The Commons · AOK in Action

Everything the community uses, in one place.

The Commons is the working floor of the kindness civilization. Find an organization, find something to do this month, find something good to read, and see what's being built right now. Want the whole world laid out as a place first? Walk the Map →

Use it

The shelves

The Sky: hundreds of kindness organizations shining as stars across the United StatesFind anyone

The Directory

More than 1,400 kindness organizations: neighborhoods, congregations, clubs, theaters, food shelves, senior centers and city halls.

Search the Directory → AOK Man's booth at the Ely MarketThis month

Events

What's happening around the Twin Cities this month, plus the standing meetups that happen every month.

See this month → Volunteers raising their hands togetherLend a hand

Volunteers needed

Organizations asking for help right now. Show up once, or keep showing up.

See who needs hands → The Wall: handwritten index cards of anonymous kindness pinned to a corkboardPin it

The Wall

Anonymous acts of kindness, given and received. Pin yours. Every pin counts.

Visit the Wall → A sunny reading desk with a stack of books, headphones for podcasts and a laptopRead

The Pantry

The books, podcasts and sites the civilization learned from. New picks every month.

Open the Pantry ↗ The Cookbook bookshelf: The Cookbook Theory, The Janitor Principle, Reading the AOK Tablets and moreRead, then do

The Cookbook

Essays from the Council of Nine, each ending in something to go and do. One new essay a month.

Open the Cookbook ↗ The masthead of The AOK World Kindness Gazette, Est. 11,000 BCThe news

The Kindness Gazette

The newspaper of record for the kindness civilization. Acts, not names. Send it your story.

Read the Gazette → A level-three Kindness Card: an organization's own page with its people, mission and eventsFor organizations

Your free Kindness Card

Put your people, your mission and your events on the record. Fifteen minutes to start.

Get your free card →

Running now

The Starlight campaigns

What AOK World is out doing this season. The names drifting across each picture are the organizations in the starlight right now. Hover a picture to pause them.

Celebrate your Hidden Heroes: AOK Man with a senior living community and its volunteersCampaign one · Senior living

Hidden Heroes

We help senior communities celebrate the volunteers who quietly hold them together, with the residents at the microphone.

Bring it to your community → AOK Man presents a certificate in front of three AOK World banners while the room applaudsCampaign · Neighborhoods

Community outreach

Neighborhood associations telling the good already happening on their own blocks, with a free page of their own.

Find your neighborhood → AOK Man with a microphone, ready for his auditionCampaign · Drama

The kindness must go on

High school drama programs and community theaters, creating short kindness skits. Bring AOK Man on stage, or do it your own way. With or without AOK Man, the kindness must go on.

See the drama campaign → AOK Man waving from the cab of Minneapolis Fire Engine 10Campaign

AOK Man in the field

Coffee shops, markets, parades, fire stations. Real places, real photos, real kindness.

See where he's been →

One seat is open

The Council of Nine has eight members. The ninth seat is open.

Quite honestly, Gloria cannot run the civilization on her own. She has a tough enough time thinking for AOK Man, and Nugget sure isn't going to do it. Every district needs hands. A few need someone to lead them.

See the open positions →Walk the Map