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Preface xxiii recognized the threat to the status quo posed by this insurgent, bottom-up grassroots organization. Arguably, this organization’s ability to conduct coordinated national campaigns, while also wielding considerable electoral power (a prime reason why it was attacked), had more impact on domestic progressive social policy than any other grassroots community organization over the past half century. Despite the fact that it later was completely exon- erated of any wrongdoing by an independent investigation, ACORN no lon- ger exists in the United States. Therefore, the proceeds from this book will be donated to a variety of other grassroots organizations with which I’ve had the opportunity to work. Let the undoing of ACORN serve as an important warning about the vul- nerability of even the most powerful grassroots community organizations. Organizers and leaders who strive to contest for power at the national or international levels should take heed. Those of us committed to community organizing as a mode for social change beyond the local level should continue the hard postmortem analysis in order to learn and grow from this painful experience. That said, it is not within the scope of this book to address that formidable task. Rather, this third edition attempts to provide principles, knowledge, and methods for creating powerful, effective grassroots commu- nity organizations and utilizing them as vehicles of collective empowerment. My goal is to put more tools into the hands of more people to organize for more power to achieve more progressive social change. I urge you to read this book and put these ideas into action—from the roots to the tips!