Give and Take: WHY HELPING OTHERS DRIVES OUR SUCCESS

members.
Together, these two forces facilitate the development of a bond with Freecycle. Instead of buying
an item from another person, people feel that they’re receiving gifts from a community. The gratitude
and goodwill generated means that they begin to identify with the community, seeing themselves as
Freecycle members. Once this identification happens, people are willing to give freely to anyone who
shares the Freecycle identity. This extends their willingness to give across the whole Freecycle
community, spurring members to offer items that they no longer need in response to requests when
they can help. By giving away things they don’t want, takers can feel like they’re not losing anything
of value, yet maintain the norm of giving so they can still get free stuff when they want it. For
matchers, because there’s no way to pay it back, paying it forward is the next best thing—especially
since they’re helping people just like themselves. This is what happened with the parents who gave
away baby supplies: they restored their sense of a reciprocal, even exchange by donating items they
no longer needed to fellow parents in similar situations.
People are motivated to give to others when they identify as part of a common community. But not
all individuals and groups are equally likely to attract this type of identification. There’s something
else about the Freecycle community that fosters identification—and it’s a factor well understood by
Adam Rifkin.