Building Community-Driven Drupal Solutions: JD Leonard on Member Platform and Open Source

Drupal has always thrived on its community—people who build, contribute, and organize to push the platform forward. JD Leonard is one of those people. With nearly two decades of Drupal experience, he has worn many hats: developer, consultant, event organizer, and now project lead for Member Platform, a new initiative aimed at helping small membership organizations harness the power of Drupal.

In this interview with Alka Elizabeth, sub-editor at The DropTimes, Leonard shares his journey—from inheriting a broken student government website in 2006 to shaping Drupal meetups and camps in New York and Austin. He discusses the challenges of sustaining open-source projects, the need for more community-driven Drupal products, and how Member Platform hopes to fill a crucial gap in the ecosystem.

How does Member Platform compare to existing solutions like CiviCRM? What does it take to build a sustainable Drupal product? And how can local meetups revitalize Drupal’s contributor pipeline? Leonard tackles these questions and more, offering insights into both the present and future of Drupal’s ecosystem.

TDT [1]: You have nearly 20 years of experience with Drupal—almost two decades. Can you take us back to how you got started with Drupal and what made you stick with it?

JD Leonard: Sure. I started with Drupal in 2006 when I was a sophomore at Rice University in Houston, Texas. I inherited a student government website that was running on an outdated version of ColdFusion. No one could figure out how to make it work, so we had to start fresh. A friend recommended Drupal, and I gave it a try. It looked great, and I never looked back.

TDT [2]: That was a brief introduction to Drupal, and you've now been with it for nearly 20 years. Did you ever consider shifting to something else, or has your focus always been on Drupal? Some say that once you get into Drupal, it's hard to settle for anything else because of the investment in learning it. Has that been your experience?

JD Leonard: Yeah, Drupal is magnetic. Once you start using it, you don’t want to stop. I did take a brief break when I worked at Microsoft as a program manager, where I had little to do with Drupal. But even then, I used Drupal for side-projects and continued to engage with it. Eventually, I moved into consulting and have been doing that ever since.

TDT [3]: Beyond development, you've significantly contributed to the Drupal ecosystem through meetups, event organizing, and now as a project lead. What drives your commitment to the Drupal community? You could have just been an observer, but you’re actively shaping the ecosystem. What motivates you?

JD Leonard: My first Drupal conference was BadCamp in either 2011 or 2012. I fell in love with the community—people were welcoming, friendly, and supportive. Over the years, I’ve always wanted to give back, but much of my consulting work wasn’t suitable for open-source contributions. So I focused on event leadership, hosting monthly Drupal meetups in New York City, running Drupal Camp NYC, and now leading the Austin Drupal Users Group.

TDT [4]: Since you've organized many events, do you feel that attendees fully appreciate the effort it takes? Or is there something you’d like people to recognize more about Drupal event organizers?

JD Leonard: I’ve always found that attendees are appreciative. Organizing events does require effort, but once you establish a process, it becomes manageable. The key is to have a structured approach and recruit other organizers to help. Many hands make light work, and event organizing is a great way to network professionally and build business connections.

TDT [5]: Let’s talk about the core of this interview: Member Platform. It’s an exciting initiative, and people have been discussing it a lot. Can you briefly walk us through the project—its mission and how you see it fitting into the Drupal community?

JD Leonard: The idea for Member Platform originated from my local neighborhood association in Austin, where I serve on the board. We had an outdated website, which some called "quaint." It had a lot of great information but needed a modern refresh. As the tech person on the board, I felt it was up to me to rebuild it. I soon realized that many neighborhood associations face similar challenges. After networking with other associations and analyzing their websites, I saw an opportunity to create a reusable solution. This project allows me to contribute back to Drupal in a meaningful way beyond event organizing.

TDT [6]: The project was initially called "Membership Organizing Platform" before becoming "Member Platform." Was there a particular reason for the name change?

