What does it take to start a movement?  Here's a secret - sometimes it's shockingly easy.

Starting a movement - or joining a movement - doesn't mean you have to take all the responsibility on your shoulders.  It just means you have to take a first step to get involved.  Perhaps the best thing about a movement is it depends as much on the followers as the leader.  Take three minutes to watch one of our staff's favorite videos about how movements happen - "leadership lessons from dancing guy".  Life happens spontaneously when someone is willing to risk being the lone nut and someone else decides dancing together is better than alone.

Over the past two years Community Shares has built our newest online giving option, My Colorado Project, to welcome a new set of leaders (and followers!) into the local culture of giving.  Anyone can sign up, pick up to four nonprofit organizations to support, and then invite their friends and family to get involved.  It's called a Giving Circle and we are one of the first community giving funds in the nation to bring the concept online.  You and your friends can give as little as $5 each month to your own Giving Circle and find out how shockingly simple it can be to start changing the world.  Visit mycoloradoproject.org and start a Giving Circle with your friends and family today. 

I joined a Giving Circle with a group of friends in 2007.  We all give what we can based on what we have.  The monthly gifts range from $15 - $35 each month.  In three years, we have given more than $10,000 to Colorado nonprofit organizations.  We choose the recipients each year based on our shared interests.  Our recipients don't always completely align with my personal giving priorities but deciding together falls perfectly in sync with how I value friendship and community.  Most importantly, we know that giving together gives us momentum and purpose.  Each of us on our own could not make a $10,000 gift and some of us might not give at all while we wait for a perfect fit.  Instead, we've committed together to start moving and start giving.  $15 at a time, we are changing Colorado.

Whatever you believe in, take the first step today.  Take a few minutes to explore mycoloradoproject.org and start your own Giving Circle.  Say it with your words, say it with what you do, and watch your goofy dance change the world.