---
title: "Mutual Aid Networks: Neighbors Helping Neighbors with Open Source"
description: "How communities used open tools to coordinate care during crisis—and kept the infrastructure for what comes next"
summary: When communities needed to take care of each other during crisis, they built infrastructure that lasted. Open source tools helped neighbors coordinate millions of acts of mutual support—and the networks they built are still growing.
date: 2026-01-04
tags: ["case-study", "mutual aid", "community care", "open source", "solidarity"]
categories: ["Movement Infrastructure"]
weight: 11
featureImageCaption: "Photo by [Joel Muniz](https://unsplash.com/@jmuniz) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/3LA1Bf55lug) (Unsplash License)"
---

## What They Needed

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, communities faced an immediate question: how do we take care of each other?

Millions of people suddenly needed help—groceries, medicine, rides to appointments, someone to check in. And millions more wanted to help but didn't know how to connect.

Mutual aid networks sprang up everywhere. But they needed tools: ways to match needs with offers, coordinate volunteers, communicate securely, and manage the logistics of community care.

## What They Built

Communities turned to open source tools—and in many cases, built their own.

**What they used:**

**Airtable and open alternatives** for matching needs with helpers. Many groups later migrated to open source tools like [NocoDB](https://nocodb.com/) or [Baserow](https://baserow.io/) to own their data.

**[Signal](https://signal.org/) and [Element](https://element.io/)** for secure group communication. When your mutual aid network includes undocumented neighbors or people in precarious situations, encryption matters.

**[OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/)** for understanding their neighborhoods. Volunteers mapped resources, delivery routes, and community assets.

**Custom tools** built for specific needs. Some networks created their own dispatch systems, intake forms, and coordination platforms—often sharing code with other networks.

**[Mutual Aid Hub](https://www.mutualaidhub.org/)** emerged as an open directory connecting people with local mutual aid groups, built collaboratively by volunteers.

## What Happened

Mutual aid networks provided **millions of instances of direct support** during the pandemic—groceries delivered, prescriptions picked up, bills paid, loneliness eased.

But something else happened too: communities built infrastructure that outlasted the immediate crisis.

**What organizers say:**

> "We started with a Google Form and a spreadsheet. Within months, we had 500 volunteers and needed real systems. Open source tools let us build what we needed without going broke."

> "The pandemic was the emergency, but the needs didn't go away. We're still here, still helping neighbors, still using the tools we built."

> "When we realized our data was sitting on corporate servers, we migrated to self-hosted tools. Now our neighbor's information stays in our community."

## What They Learned

**Start with what works, then build what you need.** Many networks started with commercial tools because they were fast to deploy. As they grew, they migrated to open source alternatives that gave them more control.

**Community care requires community infrastructure.** Depending on corporate platforms for mutual aid creates risks: platforms change terms, raise prices, or shut down. Community-owned tools are more resilient.

**Security is solidarity.** When you're coordinating help for vulnerable people, protecting their information is an act of care. Open source tools with strong security aren't paranoia—they're responsibility.

**The tools are secondary to the relationships.** The best software in the world doesn't create community. But good tools can help communities that already care about each other work together more effectively.

**Crisis infrastructure can become permanent infrastructure.** What started as emergency response became ongoing community care networks. The tools built for crisis continue serving communities in calmer times.

## What This Means for You

If you're involved in mutual aid or community care work, you have choices about your infrastructure.

**For getting started quickly:**
- [Signal](https://signal.org/) for encrypted communication
- Simple spreadsheets or Airtable for coordination
- Whatever gets help flowing immediately

**For building sustainable infrastructure:**
- Self-hosted alternatives ([NocoDB](https://nocodb.com/), [Baserow](https://baserow.io/), [Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/))
- Community-owned communication ([Matrix](https://matrix.org/)/[Element](https://element.io/), [Mattermost](https://mattermost.com/))
- Open mapping tools ([OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/), [uMap](https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/))

**For learning from others:**
- Connect with established mutual aid networks
- Share tools and knowledge across communities
- Document what works for others to learn from

The mutual aid networks that thrived didn't just help people—they built lasting community capacity. The tools they chose, and eventually owned, are part of that capacity.

---

*Mutual aid isn't charity—it's solidarity. And solidarity works better when the infrastructure belongs to the community doing the caring.*
