to Open Source projects.
   
   Often, clients will allow Acquia to release plugins developed  to the community, in which cases these will be made publicly available and/or contributed back to the Open Source repository.  Likewise, sometimes Acquia customers encourage their teams to directly contribute within the community, and they are facilitated to do so.

2. Operational details
1. How will the election of leadership positions happen

We have reviewed several models used in different Open Source communities in developing this proposed model. 

We will necessarily have to put in place an interim structure in order to commence implementing the governance model, as outlined in the proposal.

We propose that in general, Working Group and Team Lead/Assistant Team Lead positions have a term of 12 months. 

In the interim period, however, we need to establish a cadence which prevents the entire leadership of working groups – and hence Team Leads – changing at the same time.  


Therefore, taking inspiration from Open Source Matters’ process when they implemented a new leadership structure, we recommend that the interim Team Leads and Assistant Team Leads have the following terms:

Product: Assistant 6 months; Lead 12 months
Marketing: Assistant 6 months; Lead 12 months
Community: Assistant 12 months; Lead 18 months
Events: Assistant 12 months; Lead 18 months
Legal & Finance: Assistant 18 months; Lead 24 months

These timelines have been proposed based on the length of time projects in each team are likely to span and the need for longer continuity. 

For example, members of the Events and Legal & Finance team are likely to be working on projects which span more than 12 months, or which require a longer term commitment due to the nature of the role (e.g. budgeting and financial management).

November 2019: Working Groups established, interim roles (Team Leads/Assistant Team Leads, Working Group Leads/Assistant Working Group Leads) appointed, Community nominates and subsequently votes for Council representatives from Team Leads & Assistant Team Leads

April 2020: Elections for Assistant Working Group Leads in Product & Marketing teams

October 2020: Elections for Working Group Leads in Product and Marketing teams, and Assistant Working Group Leads in Community and Events teams

April 2021: Elections for Working Group Leads in Community and Events teams, and Assistant Working Group Leads in Product, Marketing and Legal & Finance teams

Team Lead and Assistant Team Lead terms will align with those of Working Groups.

Of course, sometimes people may need to step down out of cycle for all kinds of reasons.  Should this arise, a replacement would be recruited via an out-of-cycle election, and their term would match with the existing term remaining, after which point the usual election process would be held for which they may be nominated.

Here is a timeline diagram to explain






We would recommend the following timeline for election processes:

Voting Cycle	Annual Date
Call for Nominations Cut Off Date*	xth (xth) of
Nomination Acceptance	Seven (7) Days after the cut-off date
Voting	Seven (7) Days after Acceptance
Election Results	Seven (7) Days after Voting
Term Ends	Thirty (30) Days after Election Results (enough time to enable a transition period)

* Cut Off Date 14 days after Call for Nominations issued

Regarding a request for details on the election process for Working Groups

What follows is an outline of how we envisage this process working.

When Working Groups are formed, members of the Working Group will nominate people from within the group to stand as their leader and assistant leaders via a Google Form.

Those who are nominated will confirm their willingness to stand for the position, and a vote will be held among active contributors within the working group. 

The working group itself will define how to determine active contributors as part of the group creation – as this may differ significantly based on the activities of the group and at inception, might simply be all those who have volunteered to be a part of the group and attended a specified number of initial meetings.

The election results will then be shared publicly, and the lead/assistant lead announced.

The initial terms will be timed to coincide with the next election dates for Working Groups within the team, and then will be 12 month terms going forward.

Regarding the appointment of Team Leads and Assistant Team Leads

Team leads will be appointed by the Project Lead from the Working Group leads, with a term which aligns with the Working Group election cycles.

2. Who will carry out reviews of leadership roles within the structure

Based on our experiences within Open Source communities, we feel that it is helpful for those in leadership roles to have an opportunity for a review at six-monthly intervals with an appropriate person within the governance structure. 

For Working Group Leads this could be the Team Lead; for Team Leads this could be the Project Lead or Community Manager.

This gives the volunteer an opportunity to check in and raise any concerns, and also is an opportunity for opening the discussion as to whether they are considering standing for another term. 

In the event that the volunteer intends to stand down at the end of their term, this would be the point at which the Working Group or Team would commence succession planning. 

A regular review process also gives an opportunity for the volunteer to reflect on and celebrate their achievements over the previous six months, set any goals for the coming six months, and to flag up any areas where they need support.

3. What is the scope and authority of the Community Council with specific examples

The Community Council will be the context in which key decisions are made that relate to the project as a whole.  Think of it as an overall ‘think-tank’ to help inform product and community strategy. These discussions and decisions will be made in collaboration between Acquia and the Community via the representation model explained in the proposed governance model.

The Community Council is also ultimately responsible for dispute resolution, should it be required, and will be responsible for the Code of Conduct, ensuring that community members and leaders live up to the standard it sets.

Some examples of areas which the Community Council might be involved in could include:

Reviewing and adopting product strategy and roadmap proposed by Product Steering Group
Setting and reviewing budgets
Dealing with escalated issues from teams
Project-wide infrastructure such as forums, live chat, website etc

4. What is outside the authority of the Community Council and Steering Groups with specific examples

As Acquia owns and manages the Mautic brand, anything related to this would necessarily be managed by Acquia.

Any legal responsibilities would also be owned by Acquia.

5. How will decisions be made

All Working Groups, Teams, Steering Groups and the Community Council will have an established meeting cadence, with an agenda prepared and distributed at least one week in advance of the meeting.

Notes from the meeting will be shared publicly (initially via the shared Community Google Drive folder).  In the case where sensitive matters are being discussed (for example dealing with breaches of the Code of Conduct, or sensitive personal data), a redacted version may be provided publicly and clearly annotated to reflect the reasons for redactions made.

Decisions will be made at the appropriate level within the governance structure, with the PACSI model being consulted. For example, decisions relating to marketing campaigns would be made at a Working Group level and the appropriate PACSI process followed to consult and inform those who need to be involved in the process (see original governance proposal). 

Some decisions may require escalation to the next level in the structure for a decision to be made – for example the Product Steering Group may work on and propose a roadmap, but this needs to be approved by the Community Council.  In this case, it would need to be included for discussion in the next available meeting of the next level in the structure (in this case, the Community Council).

We recommend that all levels of structure within the community default to transparency, by sharing publicly their agenda, meeting notes and voting history. Ultimately, it is envisaged that this functionality will be built into the new mautic.org website.

6. How will success be measured (both at the individual volunteer level and at team/project levels)

We are in the process of reviewing how we measure and report on community health, and overall success of the Mautic project.  We are looking into the Open Source CHAOSS project as a great way to bring a diverse data set together.

As previously mentioned, all leadership positions will have regular reviews where they will consider progress against their own goals and set goals for the next time period.

Next steps

It is hoped that the above answers explain any areas that were unclear in the initial proposal. We will open a final period of consultation lasting two weeks via the forum thread connected to this article, during which we invite the community to review the points above, and raise any remaining questions which will be addressed.

Following this final period of consultation, we will set in motion steps to start implementing these structures within the community.

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