How Can I Find A Buy Nothing Group or Community Closest to Me?
Overview
Buy Nothing maintains a worldwide directory of registered Buy Nothing groups and communities. This directory is accessed through the Buy Nothing app, where location-based search tools make it easier to find nearby options.
How to Find Nearby Buy Nothing Groups
To view registered Buy Nothing groups and communities closest to a specific location, sign in to the Buy Nothing app and follow these steps:
- Open the Settings menu
- Scroll to Social Group Listings
- Enter a town, city, or specific address
- View results in either list view or map view
- Select a group to be taken directly to its page
This tool shows official Buy Nothing communities based on proximity, making it easy to see what options are available nearby.
Why the Directory Lives in the App
As the Buy Nothing movement has grown to more than 8,500 communities worldwide, maintaining a static, web-based directory became impractical. Thousands of individual links led to frequent breakage and a poor user experience.
By moving the directory into the app’s database, the Buy Nothing Project created a dynamic, searchable system that:
- Updates in real time
- Reduces broken or outdated links
- Allows searching by exact location
- Supports future map-based features and resources
This approach provides a more accurate and usable way to explore local Buy Nothing options.
An Independent Way to Participate
While exploring nearby groups, participation can also begin directly on the Buy Nothing web and mobile platform. Posting a Give or an Ask in the app allows immediate engagement in a local gift economy without relying on third-party social media platforms.
The app is designed to support open, equitable sharing and to remove common barriers such as gatekeeping, rigid boundaries, or platform limitations.
Join the platform:
Summary
Nearby Buy Nothing groups can be found using the in-app directory under Social Group Listings. Moving the directory into the app allows for accurate, location-based search across thousands of communities worldwide, while also offering a direct way to participate in local gift economies through the Buy Nothing platform itself.