The Barter Economy is Alive & Thriving — We Just Call it In-kind Giving.
Updated: Sep 4
Nonprofit || Business
Opinion by Magdalen Sparrow
We tend to think of the barter economy as something from another time—goods exchanged for labor, labor exchanged for resources, communities finding ways to meet one another’s needs without money ever changing hands.
But it never really disappeared.
It evolved.
Today, it operates quietly underneath our cash, checks, wire transfers, Venmo payments, and bitcoin. In the nonprofit world especially, there is an enormous economy built not just on money, but on goods, services, expertise, space, labor, relationships, and resources.
As a 501(c)(3) with a circular economy business model focused largely on B2B—collecting from organizations with surplus and redistributing to organizations with demand—Passback has thrived within this non-cash economy.
The barter economy at Passback has enabled us to reach over $1 million in revenue in three years, redistributing more than half of that directly through sporting goods and textiles to the athletes who could put it to the best use.
And sometimes, the value exchanged is much bigger than a box of soccer cleats.
Passback turned three years old in August 2026. It was a very quiet celebration.
I was sweating inside our “new to me” warehouse—nearly 30,000 square feet that had sat vacant for more than a decade.
In exchange for my love and labor helping bring the property back to life and get it occupancy-ready, Passback gained something a young nonprofit desperately needs: space to operate.
Along the way, we’ve received shelving, tools, furniture, professional expertise, labor, equipment, connections, and countless other resources. Sometimes those contributions come with tax benefits. Sometimes sports equipment changes hands. Sometimes someone simply sees what we’re building and decides to help.
Not every one of these transactions is technically barter. Some are donations. Some are in-kind contributions. Some are exchanges. But together, they reveal an economy that we rarely count when we talk about what it takes to build an organization.
Cash matters. Of course it does.
But cash is not the only form of capital.
A warehouse can be capital. Expertise can be capital. Equipment can be capital. A relationship can be capital. Someone giving you six hours of skilled labor can change the trajectory of an organization just as surely as writing a check.
For a nonprofit startup, this economy hasn’t simply helped Passback grow.
It has helped us survive.
So thank you to everyone who has donated sports gear, services, labor, expertise, resources, connections—and love.
Systems change is a team sport.
Total reported revenue by year. 2026 is year-to-date through August 19, 2026.
(Halfway through 2026)
View full financials YoY: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krp-JGvoOKeenITIKs95242Ezsr0duZv/view?usp=drivesdk
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