To keep the HeroPress Network resources free and to sustain their long term future as well as their maintenance and continued development, we’re creating multiple ways for the community to invest in this project. Read on to learn more about this is one.
Our current progress is 54 investors providing $1,665.00 per month and $4,312.00 in one-time gifts.
Testimonials
Most Recent Investors
Allie Nimmons
Sorry it's not more.
Automattic
AmyJune Hineline
David Rosen
All it takes to change the world is one person whose heart is set on others. Merry Christmas Topher and HeroPress!
Alain Schlesser
Bud Kraus
Cheers to you guys for doing an outstanding job. You deserve all the support we can give you.
Winstina Hughes
I believe in you.
Scott Clark
Can’t hurt to donate more
Funding Goals
Providing resources like you’ll find at the HeroPress Network comes at a cost, both in time and actual dollars.
While we’re happy to put in the time so you can focus on your business, we could use help with the dollars.
What will those dollars go towards?
Up to $1,000/month allows us to:
- hire minimal part time help if needed
- manage the existing resources
- cover the build resources cost
- covers basic operating costs
Up to $2,000/month allows us to:
- hire part time help if needed
- cover build time costs
- to bring greater visibility to submitted resources across the entire HeroPress Network with additional social media marketing
- use improved operating tools that benefit the HeroPress Network and the submitted resources
- as well as all of the $1,000/month objectives
Up to $4,000/month allows us to:
- hire full time help as needed
- refine and expand the elements of the HeroPress Network
- create additional content and educational resources that benefit the community
- curate existing resources in the HeroPress Network to bring added visibility and create greater usefulness to HeroPress Network Users
- create new content that helps both existing users as well as those new to WordPress
- be diversely active in the WordPress community, bringing visibility to the HeroPress Network and the submitted resources
- volunteering and collaborating with
- community-focused projects like Big Orange Heart and DiverseIn.Tech
- community-focused events like WordFest and WordCamp US
- as well as all of the $2,000/month objectives
Beyond $4,000/month, we can:
- save for lean times so these resources will continue to stay free for those who need them
- create a team so the project doesn’t end with us
- let you focus on growing your business while we
- continue to focus on growing the base of the WordPress community
- be a voice and advocate for the community
- help grow the next generation of WordPress creators and consumers
- as well as all of the $4,000/month objectives
Why You Should Invest
In order to keep the opportunities offered through the HeroPress Network free and to build a sustainable future for it, community members can now invest financially in the project.
You would invest if:
- Any part of the HeroPress Network has brought value to you and/or your business.
- You want to support resources that strengthen the global WordPress community.
- You want new and small businesses to have more opportunities to thrive.
- You want the project to succeed now and into the future.
- You care about building community, but don’t have time to give back on your own.
- You want to help cover the growth and maintenance costs of the HeroPress Network.
For seven years, HeroPress has provided visibility and inspiration to individuals. Through the HeroPress Network, we are able to expand that into visibility and business-building resources for the entire community.
For free.
These resources are born out of the benefits we gained through working with HeroPress and we want to pass them along. With support from people like you, we can continue to provide resources that help new and veteran WordPressers and their businesses grow.
By investing in the HeroPress Network, you provide the capital needed to be able to maintain and grow the Network of resources. You enable us to invest our time in the hands-on work of building and sustaining a community, while you focus on growing your business, or other areas of interest.
Together we can continue to be a source of hope and inspiration for those who need it most. Together, we can create a stronger future for the entire WordPress community.
What You’re Investing In
Seven years ago HeroPress began helping people tell their own stories, the stories of WordPressers who’ve learned and overcome. This provided inspiration, but didn’t offer direct support and resources to those who might be looking to act on what inspired them.
Now we are offering that support and those resources through the HeroPress Network..
The HeroPress Network is a system of websites that largely gather and make searchable the resources available in WordPress. It came out of the questions we’ve been asked by new people looking to join the community or grow their skills, as well as the resources we’ve gone looking for ourselves.
When an ecosystem is as large as WordPress and has grown organically for so long, help is needed to find what’s out there and connect those using it.
What Makes Up the HeroPress Network
- The HeroPress Network
- HeroPress
- Hallway Chats
- WP Podcasts
- Find It WP
- Press It WP
- Living Remote
- 2 Additional Projects
HeroPressNetwork.com
The core of the entire HeroPress initiative, the HeroPress Network serves as a base for a number of initiatives.
- An aggregation of content from across all HeroPress sites. No one has time to keep up with one more thing. This site simplifies the process by pulling the most recent information into one place.
- An email newsletter. Similar to the above both in function and purpose but for those who prefer that information brought to them, this will contain content from all HeroPress sites and allow anyone to keep up without having to visit every site all the time.
- News and opinion blog posts. Right now, most of the news and information comes from Cate and Topher. But this site has the potential to be similar to NPR in the US. We are excited to get to the spot where we can begin to include more stories and opinions from around the community.
- Educational videos and blog posts. You may have already noticed the WordPress Tip of the Week. Plans are in the works to continue offering more practical tools, tips, and information that continue to enhance the skills of the entire community.
