What Can Nonprofits Learn From Mutual Aid Organizing? Investigating Mutual Aid Approaches During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Mutual aid groups surfaced globally to serve marginalized communities, offering a crucial community‐led crisis response at the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Despite playing a critical role in community‐led crisis responses, the existing literature offers limited insight into why and how they emerged to address the immediate needs of these communities. This study addresses this gap by investigating mutual aid organizing during the pandemic. Employing a sequential mixed methods approach, we utilize survey and interview data to examine how mutual aid groups in the United States rapidly responded to community needs, establishing legitimacy and gaining support from stakeholders. While these groups faced unique management challenges, they offer valuable lessons for the public and nonprofit sectors serving marginalized communities. These lessons include cultivating inclusive and egalitarian relationships, facilitating reciprocity and communal sharing, and catalyzing community‐led responses. Such community‐rooted responses offer crucial insights for enhancing community resilience during and after the pandemic.