Dear Friend,

A lot of people are talking about money today.

It’s true -- together we raised a significant amount over the past few months. And your generosity is what will make it possible to mount a winning campaign. For that, I cannot thank you enough.

But the money isn’t the whole story.

The most extraordinary and deeply humbling result is the people -- more than 258,000 of you -- who have taken ownership of this campaign.

A number that big is a thunderclap over the political process. It means our campaign has more supporters than any campaign in history at this point in an election, and it’s a wake-up call to our current politics.

It means ordinary people are coming together in unprecedented numbers to take back their government.

It means you are defying the pundits and Washington insiders, rejecting their cynicism and negativity, and embracing the hope that we can change things for the better.

It means we are building a movement so big, so deep, and so personal that our collective voice is undeniable.

If you visited our website over the past week, you saw the thousands of personal stories our donors have chosen to share -- stories that ring true with passion and a hunger for something new.

But even though so many of us share a common goal, our success is not inevitable.

While everyone is marveling at our numbers and patting us on the back, we need to focus on the next question, “Where do we go from here?”

The answer is as simple as it is challenging: We organize.

As a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago, I witnessed how change works from the grassroots up. I saw how people working together with a common purpose can transform their communities and give them new life. The same is true for our country.

We need to start in our own communities, by reaching out to our friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors. We need to identify our common ground and work together for the common good.

And we have one tremendous advantage that no other campaign has -- the solidarity of more than 258,000 people working with us.

We've put together a brief overview of what we've accomplished over these past three months:

http://my.barackobama.com/wherewestand

Thank you for your generosity and support. It’s impressive and inspiring, but we have a long way to go.

We’ve demonstrated that we can defy expectations and turn the political process on its head. Now it’s time to combine our personal stories, build on our milestones of success, and take the next step.

Thank you for being part of this movement for change -- this is just the beginning.

Barack Obama