The Apache Software Foundation describes its Vision Statement, the basis for the 5-year strategic plan in development.

Our mission is to support communities that create and distribute Open Source software at no charge under the Apache License, per our Bylaws. To this end we provide mentoring, virtual collaboration space, and resources for project communities to develop, steward, and incubate Open Source software under our legal umbrella.

We are strongly committed to our projects' independence from any external influences, be they corporate, organizational or otherwise. This allows us to provide a neutral environment for our communities.

As a Foundation we intentionally do not define a technical strategy: that is determined by our projects. The Foundation's goals center on communities, as opposed to technologies.

The Foundation is managed and directed by its Members, who are individual volunteers. Companies or organizations can neither be members of the Foundation, nor take a role in the governance of our projects.

We help our communities understand and adopt the Apache Way, a collection of documented practices for collaboration and project sustainability that we amend on an ongoing basis.

We expect our community members to act as individuals. Their rights and responsibilities are based solely on their merit, defined by what they individually do in project communities, not on any external affiliation, title, or degree they may have, nor on their contributions to external projects or other organizations. We expect all Apache community members to adhere to our established Code of Conduct.

We provide highly reliable and automated core infrastructure services to our projects. We permit projects to use external non-core services based on their specific needs, allowing our own services to remain simple and focused. For durability, all our critical data and services are managed or mirrored on systems that we fully control.

Our marketing and outreach is focused on activities that directly support our mission, educate the public about Apache projects and the Apache Way, and help attract the types of communities for which our Foundation is a suitable home.

Our fundraising-related activities help identify and retain sponsors and financial contributions on which our operations depend. We welcome donations from corporations and individuals who support our mission.

We provide our projects legal and brand management services based on demonstrated needs, and define policies and best practices to help our projects benefit from the strong Apache brand in an appropriate way.

We welcome new projects via our Incubator, where experienced mentors help guide them to operate as Apache community-led projects. As Incubation is where diverse communities are defined, we put a strong emphasis on coaching to promote self-governance and preserve our core values as the Foundation grows.

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