How do you manage a diverse ecosystem of digital experiences while ensuring scalability, accessibility and streamlined content sharing? The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) has found its answer in Drupal.

As the global steward of Maria Montessori’s educational philosophy, AMI operates a network of interconnected websites and digital platforms that support educators, students and institutions in over 100 countries. By leveraging Drupal, AMI has built a scalable, accessible and future-ready digital ecosystem that preserves Montessori’s legacy while delivering modern solutions for education, community engagement and knowledge-sharing.

This session will showcase how AMI’s Drupal-powered infrastructure enables the organisation to efficiently manage multiple websites, integrate key enterprise tools, and provide an optimal experience across its global network.

Prerequisite
- Basic Drupal Knowledge: Understanding of CMS capabilities.
- Education/Nonprofit Sector Experience: Not needed but might be especially useful for those in this digital strategy context.
- Multi-Site & Multi-Language: Interest in managing interconnected platforms

Outline
Key Highlights

Multiple Sites, One Shared Vision: Instead of a traditional multisite setup, AMI’s Drupal framework allows multiple independent sites to share core features, integrations and a unified theme—ensuring efficiency, consistency and flexibility.

A Flexible Digital Archive: AMI utilises Archipelago, a Drupal-based archiving system for the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector, developed by METRO (metro.org), to safeguard historical records while making Montessori’s educational legacy digitally accessible. It features metadata management, OCR capabilities and integrated digital asset viewers, all within a flexible data structure.

Commerce and Membership Integration: A Drupal-powered commerce system facilitates seamless transactions for membership fees and benefits, while an advanced membership platform supports a thriving global educator network.

Credit-Based Asset Platform: AMI has built a Drupal-powered digital materials platform where students and members can view and download educational resources using a credit-based system—enabling quality Montessori resources to be more readily available and translated into multiple languages.

Enterprise Integrations: Drupal’s flexibility allows powerful integration with critical third-party systems, including:
o FileMaker-based databases, ensuring smooth data flow between AMI’s in-house databases and Drupal websites.
o Mailchimp, enabling targeted and automated communication to its global community.
o GIT-based versioning and CI/CD Pipelines, enabling efficient development workflows, and streamlined deployment for AMI’s digital ecosystem across different staging environments.
o OpenID authentication with Keycloak, providing a seamless Single Sign-On (SSO) experience across all AMI platforms for students, educators, and administrators.
o Auditable, GDPR-Compliant, and Transparent: The Drupal ecosystem allows AMI to maintain a highly auditable system, ensuring data integrity, compliance, and transparency across all digital platforms. Built with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance in mind, Drupal provides robust data protection, user privacy controls and security measures essential for managing sensitive information in alignment with European regulations. Furthermore, Drupal’s adherence to the EU Accessibility Act ensures that AMI’s digital presence is fully inclusive and accessible to users of all abilities.

Accessibility and Inclusivity by Design: A Tailwind CSS-based base theme, including RTL support for Sephardic languages, ensures all sites are built for inclusivity, accessibility and an optimal user experience—centrally managed and deployed across the ecosystem.

Future-Ready, Scalable and Open: Drupal’s extensible architecture provides AMI with a sustainable and cost-effective foundation—future-proofing their digital strategy while allowing continuous evolution to meet the growing demands of a global educational movement. Additionally, Drupal’s AI-driven ecosystem will enhance automation, personalisation and intelligent content recommendations, allowing AMI to create more engaging and efficient digital experiences for educators and students worldwide.

A Vision for the Future
All of this is made possible by AMI’s commitment to open-source technology and digital transformation. With its headquarters in Amsterdam, AMI operates as a truly global organisation, serving educators and students across continents, time zones and languages.

At the heart of this digital transformation is a commitment to utilising resources sustainably, ensuring maximum impact. AMI’s mission-driven staff and dedicated team of Drupal experts—spanning Australia, the US, Austria and Iceland—are working together to keep Montessori education accessible and thriving in the digital age while maintaining fidelity to quality implementation. Through leadership, foresight and digital expertise, AMI has leveraged Drupal to build a scalable, inclusive and future-proof digital ecosystem, demonstrating how open-source innovation can support global education at scale.
By embracing Drupal’s flexibility, security and community-driven innovation, AMI is not only preserving a century-old legacy but also empowering the next generation of Montessori educators and students worldwide.

Keywords and Hashtags

Keywords: Association Montessori Internationale, Non-Profit, Education, Open Source, Digital Transformation, Scalable Infrastructure, Accessibility, Cost-Effective, Enterprise Integration, Membership Management, Archiving, Multilingual, Global Reach, Sustainable Technology.

Hashtags: #Drupal #OpenSource #DigitalTransformation #MontessoriEducation #GlobalLearning #EdTech #ScalableSolutions #InclusiveDesign #SustainableTech #NonProfitInnovation #EducationForAll

Learning Objectives
After attending this session, participants will:

- Understand Scalable Multi-Site Management – Learn how AMI leverages Drupal to efficiently manage multiple independent websites with shared features and a unified theme.

- Explore Digital Archiving Solutions – Gain insights into Archipelago, a Drupal-based system for preserving and sharing historical educational content.

- Learn About Membership & Commerce Integration – Discover how Drupal supports seamless transactions, membership management, and educator networks.

- Examine a Credit-Based Resource Platform – Understand how AMI provides structured access to educational materials using a digital credit system.

- Discover Key Enterprise Integrations – Learn how Drupal integrates with third-party tools (e.g., FileMaker, Mailchimp, Keycloak, CI/CD pipelines) to optimize workflows.

- Ensure Compliance & Accessibility – Explore how AMI maintains GDPR compliance, auditable systems, and accessibility through the EU Accessibility Act.

- Future-Proof Digital Strategies – Understand how Drupal’s AI-driven capabilities will enhance automation, personalization, and content delivery for global education.

- Leverage Open-Source for Global Impact – See how open-source technology enables cost-effective, inclusive, and scalable solutions for nonprofit education initiatives.

Experience level
Beginner