Working with a developer community as a non-dev has taught me a lot. Earlier this year we started an open-source hacker meetup to give authors the chance to come talk about their projects at our office in SF.
To build this program, I help identify authors of open-source projects and invite them to speak at our meetups. While I don't code, I look for the most passionate contributors and try to give them a place to share what it's like maintaining, marketing, and building large projects. These talks are recorded and posted to YouTube where other programmers can hear lessons and challenges from their experience. Example here: https://youtu.be/ScUIlbHnxGI
In essence, open-source projects suffer from a lack of awareness and rely on manual exposure. If you can help open-source projects market themselves, find new contributors, and simplify their message, like nowarninglabel talked about with OpenBazzar, then they have a better chance of being picked up by the community.