JD Leonard: "Membership Organizing Platform" was a temporary name. I wanted to wait until more contributors were involved before deciding on a final name. Once we had a solid group, we discussed potential names and settled on "Member Platform." It’s simple, direct, and easy to understand. Plus, we secured the "member" namespace on Drupal.org and the domain name memberplatform.org, making it a strategic choice for marketing and visibility.

TDT [7]: Since you mentioned contributors, would you like to highlight any key individuals or teams involved in Member Platform’s formation?

JD Leonard: It’s still early days, but we have a dedicated group that attends meetings and actively contributes. Around a dozen people have committed to specific tasks, and I’m excited about their enthusiasm. The contributors come from diverse backgrounds and locations, which is crucial for a project aiming to serve a global audience.

TDT [8]: Member Platform’s mission emphasizes helping smaller organizations. Why is this group a key focus, and how does Drupal uniquely serve their needs?

JD Leonard: The mission of Member Platform is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of membership organizations globally, especially those with low technical or financial resources, so they can positively impact their communities. We also aim to build an open and welcoming community of people who want to serve these organizations.

Organizations with strong technical expertise or large budgets can afford custom solutions or expensive proprietary software. But smaller organizations often rely on spreadsheets or outdated methods. Member Platform provides a scalable, affordable alternative designed specifically to meet their needs.

TDT [9]: Traditionally, Drupal agencies have built install profiles or niche products benefiting their own clients. But for Drupal to thrive, we need more open-source, community-driven initiatives like LocalGov Drupal or GovCMS, but without government backing. Member Platform is a rare example of this. Why are more public Drupal products essential, and how can the community support them?

JD Leonard: I think because they speak to new segments of users in the Drupal space. Many small organizations would never choose Drupal due to its complexity and higher onboarding costs compared to simpler solutions like WordPress. But Drupal is more powerful. The strength of niche offerings in Drupal is in marketing to these groups.

The second key challenge, which is the hardest to solve, is delivering this software to end users who lack technical expertise and significant funding. The solution is a managed hosting or SaaS model—a turnkey service where organizations can pay a nominal monthly fee and get a fully functioning system out of the box. There have been attempts at this in the Drupal community, but broad adoption has been limited.

TDT [10]: You have an upcoming session at Drupal Atlanta where you’ll discuss Member Platform and Drupal product sustainability. If you could change one mindset about Drupal product development, what would it be?

JD Leonard: There's a long history in the Drupal community of developers contributing modules independently without collaborating. More collaboration leads to better, more useful products. One thing I’ve focused on with Member Platform is making it a community-driven effort. This isn’t about me creating a product—it’s about bringing together a group of people in the community who want to build something valuable. That ensures the product serves more organizations and remains sustainable rather than relying on a single person to maintain it.

TDT [11]: Many AMS and CRM solutions exist, but none are truly Drupal-native. How does Member Platform compare to alternatives like CiviCRM?

JD Leonard: CiviCRM is the elephant in the room. It’s the most commonly used CRM in the Drupal community because it supports Drupal as one of its host platforms. It’s powerful and meets many organizations' needs, but it’s even more complex than Drupal itself. That makes onboarding difficult for smaller nonprofits. They not only have to learn Drupal but also CiviCRM, which is a lot to manage.

For many nonprofit volunteers and staff, it’s simply too complicated. Member Platform aims to be a simpler, easier solution focused on usability, accessibility, and providing just the right set of features for these organizations.

TDT [12]: Member Platform is in its early stages. Have there been any key milestones so far?

JD Leonard: We haven’t written any code yet, but we’ve had several meetings. Just yesterday, we finalized what our 1.0 release and minimal viable product (MVP) will be. It’s exciting because we’ve made some tough but smart choices that will specifically benefit the Drupal community. We’re targeting common needs of Drupal user groups and local associations.

These groups function as membership organizations, even if they don’t charge for membership. Many rely on Meetup.com for event management and member engagement. They need tools for event registration, RSVP tracking, and communication. That’s our focus for the first release. We’re also collaborating with the event platform module to avoid duplicating efforts since they already do great work for conferences and large events. We want to build something that excites local Drupal communities.

