A movement is afloat in the world today that engages more people than the membership of the Catholic Church. From it, a collective intelligence has emerged which has the potential to surpass the power of corporate think-tanks and could outdo the influence of religious and economic fundamentalism. It's not organized, it doesn't have a leader, it doesn't attract media attention, nor does it advertise. I am talking about small, grassroots organizations, and nonprofits arising from civil society that could exceed several million in number, if they could all be counted.

In his book, Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken¹ asserts that at least one million nonprofits are defined as "groups that address the environment, indigenous rights and social justice". He claims that the "...largest movement in the world..." is emerging, and no one recognizes its presence.

At the launch of a Women’s Beijing Circle I hosted near Houston, in April, a woman gave me Blessed Unrest to read. Apparently, I was hitting on the same theme of how small groups comprising ordinary people responding to needs of a local community have an effect on the rest of the world. Social and environmental decisions, and actions taken in the United States, perhaps originating in someone’s living room, ripple out to the rest of humanity, no matter if they are for good or harm. The old complaint "What can one person do?" really has no bearing in a global society because what one person does matters.

Helen Keller stood by this truth when she said: "I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do." Every child in the United States learns in school what Helen accomplished as "one person".

Republican Congressman David Price² spoke about the continuing struggle and hope for peace in the Middle East by encouraging churches engaged in peace negotiations: "We must seize every opportunity to make small gains, even in times of overwhelming challenge."

Admittedly, those are words from well-known and influential people. But they're words and determination which echo in the minds and hearts of everyday folk from the private sector. People are beginning to take matters into their own hands when it comes to addressing the needs of local communities. Men and women, boys and girls, are responding to a collective cry rising up in villages, towns, suburbs and regions. As they do so, the response is a collective answer that defies the way the world does "business". This collective whispered answer has the potential to grow into a song heard above the din of global powers such as oil and pharmaceutical companies.

I flew to Colorado a few days early to spend time with my daughter before her graduation from the university. We decided to check out old haunts, on our drive into the mountains. As we were walking down a well-populated street, we were accosted by a smiling, buoyant young man, with hair pulled back in a blue bandana. I warily spied the notebook and pen in his hand and almost put my hand up in protest before he had a chance to even begin imploring me to sign a petition. But something about his exuberance interested me, and I decided to hear him out. He wasn’t, in fact, asking me to sign a petition; rather, he was trying to acquire supporters for an environmental group working to clean up rivers and protect parks and wildlife. His enthusiasm about the accomplishments of this particular group was genuine as he told us he'd moved to this town specifically to be an activist and to dedicate his life to the work of making the community a better place for all.

I walked away from this man feeling as if something had transpired beyond the mere supporting of an environmental group. That moment —a smile, a handshake, looking one another in the eye—had universal implications. We were participants in a collective effort in which the energy created from similar human-to-human interactions all over the world is being combined into a force beyond our present comprehension.

Individuals are banding together in communities and expanding into other countries to take on the giants of the marketplace, the power of governments, and the overwhelming devastation of war and poverty. Against all odds, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and children are daring to believe that poverty can be eliminated by the year 2015. Young men stand on the street and believe they can garner enough aid to clean the rivers in the states where they live. Iranian women are speaking out about injustice to women in their homeland by collecting a million signatures of support. All face, at minimum, mockery and harassment, but many face imprisonment, violence, and even death for tackling the giants that have more money, more political power, and a penchent for tactical defamation.

What have small groups of people who were ridiculed, threatened and vilified managed to accomplish? In 1920, women in the United States won the right to vote through a grassroots movement led by second-class citizens whose intelligence and ability were doubted. Lydia Chapin (Taft) preceded the movement when she was granted the right to vote in Colonial America in 1756. One person, one small victory.

After visiting his grandmother in the hospital, Anthony Leanna started a nonprofit organization, Heavenly Hats, to provide hats to cancer patients who'd lost their hair from chemotherapy treatment. He thought their heads must be cold. "Why don’t they have hats to wear?" he asked his parents.

Heavenly Hats collects headwear from individuals and companies, then gives them to cancer patients. In the past three years, Anthony has delivered hats to 35,000 people in the U.S.. and elsewhere. "Never let anyone discourage you from making a difference," he says. "Just find something that you are passionate about, and go for it!"³

Peter Ackerman, chairman of Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization which promotes the expansion of freedom in the world, spoke at the J.B. Moore Society of International Law symposium, in 2006, holding forth on "How Freedom is Won"⁴, as the keynote speaker. He stated that of the 67 power transitions in recent history, 50 were led by grassroots movements.

He cited: "Poland’s Solidarity movement, the mass protests by Argentine mothers who brought down the ruling military junta, the Philippine marches that resulted in Ferdinand Marcos leaving office, the Palestinian boycott known as the First Intifada, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the mass movement to oust Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia, the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon."

How can nonviolence overthrow dictators? Ackerman says some key elements make the difference: "The three factors necessary for successful grassroots movements—although they are not in themselves sufficient to ensure it—are unity of purpose in the movement, thorough planning of tactics, and disciplined commitment to nonviolence."

"Think small" may be an appropriate slogan for this millennium in concentrating on the environmental, political, social and human necessities we face today. Redefining success is also crucial. People respond to needs out of love, compassion, and the strong bonds of relationship and community. These are not newsworthy headlines, nor do they intentionally attract much attention. Rather, the focus stays on the need and ultimate goal, and progress is quietly made. Success is not flamboyantly touted in terms of financial and quantifiable gains.

Can a few people "fix" starvation or undo horrific natural disasters? Are grassroots movements creating business plans to see how they can get ahead financially? No, because contrary to the pervasive influence of business and politics, bigger is not always better, quantity is insignificant, and money is irrelevant when one responds to injustice or crisis out of deep conviction and compassion, what I would call Applied Love.

Our systems are broken and trust has eroded. Thousands, even millions, of people are increasingly taking action to respond to distress and speak to inequity around the world. In the end, did government or businesses successfully help individuals and families in New Orleans rebuild or help put lives back together? No, the primary response was led by people without titles and who didn't attract media consideration. It was civil society that forced the government to take necessary action. And they're still tirelessly forging ahead, long after the news agencies ceased to pay attention.