Mutual Aid and How to Start a Group

What Is Mutual Aid

Mutual aid is people organizing to meet each other’s basic needs directly: food, rent money, rides, child care, medicine. There is no application and no one deciding who deserves help. The same people give and receive, so a neighbor who gets groceries one month may drive someone to a clinic the next. Organizers often sum it up as “solidarity, not charity” (Climate Justice Alliance).

The word “mutual” is the point. Dean Spade, an organizer whose 2020 book on the subject the American Friends Service Committee recommends to new groups, describes it this way: “Survival work, when done alongside social movement demands for transformative change, is called mutual aid” (Dean Spade). A food drive can be mutual aid or charity. The difference is who decides and whether the people being helped have a say.

Find Your Situation

Most people come to mutual aid needing help, wanting to help, or both. Open the situation closest to yours.

Find your situation

Each one gives a first step you can take this week.

I need help now with food, rent, or a bill

1. For food today, call the USDA National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-348-6479, weekdays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. It connects callers with food banks and meal sites.
2. Search for a local group on the Mutual Aid Hub map, or ask at a library, a congregation, a union hall, or a tenants group. Many groups started in 2020, so check that a listing is still active.
3. Ask plainly for what you need. Mutual aid is built to avoid the proof-of-need tests many programs use, and you can give back later in any way that fits your life.

I want to join a group near me

1. Look for groups already working in your area before starting a new one. Joining an existing group spreads the work and avoids splitting donors.
2. Offer something specific: two hours on Saturdays, a car for deliveries, translation, or bookkeeping.
3. Go to a meeting before taking on a role. Groups that last usually meet regularly and share the work, according to research on pandemic-era groups (see what keeps groups going).

I want to start one

1. Start with people you already know. List friends, neighbors, and coworkers who could give or need help. Organizers call this pod mapping.
2. Pick one need you can meet well, such as grocery runs for older neighbors, before adding more.
3. Follow the start-up steps below, and decide how money and personal information will be handled before either arrives.

Our group is collecting and passing on money

1. Open a bank account in the group's name if you can, instead of pooling money in one organizer's personal account. The Sustainable Economies Law Center warns the IRS could treat pooled money in a personal account as that person's income.
2. Keep simple records: who gave, who received, and how much. Mark payment-app transfers as personal, not for goods or services, when they are gifts.
3. Consider a fiscal sponsor, an existing nonprofit that holds the money for you under a contract. If the sponsor is a charity and gifts are not earmarked for specific people, donors can deduct them.

We help immigrant neighbors or others at risk

1. Collect as little personal information as possible. Do not keep names, addresses, or immigration status in a shared spreadsheet you do not need.
2. Restrict who can see requests, and use an end-to-end encrypted app for sensitive messages, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation advises.
3. Delete records you no longer need, and agree as a group on who holds what.

Mutual Aid vs Charity vs a Nonprofit

The line between the three is who decides who gets help, and how the money is set up. Many real groups mix them, and a mutual aid group can work with a charity or become a nonprofit.

Big Door Brigade, a mutual aid resource site, argues that charity “is often a strategy for controlling poor people” because of the strings attached to who counts as deserving (Big Door Brigade). Tax law draws its own line. A donor cannot deduct money given to a specific person, even through a qualified charity, but can deduct a gift to a charity that helps people in need in general (IRS Publication 526).

A Long History of Mutual Aid

Mutual aid in the United States is older than the Constitution. These five moments show how it has changed.

1. 1787 Free African Society Free Black Philadelphians pool dues to help needy members.
2. 1902 Kropotkin's book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution argues cooperation helped species survive.
3. 1969 Free breakfasts, FBI target The FBI targets the Black Panther Party's free breakfasts for children.
4. 2020 Pandemic networks Well over 1,000 new groups form in the first months of COVID-19.
5. 2024 Houston ticketing blocked A federal judge stops Houston from ticketing a group for sharing food.

Mutual Aid in the United States: 1787: Free African Society (Free Black Philadelphians pool dues to help needy members.). 1902: Kropotkin's book (Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution argues cooperation helped species survive.). 1969: Free breakfasts, FBI target (The FBI targets the Black Panther Party's free breakfasts for children.). 2020: Pandemic networks (Well over 1,000 new groups form in the first months of COVID-19.). 2024: Houston ticketing blocked (A federal judge stops Houston from ticketing a group for sharing food.).

1787: Free Black residents of Philadelphia founded the Free African Society. Its 1787 articles agreed, “for the benefit of each other, to advance one shilling in silver Pennsylvania currency a month,” and after a year to pay “three shillings and nine pence per week” to members in need (Gilder Lehrman; Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia).

1902: Peter Kropotkin, a Russian anarchist writer, published Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, collecting magazine essays from the 1890s that argued cooperation among animals and people helped them survive (Project Gutenberg).

