Closing Out Member Week with Some Awesome Messages

This is the final day of our member drive. Thank you to everyone who has taken that step and become a member this week. The Strong Towns movement has long had outsized influence given our size, but I’ve watched this small and scrappy group of bottom-up reformers grow into a meaningful force for change. If you’ve not signed up yet, take a moment today to join with others working to build Strong Towns around the world.

I’m going to share some under-the-hood stuff today because it’s Friday, I’m in a fun mood, and this has been a great week. 

When you donate online to Strong Towns, we use a payment interface called Fundraise Up. This is our fourth or fifth different interface—getting it right was a huge technical problem in our early years, actually, but it’s now a lot easier. Fundraise Up works well, has comparatively low fees, has been responsive to our inquiries, etc.… 

The funny thing is that, internally, nobody wants to say “Fundraise Up” whenever we talk or Slack about it, and so it has been shortened to the acronym “FU.” There have been a few awkward moments when new people join the team, but we’re a laid-back group and it’s all in good fun. 

“Where do we get our member donations from?”

“FU.”

“What?”

Now, when people become a member, they have an opportunity to enter in a comment as part of the process. We did this when we first set up the Fundraise Up interface, but we discovered recently that most of our staff has never had the opportunity to actually read the comments. We went back and discovered some gems; I felt bad that these kind intentions weren’t being relayed to us because many are really great.

So, Alexa Mendieta—our Development Associate and a super wiz at just about everything she does—decided to set up a Slack channel to share these comments in real time. Of course, the channel is called “FU Comments,” which is also awesome.

Image via Unsplash.

Here are just a few “FU” Comments we’ve gotten lately:

Throughout the years Strong Towns continues to be a terrific source of information and advocacy!

I continue to support you because you are doing more for the communities in the U.S. than the Congress or the President or anyone.  

I continue to be inspired by you!

Keep up the good work! Your thoughtful and balanced articles are much appreciated.

Keep up the good fight!

Came across you guys by NotJustBikes. Thoroughly impressed by the advocacy and research you all put out.

Wish I could donate more -- stay STRONG!

See, this is fun. Our movement has all kinds of amazing people. Getting to hear from them in real time like this is the best.

So, when you sign up to become a member of Strong Towns, make sure and fill out the comment box. We’ll get your “FU” comment right away and, I promise, it will make me and everyone else here smile.

Thanks everyone, and keep doing what you can to build a Strong Town.

---

It’s the last day of our Member Week, but it’s not too late to show your support—and if you sign up now, you’ll also get free access to one of our Local-Motive sessions. So don’t wait, join a community of advocates who are stepping up to make their communities stronger. Become a member of Strong Towns today…and of course, make sure to include an “FU” comment for us!

---

---