Will You Tell One Person They Should Join The Strong Towns Movement?
Today is the fourth day of our fall member drive. Are you a Strong Towns member yet? If not, why wait: join the movement today.
And if you’ve already joined, we have a simple question for you: why? What convinced you to finally take the plunge? And what keeps your around?
Maybe our content gives you ideas and information that make you better at the work you do.
Maybe you attended a Strong Towns event and found yourself moved to see your city differently, and you want more people to be able to have that experience.
Maybe you participate in the Strong Towns community through social media, our Slack channels, or the comment forums on our website, and you’ve found your fellow members to be a valuable source of information, inspiration, and camaraderie.
Whatever your personal reasons, odds are good the reason you joined the Strong Towns movement has to do with people. Maybe, when you clicked that join button, you were thinking about a community you already belonged to—your town, your neighborhood, your workplace, your school, your place of worship, etc. Maybe, you were thinking about a community you want to belong to—one filled with strong citizens from around the world who are hungry to share inspiration to make your own place stronger.
We’ve been showcasing testimonials this week from Strong Towns members who are making inspiring change in their own places, and every one of those stories has something in common: Strong Towns has helped them bring people together to accomplish more than they can do alone.
Help Us Get to a Million People Who Care
Chuck Marohn has described our movement’s growth strategy as “a million people who care.” We’re at just over 2,500 members right now, but a million isn’t as far off as it seems.
If you’re a member and you’re reading this, we’d bet you know at least one person who isn’t a Strong Towns member yet but ought to be.
Maybe it’s that guy or girl at your office who’s always pushing for a more walkable workplace.
Maybe they’re a tireless advocate in your city government whose work embodies our principles.
Maybe they’re a friend with whom you’ve had deep conversations about ideas you’ve encountered here on this site.
This week, we’re asking one thing of our existing members. And it’ll take you as little as a couple minutes.
We want you to think of just one person you know who ought to be a member of Strong Towns, and try to get them on board. (Bonus points if you can think of more than one.)
We’ve even made a contest out of it. A randomly selected winner who has shared a #WhyIJoinedStrongTowns testimonial on social media will receive their choice of Strong Towns merch, a signed book from Chuck Marohn, or an appearance on the podcast or article stream as a featured member.
To be entered in the contest, make sure that the post is publicly visible and that you use the hashtag #WhyIJoinedStrongTowns.
The Power of Powers of 2
Here’s where we could go in the next nine years with your help.
Let’s do a thought experiment. We're at just over 2,500 members as of this writing. Suppose every one of those 2,500 recruited one additional member to Strong Towns this year. Then suppose next year, each of our 5,000 members did the same. And so on.
Where does that get us in nine years of exponential growth? Over 1.2 million members by 2027.
We can do this. Every single Strong Towns member knows someone else who would love (or already does love) our work, and really ought to be a member.
Please take a couple minutes to tell that person today. Thank you, and thanks for being part of our growing community.