Launching this Fri., Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. from Dwight Hall to the Internet, TheGiftEconomy.org is an online economics experiment that aims to change how goods and services move within local communities. Users post what they need and what they have to give away. It then connects neighbors in need with neighbors who can help. There is only one rule: The use of money is banned. Instead, users barter, share, or give. They then record and review each interaction, documenting each other’s generous efforts.

The site is intended to connect the many different communities of New Haven: from Yale students to wealthy suburbanites to impoverished city residents. All of these people will benefit from TheGiftEconomy.

Through the site, community organizations and nonprofits will be able to request volunteers and resources. The wealthy can clean out their basements and give away surplus possessions. Professionals can record their pro bono work. The unemployed can find ways of working for what they need. Businesses can list positive externalities, such as waste vegetable oil from restaurants. TheGiftEconomy will support free entrepreneurism, from fixing up used bikes to starting urban farms on unused lots.

For example, users can use the site to give their unwanted belongings directly to those who need them. Most major donation centers like Goodwill Industries or Salvation Army sell a large percentage of what they receive to international textile dealers who then sell the used clothing to Third World countries at a profit. According to Karen Tranberg’s Salaula: The World of Second Hand Clothing and Zambia, this market dumping prevents the growth of local clothing industries and adds a layer of unnecessary corruption to a philanthropic gesture. Through TheGiftEconomy, users will be able to give directly to members of their own community—strengthening local bonds, avoiding third-party profits, and keeping wealth in the local community.

Unlike a soup kitchen or donation center, where needy people simply receive, TheGiftEconomy encourages reciprocity. People who might not otherwise earn money or who are unemployed can find other ways to create value and grow wealth within TheGiftEconomy. By posting their skills and available hours, they can find others who need their help. As they participate more, users will accumulate positive reviews and a history of good work. Their profiles on TheGiftEconomy will function as powerful resumes.

Beyond the individual level, the site will be helpful for existing groups and organizations. TheGiftEconomy is able to scale easily between individuals and large groups. By using the site, nonprofits can document the good work they already do for the community and solicit needed donations. Organizations can also use the site to find volunteers and then leave reviews for those volunteers, giving them credit for their work. The reciprocity of TheGiftEconomy means that working to improve one’s community no longer comes without tangible reward.

We are building a post-money economy. Our system fulfills the functions of a market and a bank, yet without money. The market of TheGiftEconomy is driven by the needs and gifts listed on each user’s profile. The bank of TheGiftEconomy is the list of all the reviews a user receives—wealth is stored in the difference between what she has given and what she has taken. The richest person on theGiftEconomy is she who has taken little and given much.

Today’s economy is a linear system. We extract, process, manufacture, distribute, consume, and then dispose of what we need. Ninety percent of what we buy ends up in a landfill within six months. Running a linear system on a finite planet is not sustainable. We need to tie the ends of our economy together. We must build a circular economy, one with a minimal environmental footprint.

Our inability to move in that direction today comes from the very nature of our capitalistic system. The profit motive and monetary scarcity are fundamental characteristics of our economy. They represent an inescapable logic, inherent to the system itself.

Despite the fact that the fatal flaws of capitalism are becoming all the more visible today, this system has yielded our means of escape. Homo sapiens has built itself a global hive mind. TheGiftEconomy is an attempt to use the Internet to enable material cooperation. It will use the Internet to bring local communities together, not fragment them into virtual space.

TheGiftEconomy provides you the opportunity to contribute to an entirely new economy, one characterized by generosity, inclusivity, and sustainable consumption. This is not just a website. It is a currency-free economic community striving to achieve self-sufficiency. Anyone can join. All gifts are welcome.

We are launching our Alpha test today. Come to the event at 7 p.m. in the Dwight Hall Library to get involved. We need people who are interested in building a new economy here in New Haven, one that finds its strength where our communities are failing.

Hans Schoenburg is a senior in Morse College. He is the co-founder of TheGiftEconomy.