Tribe

The ladder from “we’re close” to “we’ve got each other.”

You already know people who can fix things, watch kids, cook, drive, teach, and lend you what you were about to go buy. Tribe is a way to actually use that.

Small on purpose
01

The problem

You already know an electrician.

Somewhere in your phone is a person who could fix your outlet, another who could watch your kids on a Thursday, and a third who owns the tool you were about to buy for one afternoon. Almost nobody uses any of it. Most of those people would say yes. There’s just no good way to ask them.

Asking feels expensive

Ask once and it’s a favor. Ask twice and you start to feel like a burden.

Nobody keeps track

You helped somebody move a couch two years ago. It left no trace. So there’s no reason to believe that helping leads to being helped.

There’s no next step

You can be friendly with someone for a decade and never find the moment to say, out loud, that you’d like to count on each other.

We live further apart than we used to

Families spread across states. Neighbors you only wave at. Getting closer to people used to just happen, and now it takes real effort that nobody has time for.

02

How it works

Three moves.

1

Say what you have.

Your skills, with an honest level next to each one: learning, handy, experienced, licensed. The things you’d lend. The things you make. That’s your page.

2

Post an Ask or an Offer.

An Ask is something you need. An Offer is something you have going spare, whether that’s a Saturday, a truck, or four dozen eggs. Everybody sees it. Somebody takes it.

3

Go deeper, only if it’s working.

If your group finds it’s actually using this, you can agree to take on more together. That takes a vote, a trial run, and a way out that nobody can take away from you.

The first step has to be easy enough that a normal family will actually try it.

9:41
← Members Kin · since 2024

Marisol
Okafor

Four vouches · two tribes

“I have a van, a ladder, and Saturdays. Ask before you rent something.”

What she’s good at 6 listed
ElectricalLicensed
Cargo van · 12ftOwns
ChildcareExperienced
Spanish · YorubaFluent
Drywall & patchingHandy
BreadLearning
Standing commitments
Thursday school pickup · Wren kids Van available any Saturday before noon
Ask Marisol Vouch
MapAsksLedgerTableYou
03

What counts

Three kinds of help, and they all count the same.

Most people underestimate what they have. It’s usually more than a job title.

Time

The obvious one. Wiring a room, watching kids, a ride to the airport, an afternoon of yard work, sitting with someone after surgery. An hour of your time is an hour, whoever you are.

Things you make

A bowl. Six jars of tomatoes. A quilt. A repaired chair. A birthday cake. If your wife spends three hours at the wheel and somebody ends up with the pot, that’s three hours of her life and it counts like any other three hours. Nobody has to name a price, which is exactly the point.

Things you lend

The ladder. The truck. The canning pot you use twice a year. The folding tables in the garage. Lending is free and always will be. Ask before you buy.

Anybody who has ever said “I’m not really good at anything” is wrong, and this is usually how they find out.

04

The Library

Not everybody needs to own a ladder.

Think about what’s in your garage right now. A ladder used twice a year. A pressure washer used once. A carpet cleaner, a chop saw, a cooler big enough for a party you throw every other summer. You bought all of it. So did four people you know.

The Library is a list of what your tribe owns and is happy to lend. Search it before you buy something. Most of the time, somebody already has one.

“I have a van, a ladder, and Saturdays. Ask before you rent something.”

In the Library 28 things
Extension ladder, 24ft Marisol Free now
Cargo van, 12ft Marisol Out until Sun
Pressure washer Dave Free now
Canning pot and rack Rosa Free now
Folding tables, six The Wrens Free now
Crib and changing table Ana Free now

Put your things on the list

Whatever you’re willing to lend. Tools, vehicles, camping gear, folding chairs, the crib nobody’s using, the projector, the big cooler.

Borrowing is free

Always. No hours, no scorekeeping, no owing anybody. Charging for it would make people hesitate to ask, and hesitating is the exact problem we’re trying to solve.

Reserve it like a library book

Say when you need it and for how long. It shows up on the calendar so two people don’t plan on the same trailer for the same Saturday.

Wear and tear is a shared problem

If the trailer needs tires, that goes up as an Ask like anything else. The person who owns the thing shouldn’t quietly carry the cost of everyone using it.

