Gaia's Web: A Reciprocity Ring

About this event

Gaia’s Web is a FREE community gathering built on the principles of mutual aid: people bring forward needs— logistical, emotional, creative, or otherwise— and the group offers help, including but not limited to resources, connections, ideas, assistance, listening, and solidarity.

The idea for this community offering was inspired by the Reciprocity Ring model, originally developed by Wayne and Cheryl Baker, and popularized by Adam Grant in his book, Give and Take. This practice is rooted in what is often called generalized reciprocity: helping others without expecting immediate return, trusting that acts of giving circulate and strengthen communal well-being.

We also recognize that networks of mutual aid and community care like Gaia’s Web are not new. The roots of this model can be traced to practices like the Kula ring, a ceremonial exchange system of the Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea. In the Kula, men undertook long and often dangerous ocean voyages to exchange necklaces and armbands. Though these items held little material value, the exchanges created enduring networks of relationship, obligation, and alliance. The Reciprocity Ring model later developed by the Bakers was inspired in part by this tradition. We honor and credit the Trobriand Islanders for this system, and we hold gratitude for their wisdom in shaping practices of giving that extend far beyond transactional exchange.

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