In the latest post to his site Larry Garfield makes a charge to the community - both Drupal and the wider PHP community - to gave back in 2016 and make an effort to contribute in some way back to the projects you use and love.

At the end of 2014, I wrote a follow-up for Acquia's Future of PHP series. In that, I called on people to Build Bridges between communities through not just visiting them, but building with them. Build and launch a real project with some toolkit that's not your usual go-to tool, and then documenting and sharing that knowledge with others.

While recording another episode of the Acquia Podcast with JAM (who seems to like having me on for some reason), he asked me what was next. What was the next 2016 challenge to help build a more robust PHP community?

This one should be easy, right? Give back.

He suggests not only that you get out and give back but that you also do it in somewhat unfamiliar territory. He points out that with most of the software we use we're "standing on the shoulders of giants" and without these people giving their time to help the project, it wouldn't be where it is. He includes a few suggestions of things to think about when looking for a place to contribute:

• look for projects "affiliated" with the ones you usually contribute to
• if you've never contributed before, there's an even wider range of options (frameworks, extensions, libraries, etc)
• report bugs if you don't feel like you can contribute code

He does include a reminder that not all projects and communities will be a good fit for you and how you'd like to contribute, so find a good fit and then dig in.

Three contributions, to three projects, in any way, that is new to you. That's the ask. That's #PHPGivesBack2016. And then talk about it. Giving back is something to be proud of so be proud of it, and encourage others to do so as well.