- A Slack channel. This channel is dedicated to the HeroPress community and the mission of HeroPress. It is one place anyone can come to build global relationships and business skills, and have a good time doing it. We are setting up Guild channels where individuals in a certain industry — writers for example — can meet to discuss the business of writing in WordPress as well as be found by anyone who needs a writer.
HeroPress.com
HeroPress has been providing stories of hope and inspiration for seven years, and will remain untouched, continuing exactly as it has.
From this we hope people will be refreshed, renewed, and — for those who need it — find the encouragement to build a new life using WordPress.
HallwayChats.com
Hallway Chats, begun by Tara Claeys and Liam Dempsey and passed on to the HeroPress Network in the spring of 2021, is a place to informally meet people from around the world who work in WordPress.
This allows people to learn about others in the WordPress community without needing to leave their house, especially those from different parts of the world. Relationships are powerful, but not everyone can travel. Hallway Chats gives everyone a place to start networking in their own space and time.
WPPodcasts.com
WP Podcasts is an entirely new entity launched in early October 2021. It simplifies finding podcast episodes across all WordPress podcasts.
Similar to WordCamp talks, podcast episodes can have an enormous amount of information. Similar to WordPress.tv, this site aggregates all of those episodes in one place for easy searching.
By making them searchable, people are able to find information and tools that can help them, all from a tremendous, already-existing collection of information.
How tremendous?
To date, there are 70 podcasts submitted and over 7,800 episodes, with more podcasts and episodes being added every day.
FindItWP.com
The mission of FindItWP is to become a complete listing of every WordPress resource. Every podcast, every email newsletter, every tutorial site, every plugin, every theme, every agency, every community; everything.
Not only are users able to get a better picture of what’s available in the WordPress ecosystem, but they’ll be able to search in such a way that it’s faster and simpler to find exactly what they’re looking for.
Beyond that, it levels the playing field for all creators and makes it easier for individuals and new business and products to be seen.
This is a project that will take time to grow, as submissions come in from the community, and we are unlikely to get everything created in WordPress listed here. But we have provided the opportunity and are putting the time in our end. The rest is up to the community.
Press It WP
Press It WP is so new that it doesn’t even have a website yet. The idea was given to us by Michelle Frechette and it will be found at PressItWP.com
This site will be one place where businesses in WordPress can post press releases and sales, particularly Black Friday sales. Additionally, news outlets will be able to sign up to be notified when new press releases are posted. By assembling this material in one place, news outlets can more simply find what is happening and businesses can more easily post what is going on, as well as control the narrative.
The entire community benefits by having easier access to information and more complete information broadcast by multiple source
LivingRemote.life
Currently under construction, this site will be a BuddyPress-based community for all remote workers to share their experiences, learn from others, and make friends around the world.
Our plans are to provide a place where WordPressers and other remote workers can expand their social circles and increase networking, all while sharing the tips and resources that lead to a more positive remote work environment.
Beyond that, it will also be a place to discuss nomadic living in its various forms.
Have you thought about living in an RV? Traveling the world? What about moving abroad? Living Remote gives you a chance to discuss it with the community at large.
Thinking about traveling to an exotic WordCamp? Have those conversations here, too!
We believe community is one of WordPress’s greatest assets, with flexible location and lifestyle closely behind it. Let’s bring those together in one place and share what we’ve learned so everyone can have the best experience possible!
That’s Not All
There are still two additional items currently on the build list.
First is a site similar to WP Podcasts, but for WordPress communities. All of them. From meetups to WordCamps, communities run by companies, paid and free. If it’s a community, it can be listed.
Once again they will be searchable and will provide other ways for organizers to connect and communicate with their members, as well as find new ones.
Secondly, we are planning a podcast, WP Geography, that looks at the people and culture of global meetups and WordCamps. Learn what it’s like, how they live, and what to expect should you be able to travel there.
The Future of the HeroPress Network
If you made it this far, you can see it’s a lot.
While each part of the Network has its own purpose, we expect the projects to shift as the community uses them. Each one is built so that it can flex over time. Some may grow bigger than expected. Others may get archived as they weren’t as useful in reality as they seemed to be on paper.
We don’t have a crystal ball that shows us what the Network will look like in the future, but the mission will stay the same: to provide free, simplified access to resources and greater opportunities for visibility to everyone in the community.
Investing in the HeroPress Network
We’ve built as much of it to be self-sustainable as possible. But each piece requires management in some form. While we have the skills to maintain these resources and the community necessary to keep it going, the project needs financial support.
Financial support allows us to invest our time in building, growing, and maintaining resources so you don’t have to. Resources that any business or community member can benefit from for free.
We didn’t ask for money and then offer them to the community.
Instead, we want the community to support them because they bring value. In open source, everyone should be giving back according to what fits them best. For some, it’s hands-on volunteering. For others, it’s providing tools and resources. And still others help provide the funds needed to cover the rest.
We’ve had support from all three throughout the initial build process, and we’re beyond thankful for that. This step is to open up sustainable, long term support so the project can continue to grow into the future.