Mutual Aid: Getting Started

Note: there are NO affiliate links on this page. If you buy the books I recommend here, I do not receive any kickback. I included purchase links for your convenience and to make it easier for you to avoid buying from Amazon.

“What is Mutual Aid?”

Here’s a video by Mutual Aid Disaster Relief introducing the concept.

A neighbors-helping-neighbors project is generally considered mutual aid when it’s non-hierarchical (unlike the structure of most charitable non-profits, where there is an assumed social distinction between those helping and those being helped).

Mutual aid can be informal and spontaneous, such as when a group of parents to young kids start watching each other’s children for free. Or it can be the work of an international organization, like Food Not Bombs. You may have participated in mutual aid without realizing it, in the form of a local Buy Nothing group.

“Where do I begin?“

Here are my top recommendations:

  1. Search for mutual aid projects near you.
    • Checking the Mutual Aid Hub can be a start, but as of February 2026, I have noticed a lot of dead links and the active listings are mostly in very large cities.
    • You can try an internet search for your city’s name and “mutual aid” or “collective” or search terms for a specific issue you are hoping to address. I would also check social media (Facebook, Reddit, Nextdoor, etc.).
    • Even if your local group is not doing the kind of work you are interested in, it’s probably still the best starting place to connect with people and start discussing your ideas.
  2. Read and use these free guides found on the Mutual Aid Disaster Relief website:
  3. Develop your relationship skills
  4. Learn more about mutual aid as a philosophy/strategy
    • Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis (And the Next) by Dean Spade (free in the Anarchist Library)
      • From the publisher: “This book is about mutual aid: why it is so important, what it looks like, and how to do it. It provides a grassroots theory of mutual aid, describes how mutual aid is a crucial part of powerful movements for social justice, and offers concrete tools for organizing, such as how to work in groups, how to foster a collective decision-making process, how to prevent and address conflict, and how to deal with burnout.”
    • The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Robin Wall Kimmerer
      • From the publisher: “Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, ‘Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.’”
    • Starting Somewhere: Community Organizing for Socially Awkward People Who’ve Had Enough by Roderick Douglass
      • From the publisher: “a crash course in organizing, educating, and agitating in the 21st Century. Written with a mix of incriminating anecdotes, personal retellings, and historical examples, Starting Somewhere is a first-person look at radical community organizing for misfits and outcasts committed to saving this planet for some inexplicable reason.”
    • Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba (free download)
      • From the publisher: “Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the political lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the convergence of mass protest and mass formations of mutual aid, and consider what this confluence of power can teach us about a future that will require mass acts of care, rescue and defense, in the face of both state violence and environmental disaster.”
    • The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
      • From the publisher: “gathers essays by radical activists, educators, and non-profit staff from around the globe who critically rethink the long-term consequences of what they call the “non-profit industrial complex.” Drawing on their own experiences, the contributors track the history of non-profits and provide strategies to transform and work outside them.”
    • A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit
      • Per the publisher, this book “is an investigation of the moments of altruism, resourcefulness, and generosity that arise amid disaster’s grief and disruption and considers their implications for everyday life. It points to a new vision of what society could become-one that is less authoritarian and fearful, more collaborative and local.”
The Best Way to Learn: Participate

I have mostly learned about mutual aid by seeing other people do it and joining in.

I’ve had a neighbor who was passionately committed to mutual aid as a life philosophy and who does an astonishing amount of informal, unpaid work, connecting people with resources as directly as possible. They are an inspiring demonstration that one person, connecting with others, can make a very big difference.

I’ve had another neighbor who doesn’t use the term “mutual aid” at all, but after arriving in the town where I live, she just naturally started building community by being both extremely generous and giving, as well as open about her family’s struggles. Her kind and open-hearted way of being has spontaneously brought people together.

Even if you can’t find anyone doing mutual aid in your area, you absolutely can get started with something yourself. Any success is worthwhile, no matter how small it may seem. And you never know how what you do might start to snowball or ripple outward.