1969: The Black Panther Party served free breakfasts to children in churches and community spaces. A Senate committee later found the program was one of the FBI’s “prime targets.” The FBI mailed anonymous letters to its food donors, including Safeway and Jack-in-the-Box, to “impede their contributions.” In San Diego, agents placed calls to the local bishop posing as parishioners upset that Father Frank Curran let the program use his church. When Curran was reassigned to New Mexico, the San Diego office wrote that he “has now been completely neutralized” and that the breakfast program “has not been renewed in the San Diego area” (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, Book III, 1976).

2020: As the pandemic closed workplaces, neighbors organized grocery runs, rent funds, and phone trees. The Sustainable Economies Law Center counted “well over 1,000 new mutual aid networks across the country,” and “likely thousands more” operating informally (Sustainable Economies Law Center).

2024: Houston police had ticketed Food Not Bombs volunteers for sharing meals outside the Central Library under a 2012 ordinance requiring permission to feed more than five people. In February 2024, a federal judge ordered the city to stop enforcing it while the case proceeds (Houston Public Media).

How to Start a Mutual Aid Group

A group that lasts usually starts small, with one need and a clear way to decide things. The steps below draw on organizer guides from the American Friends Service Committee, the Sustainable Economies Law Center, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

How to start a mutual aid group

1. 1 Week 1 Map who you know List neighbors, friends, and coworkers who could help or need help. Ask what they need before deciding what to offer.
2. 2 Week 1 Pick one need Choose one thing you can do well, like weekly grocery runs or a small rent fund, and say who it is for.
3. 3 Week 2 Decide how you decide Agree on who makes which calls, how requests are handled, and who holds any money.
4. 4 Week 2 Set up safe tools Collect only the information you need, limit who can see it, and use encrypted messaging for anything sensitive.
5. 5 Ongoing Meet and connect Hold regular meetings, share the work, and link up with other local groups so no one burns out.

Sources: American Friends Service Committee, How to Create a Mutual Aid Network (updated October 2, 2025); Sustainable Economies Law Center, Mutual Aid Toolkit; Electronic Frontier Foundation (2020).

The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker aid group, suggests starting with the “Mutual Aid 101” toolkit by organizer Mariame Kaba and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, checking whether someone nearby is already organizing, and building a neighborhood pod before an emergency, so people already trust each other when one comes (AFSC).

Money, Taxes, and Legal Rules

Most small mutual aid runs on gifts between people, which the tax code treats lightly. The questions start when money pools in one place or when a group shares food in public.

Groups usually handle money one of three ways, according to the Sustainable Economies Law Center’s legal toolkit:

• Person to person. Givers send money straight to the person who needs it. Gifts are not income to the receiver.
• A fiscal sponsor. An existing nonprofit holds the money under a private contract, which can be set up quickly. If the sponsor is a charity, donors can deduct gifts that are not earmarked for specific people.
• A nonprofit of your own. A group can form a nonprofit corporation or an unincorporated association. The law center notes that the smallest groups, with under $5,000 in yearly receipts, can be tax exempt without applying, though they still need an employer identification number and a yearly filing.

The law center’s biggest warning is about personal bank accounts. When funds are “kept in an organizer’s personal bank account,” it says, “there is some risk that the IRS will characterize these funds as taxable income to the account holder,” so a separate account for the group “may be a safer option” (Sustainable Economies Law Center).

Where the Rules That Affect Mutual Aid Stand

As of September 25, 2026

• Gifts between people Law, not income to the receiver

  The IRS says gifts from friends and family are not taxable income and should not be reported on Form 1099-K. (source)

• Payment app reporting Law, over $20,000 and 200 transactions

  The 2025 budget law restored the higher threshold for Form 1099-K (Public Law 119-21, section 70432). (source)

• Gift tax annual exclusion Law, $19,000 per person in 2026

  The giver, not the receiver, is responsible for any gift tax. (source)

• Small nonprofit filing Law, Form 990-N

  Exempt groups with yearly receipts normally $50,000 or less can file the short electronic Form 990-N. (source)

• Food donation liability shield Law, expanded in 2023

  Donors and nonprofit groups, incorporated or not, are protected for good-faith food donations. A January 5, 2023 law added direct donations from grocers and restaurants to people in need. (source)

• Houston food-sharing ordinance Blocked by a court, preliminary injunction

  Blocked by a preliminary injunction on February 14, 2024. The case was still open at its latest filing on February 4, 2026. (source)

Source: IRS; Public Law 119-21; 42 U.S.C. 1791; Public Law 117-362; CourtListener docket 4:24-cv-00338 (S.D. Tex.)

Food sharing is where local rules bite. The federal shield covers liability for the food itself, not city rules about where and how a group can serve it. Houston’s ordinance, the subject of the lawsuit above, required a property owner’s consent to feed more than five people, and volunteers faced fines from $254 to as much as $2,000 per ticket (Texas Observer).

