Welcome!
Thanks for Bringing Buy Nothing to Life!
Thanks for Bringing Buy Nothing to Life!
This page is designed especially for people who volunteer to serve their communities as Admins for private Buy Nothing groups on Meta's Facebook platform. If you don't find what you're looking for, please contact us and a fellow volunteer will reply.
Facebook calls you "Admins" and we call you Community Builders. Whatever title you go by, you are the heart of the Buy Nothing Project. You guide your neighbors as they become a tight-knit Buy Nothing community where generosity, acceptance, humor, honesty, empathy, compassion, and joy. Thank you.
Facebook calls you "Admins" and we call you Community Builders. Whatever title you go by, you are the heart of the Buy Nothing Project. You guide your neighbors as they become a tight-knit Buy Nothing community where generosity, acceptance, humor, honesty, empathy, compassion, and joy. Thank you.
Tools and Freesources
Popular Resources for Community Builders who serve as Admins for private Buy Nothing groups on Facebook
Help spark the giving, or to remind others about the BuyNothing culture we’ve cultivated over the years. They include photos you can download and text!
Fun, In-Person Events
In person Buy Nothing events are a wonderful way to get to know your neighbors and to share in the abundance in your community. (this page is being refreshed, check back soon)
Yes, our own public library of resources, a curated collection of links for your needs, written by someone who has thought deeply about the Buy Nothing experience.
Gift Tags and Thank You Notes
Gift Tags & Thank You Notes that you can download as images and print out. We print them on all kinds of paper, often scrap paper, for leaving behind when we pick up a gift. (this page is being refreshed, check back soon)
Put the BuyNothing App to Work for You
If you're happy on Facebook, you and your group can still use the app to improve your Buy Nothing experience and community strength.
Share Buy Nothing Tips directly from the App to Your Group
We provide shareable Tips in the BN app, with information about foundational Buy Nothing principles, culture, and How To Buy Nothing, to help you guide and inspire your Buy Nothing community on any platform. Search for "Buy Nothing Community" in the app and view all of our posts for Tips you can share by tapping on the 3 gray breadcrumb dots in the upper right hand corner, then tapping on "share," then copy and paste the share link anywhere you'd like. If you paste this link into a post in your BN private group on a platform like Facebook, it will automatically show the post image and the first line or so of text.
Use the App for Expanded and/or Contracted Giving & Receiving
Each person can adjust their Community Settings in the BN app to connect with people who are varying distances away from them. You can choose a radius from .5 mile, 1 mile, 3 miles, 6 miles, and 20 miles. You can cross-post items that haven't found a home in your BN group on FB to a larger radius in the app, allowing more people to see your gift, and you can do the same thing for requests that haven't been met. You'll also be able to include people who don't use Facebook for a variety of reasons, making Buy Nothing in your community that much more inclusive.
Use the App to make pick-up directions EASY
You only need to enter your address and any pick-up directions (such as "check the box by my front door and only come during daylight hours") once in the app, and this information will be saved privately (and you can update it anytime). Then you can use the app's private messaging to quickly share this information with people from your Buy Nothing group - your address will open in Google Maps and they'll receive any directions you've written, with a simple click from you.
Use the App when you travel
You can update your BuyNothing Community Location anytime you travel, making it fast and easy to connect with fellow Buy Nothing-ers around the world without having to leave your Buy Nothing group on Facebook.
Cross-Post to the App
We welcome you and your group members in the app however you'd like to use it to enhance your Buy Nothing experience. If you and your group members post your Gives, Asks, and Gratitude to the app as well as your FB group, you'll be able to use the BuyNothing features that only exist on the app:
You'll each have a record there of all of your own personal activity in a shareable form that easy to scroll through. This sort of personal Buy Nothing archive is useful in many ways.
You'll be able to toggle between Scroll View (which looks more like Facebook) and Grid View (which is heavy on photos and light on text for quick visual scrolling).
You'll be able to toggle between Active Posts (only those gifts that are still available and those requests that haven't been met) and All Posts (everything that's ever been posted in your area).
You'll each have a record there of all of your own personal activity in a shareable form that easy to scroll through. This sort of personal Buy Nothing archive is useful in many ways.
You'll be able to toggle between Scroll View (which looks more like Facebook) and Grid View (which is heavy on photos and light on text for quick visual scrolling).
You'll be able to toggle between Active Posts (only those gifts that are still available and those requests that haven't been met) and All Posts (everything that's ever been posted in your area).
Connect with Admins & Community Builders from other groups:
You can use this as a social tool (we do!) to meet other Community Builders and Admins who are active in the app, whether they're your nearby neighbors or further away. Check for Community Builders in the Community page of the app and send your fellow Buy Nothing leaders a message to say hello and share ideas.
Use the Community Metrics to see your group's impact
If you and your group cross-post your Gives, Asks, and Gratitude to the app, you'll be able to see your shared impact in the Community Metrics on the Community page in the app, no math required on your part to add things up! We've learned that seeing your impact tends to motivate more Giving, Asking, and Gratitude, so this part of the app can inspire Buy Nothing action in your Facebook group.