Robin Muilwijk

I'd like to add a few more ideas in ways people could contribute.

For example, if you are good at organizing events. A lot of open source projects run global and local events. Having an organizer focusing on this task, which has the necessary experience, is a great asset to the project.

Another way to contribute is to put your leadership skills to use. Usually you get assigned to a leadership role through meritocracy. Some project however realize that the way to grow is to put experienced and skilled people in place. For example http://community.joomla.org/blogs/leadership/1774-call-for-osm-board-position-to-lead-capital-committee.html. So if you have a passion for open source and/or a certain project/product, and you have the skills, this is a way to contribute as well.

It is also possible to introduce another 'level' between the Users and Developers. Checkout the Joomla Bug Squad: http://docs.joomla.org/Bug_Squad

They check forums, help users with their issues, triage the tracker etc. They also file bugs for users at times. It takes away the extra work/burden on developers, and the user is getting help.