Keeping People and Personal Data Safe

The people a mutual aid group serves are often the people most exposed if a list leaks. In 2020 the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that “overlooked privacy settings and overbroad collection of personal data can lead to the unintended disclosure of private information that can be used to harm the very people seeking help” (EFF). Its guidance for organizers comes down to five habits:

• Define your audience. Know who you are trying to reach and what you will ask them to do.
• Collect as little data as possible. Ask only for what you need to meet the request.
• Restrict access. Keep request lists private and limit who can edit them.
• Use encryption. Protect data while it moves and while it is stored.
• Choose tools with care. Think about which companies and people you are trusting with sensitive information, and use end-to-end encrypted apps where you can.

Physical safety matters too. The Sustainable Economies Law Center suggests clear roles for handling food and deliveries, liability waivers where they fit, and general liability insurance once a group grows (Sustainable Economies Law Center).

What Keeps Mutual Aid Groups Going

Earlier disaster research found that neighbors’ solidarity tends to fade over time, even when needs stay high. A 2021 study of 32 organizers of COVID-19 mutual aid groups in the United Kingdom asked what kept some going (Fernandes-Jesus et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2021). Organizers pointed to:

• Meeting local needs with local resources, such as nearby volunteers, venues, and vans.
• Trust and alliances with other community groups, which also led to new projects.
• A culture of care inside the group, with regular meetings and an informal but organized leadership.
• What people got out of it: joy, pride, a sense that their work mattered, and a stronger feeling of belonging.

A 2025 study of U.S. groups, drawing on surveys and interviews, reached similar lessons: build inclusive and equal relationships, make giving and receiving go both ways, and let the community lead (Wu, Russell, and Scott, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2025).

The Debate Over Mutual Aid

The disagreements are about what mutual aid is for, and how far cities can regulate it.

Some organizers worry that mutual aid can end up propping up the systems it means to change. Spade’s own 2020 article warns of “supplementing and therefore stabilizing existing systems of maldistribution” and of groups adopting “principles and practices from the charity frameworks” (Social Text, 2020). The authors of the 2021 U.K. study take a more practical view. They urge governments to give groups “practical and financial support,” but “without constraining or interfering in their actions, decisions or activities” (Frontiers in Psychology, 2021).

Cities and food-sharing groups disagree about public space. Houston’s 2012 ordinance aimed to “reduce the disproportionate environmental impact of food service operations on public and private property,” according to the mayor’s letter at the time, and the city offered a lot at 61 Riesner Street as an approved site. Volunteers argue that sharing food in public is protected speech. One volunteer’s lawsuit says the approved lot, which also houses the Houston Police Department, keeps away people who avoid police (Texas Observer).

What Mutual Aid Cannot Do

• It cannot match the scale of public programs. A neighborhood fund can cover a rent gap or a week of groceries. It cannot replace SNAP, Medicaid, or Social Security for millions of people. See SNAP work requirements and the Medicaid explainer.
• Informal does not mean unregulated. Food rules, pooled money, and insurance can all matter as a group grows. The legal notes on this page are general information, not legal advice for your group.
• Counts are rough. The 1,000-plus figure for 2020 is one group’s count, and no one tracks how many groups are active now.
• Not every group lasts, and that can be fine. Some groups form for one storm or one eviction wave and then fold into other work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is mutual aid anarchist?

It has anarchist roots and older ones. Peter Kropotkin, a Russian anarchist, published Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution in 1902. But the practice is older than that book. Free Black Philadelphians founded the Free African Society as a mutual aid society in 1787, and Mexican immigrant communities in Texas formed mutualista societies.

What are examples of mutual aid?

Grocery runs for older neighbors, community fridges, bail funds, and food distribution. After disasters, local groups can move faster than the government. After Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina, one queer mutual aid group responded within 48 hours, the American Friends Service Committee says.

Is mutual aid legal?

Yes. Gifts from friends and neighbors are not taxable income to the person who gets them, the IRS says. Some cities regulate sharing food in public places, as Houston did until a federal judge ordered it to stop ticketing Food Not Bombs in 2024, and pooled money can raise tax questions, so larger groups should check local rules and consider a fiscal sponsor.

Do I have to pay taxes on money from a mutual aid fund?

A true gift is not taxable income to the receiver, according to the IRS. Money that is payment for work or goods is different. If a group pools funds in one organizer’s personal account, the Sustainable Economies Law Center says the IRS could treat it as that person’s income.

What You Can Do

1. Find a group near you. Check the Mutual Aid Hub map, then ask at libraries, congregations, and tenant or union meetings, since many active groups are not listed.
2. Offer one specific skill or hour. A standing commitment helps a group more than a one-time offer. Protest days need the same help, such as rides or a check-in call for neighbors going to one of the No Kings national days of action.
3. Start small if nothing exists. Use the start-up steps and pick one need your neighbors name.
4. Set up the money right. Open a group account or find a fiscal sponsor, and read the Sustainable Economies Law Center toolkit before funds arrive.
5. Speak up on local food-sharing rules. If your city limits sharing food in public, say so at a council meeting. Our guide to running for local office explains how those councils work, and our town hall guide covers how to raise a question with your state and federal representatives.