TDT [13]: The project aims to serve 80% of membership organizations globally. What does success look like beyond the initial MVP?

JD Leonard: Our vision is to provide a Drupal-native ecosystem of secure, privacy-enhancing, integrated, beautiful, and user-friendly tools that meet the operational needs of at least 80% of membership organizations globally with zero to five staff members, including all-volunteer organizations.

The 80% figure is about defining our feature set broadly enough to serve most organizations while avoiding over-customization for specific cases. We don’t expect to reach 80% of all organizations, but we want to be a great option for that share of the market.

TDT [14]: What challenges did you face when starting Member Platform?

JD Leonard: The biggest challenge was identifying people interested in contributing. I tried various outreach approaches. LinkedIn was surprisingly effective in attracting people who otherwise wouldn’t have known about the project. Posts in different Drupal Slack channels also helped.

The most useful step was creating a dedicated Member Platform Slack channel, which now has over 60 members. That space has been key in finding and engaging volunteers genuinely committed to contributing, rather than just observing.

TDT [15]: You’ve been involved in reviving the Austin Drupal meetup group. What was that experience like?

JD Leonard: When I moved to Austin three years ago, the local Drupal group was still only doing virtual meetups. I prefer in-person events, but I attended one and decided I didn’t want to spend more time on Zoom. However, I wasn’t ready to start organizing yet.

By late last year, the opportunity came up again, and I volunteered to restart in-person meetups. I applied what I had learned from organizing the New York City Drupal meetups. The key was outreach—LinkedIn, Slack, groups.drupal.org, and Meetup.com were all useful. Securing a free venue and a food sponsor also made attendance more appealing.

TDT [16]: The DropTimes is organizing local meetups worldwide. What advice would you give to those starting a local meetup?

JD Leonard:  I think the first step is identifying where you can meet. Common places for meetups include libraries, which often have reservable conference rooms, Drupal agencies with suitable spaces, or even someone’s home. But if you don’t identify a place, the meetup won’t happen.

Next, you need to identify who is going to attend. You have to reach out to people. That means finding existing community gathering spaces for the local group, publishing meeting details well in advance on multiple platforms, and drawing as many people in as possible.

One of the most important things is owning your member list. Collect email addresses so you can communicate directly with those interested. That way, you can be sure to reach them and keep them informed about future meetups.

TDT [17]: You’ve been self-employed at Modern Biz Consulting for eight years. What was it like starting your own business?

JD Leonard: After leaving Microsoft, I tried my hand at a few startup ideas that didn’t pan out. But one of the great things that experience did was push me into consulting.

I attended BadCamp for the first time, met some folks at a local agency, and landed my first freelance gig with them. That allowed me to grow a lot as a freelance consultant. I realized, hey, this is great—I never want to go back to a traditional full-time job. And I’ve just stuck with it ever since.

TDT [18]: Outside of Drupal, what are your personal interests?

JD Leonard: I already mentioned the neighborhood association I serve on. That’s how I stay involved in my local community—we advocate for residents, work with the city, and collaborate with other organizations. It’s a great way to meet people and foster a real sense of neighborhood connection.

I also like running. I’m lucky to live near the Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin, so I go running there multiple times a week. It’s beautiful and a great way to get away from the city feel.

And, of course, I have my partner Laura and our two kids, who are five and two. They keep me pretty busy as well.

TDT [19]: There’s a perception that Drupal is difficult to learn, leading to a shortage of young talent. What are your thoughts?

JD Leonard: I definitely agree. It’s a real challenge for the Drupal ecosystem to attract new developers and contributors—not just developers but site builders and anyone interested in working with Drupal.

There’s no easy solution. The community needs to try different things, reach out to higher education groups, and provide opportunities at universities and colleges. I also believe local communities play a major role. In-person connections are what draw people in and keep them engaged. Having strong local meetups and touchpoints on the ground worldwide is crucial for sustaining Drupal’s growth.