Has anyone ever tried to create a community project for the forum members?

I'm thinking of putting together some kind of community project (connected to the forum's niche). I want anyone that's a member to be able to contribute however they can.

I've tried this in the past, but only a handful of the members participated. Has anyone ever done anything like this?

The project's nature and subject shouldn't really matter. The issue is getting people involved without having anyone feel left out (especially those less experienced).

 

I try and do this because my forum is very community-focused; unfortunately it seems only a few people want to actively contribute to the way we develop the forum. I've done some basic "community challenges" like referring one friend to the forum, posting up their favorite emoticons for me to upload etc, but at most I get like four people respond.

You'll get people who want to help, and you'll get people who just want to post. Unfortunately the former seem shorter in supply.