I need to contribute more to open-source projects, although I'm a developer I don't see my major contribution to open-source being code, and nor should you. Major open-source projects like PHP or Apache have a healthy eco system of contributors including corporations that are contributing code and documentation. Smaller projects, like MODx, don't have such a large ecosystem and need help. These smaller projects often have a suitable number of contributors to code to keep actively fixing bugs and developing the software. Documentation for the application or project is more often than not lacking. Poor or out of date tutorials, only a stagnant support forum or even no documentation at all.

So here is my solution to this problem, every time I get stuck implementing a solution with an open-source project I'm making a commitment to document it. Create a wiki page describing my problem and then its solution. If the information already exists, but was hard to find, like deep in a forum and not on a wiki. It then becomes my duty to liberate that information and make it more accessible.

Large companies have a difficult enough time producing quality documentation and trouble-shooting guides even when they have exact procedures and pay related bonuses affecting production. By that measure open-source stands less chance, this is why we all need to produce documentation for the products that we use.

It's the real cost of open-source software, 30 minutes of your time to contribute back to a project, it's not much. If you feel inclined you can even turn the same thing into a blog post. In my experience wiki's don't have great SEO so by turning your contribution into a blog post than you have made it easier to find, and it may help in establishing your own reputation.

If you want than also contribute code. If you design, contribute design time, often with the smaller projects there is little or no design to the site or product, think of it as one big goodwill advert.