Popular communities in Open Source

Open source projects flourish when passionate communities come together to share knowledge, solve challenges, and drive innovation. Whether you’re a developer, designer, or student, engaging with these groups is your gateway to real-world collaboration and impactful contributions.

Below is a quick overview of top open source communities you can join today:

Community	Focus	Website
The Linux Foundation	Linux kernel, infrastructure projects	https://www.linuxfoundation.org/
Open Design Community	Design-to-code workflows	N/A
FOSS Asia	Open tech incubation & events	https://fossasia.org/
GitHub Campus Experts	Student-led technical leadership	https://education.github.com/experts
GNOME Foundation	Desktop environment & app development	https://www.gnome.org/foundation/

The Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to advancing Linux and other open source projects through collaboration among enterprises, individual contributors, and academia. As a member, you’ll help shape critical infrastructure—from the Linux kernel to cloud-native initiatives.

Beyond traditional membership, the Linux Foundation’s Community Bridge (now LFX) platform offers grants, mentorship, and tools to accelerate project growth.

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LFX helps contributors get funding, find mentors, and track their impact across multiple projects.

Open Design Community

The Open Design Community is a vibrant hub where developers and designers collaborate on UI/UX, front-end frameworks, and design-to-code workflows. Discover best practices, share component libraries, and participate in open workshops to level up your design system skills.

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FOSS Asia

FOSS Asia unites contributors across borders to incubate open source projects, accelerate digital solutions, and cultivate a sustainable ecosystem. Each year, the community hosts training programs, hackathons, and mentorship tracks for developers, designers, and students.

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Check out FOSS Asia’s annual events calendar for internships, code challenges, and community-driven hackathons.

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GitHub Campus Experts

GitHub Campus Experts is a student-run program that equips members with technical and leadership skills—public speaking, technical writing, event organization, and open source project management. Campus Experts host conferences, hackathons, and meetups to foster inclusive campus communities worldwide.

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Students interested in community leadership can apply for training sessions that cover workshop design, mentorship best practices, and community growth strategies.

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GNOME Foundation

The GNOME Foundation supports the GNOME desktop environment and its suite of applications for Linux. Contributors range from core developers and UX designers to translators and documentarians. GNOME is active in mentorship programs like Google Summer of Code and Outreachy, which are perfect entry points for first-time open source contributors.

The image features logos for GNOME, Google Summer of Code, and Outreachy, with a sidebar of colorful rectangles on the left. It is titled "Popular Communities in Open Source."

These communities represent just a snapshot of the vibrant open source ecosystem. Find the one that aligns with your interests—whether it’s kernel development, design collaboration, student leadership, or desktop innovation—and start making a difference today!

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