Did you know that Strong Towns has an annual audience of 1.8 million people? That’s 1.8 million times our message of creating stronger, more financially resilient communities has reached someone who needed to hear it.

And did you know that the foundation of this work is not an actual foundation—or foundations—some big grantmaking institution we go to to meet our modest needs in one fell swoop? No, the bedrock of the movement is our members—now 2,500 strong—who give a modest amount each month to help sustain and grow our work. They account for 40% of our annual budget.

Looked at one way, each of our members can take credit for getting the Strong Towns message into the world 720 times. How’s that for a return on investment?

And our work (yours and ours) is paying off. Just this week we highlighted a few places in which Strong Towns members are moving the needle.

Peoria, Illinois, where Andy Diaz and his neighbors are creating a local food movement and launching new businesses left and right.

Annapolis, Maryland, where Alex Pline connected with kindred spirits to grow a local conversation that now includes the current and former mayors, city officials, and an expanding number of engaged community members.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where a group of citizens have been gathering to identify quick, actionable things they can do to make their city better (including, in one case, deciding to run for city council).

We also heard from the next generation of built environment professionals—students in planning, civil engineering, and public policy—who are bringing Strong Towns with them into the classroom.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen major policy shifts from our friends at Transportation for America (no new infrastructure!) and our neighbors in Minneapolis (no more de facto bans on duplexes and triplexes!). We wouldn’t dare try to take credit for the hard, brave work these folks did. And, anyway, our belief is that if Strong Towns is really successful, we won’t hear about it, because our ideas will be thoroughly embedded in the broader culture. Our point is that there are reasons to be hopeful about the success of our movement.

And it’s all thanks to you.

Today is the last day of our Fall 2019 member drive. We’re gratified and humbled to see our message resonating with more new names and faces than ever before. In the past week alone, more than 284 people have contributed. Some were renewing their memberships, but nearly 240 were signing up for the first time! And that’s at last count. The phone calls and online sign-ups are still coming in.

But what’s really fantastic about these numbers is that they’re not just numbers. Every single one of you has a story.

Your stories are what Strong Towns comes down to. Many of the stories we tell in our articles and multimedia content come straight from our members (and you can pitch us here if you’ve got one to share). We don’t believe we have all the answers your community needs. We offer questions you should ask; we offer ways of thinking about the problems you face. But seeing those questions and insights translated into action in ways we could never anticipate never ceases to be astonishing.

Our new members have joined a community of Strong Citizens with unique wisdom and inspiration to share with each other. We’re glad to have each and every one of you.

If you’re inspired by our work but haven't joined yet, there's still time.* Join us now. We'll do amazing things together.

*Oh, and for this week only, new members who pledge $10 or more per month will get an autographed copy of Chuck Marohn’s new book, a lost chapter, companion reading guide, and access to the inaugural book club coming January 2020.