9:41
Wren–Okafor
Kin · 20

What we can do

Seventeen capabilities covered. Three we’d have to pay for.

Trades5 people
Food6
Auto
repairno one
Tech2
Childcare4
Rides3
Elder
careno one
Taxesno one
Music2
Medical1
Sewing2
Tutoring2
Hosting4
Hair1
Dogs3
Storage2
Covered
Nobody can do this
Three gaps. Someone you know fills one. Invite
MapAsksLedgerTableYou
05

What we can do

See everything your tribe can handle, and everything it can’t.

One screen showing what your group covers between all of you, with the holes drawn in plain sight. Seventeen things covered. Three you’d still have to pay a stranger for.

The empty slots are the useful part. They tell you exactly who to invite next, which turns out to be a better question than “who do I like most.” Groups built that way are steadier, and they end up with a wider range of people in them.

Trades, covered. Food, covered. Childcare, covered. Auto repair, elder care, taxes: nobody. Somebody you already know fills one of those.

06

The calendar

One place where everybody knows what’s happening.

Half of staying close is just knowing when things are. Tribe keeps one shared calendar so nobody has to run a group text as a full time job.

Mon 4 Van out, Marisol
Tue 5 Dog walk, 8am Van out
Wed 6 Van out
Thu 7 School pickup, Wren kids Rosa away all week
Fri 8 Ana to the airport, 6am
Sat 9 Firewood day, 9am Trailer spoken for
Sun 10 Sunday dinner, 6pm Dave’s birthday

Group things

Sunday dinners, the canning weekend, somebody’s birthday, the annual firewood day, the trip everyone keeps saying they’ll take.

Who’s around

Mark yourself away for a week and nobody wastes time asking. Mark your Saturdays open and people know when to ask.

Borrowed things

The van is out Thursday to Sunday. The trailer is spoken for on the fourth.

Standing commitments

Thursday school pickup. The monthly visit to Grandma. The recurring things that hold a group together, written down where everyone can see them.

Reminders go out on their own, so keeping a promise doesn’t depend on somebody remembering to nag.

07

The tiers

Start shallow. Go deeper only if it’s working.

Most groups will happily stay in the first two tiers forever, and that counts as this working. The deeper tiers are there for the groups who want them, whenever they want them.

1

Circle

Up to 60 people. Free. Nothing is owed.

“Here’s what I’m good at.”

What you get

  • Everyone’s skills, with an honest level on each one
  • The Library, so you stop buying things you’d use twice
  • Asks and Offers, so help is a post everybody sees
  • The shared calendar for group events, birthdays, and who’s out of town
  • What we can do, showing what your group covers and where the holes are

The rules. An invitation from any member gets you in. Nobody owes anybody anything. Leave whenever you want.

2

Exchange

Up to 40 people. Where most tribes will live.

“We actually do this for each other.”

Everything in Circle, plus

  • Hours. A quiet record of what’s been given and taken, so reciprocity finally has a memory. One hour is one hour.
  • Vouching. Members confirm the work they’ve actually seen. “Licensed” means somebody uploaded a license. “Experienced” means a neighbor watched him do it.
  • Availability. Say when you’re reachable. Saturdays before noon. Weeknights after seven.
  • Recurring Asks. The Tuesday dog walk, the weekly ride to dialysis, the standing help with homework.
  • Scheduling. Claim an Ask and it lands on both calendars with a reminder attached.
  • Library reservations. Book the truck for a weekend and see who else wants it.
  • Teach it. Offer to show somebody how to do the thing. Costs the same hours, and afterward the tribe has two people who can do it.

The rules. Ninety days in a Circle, then a majority of members invite you up.

3

Kin

Up to 20 people. Real promises, in writing.

“We’ve made promises.”

Everything in Exchange, plus

  • A written Charter. Your group’s own agreement. Who joins, how somebody leaves, what happens when two people fall out, what you’re not going to do together.
  • Standing commitments. Not favors. Thursday pickup every Thursday. The monthly elder visit, every month.
  • An emergency fund. Members put in a set amount. Any member can draw on it when something goes wrong. This is the first tier where money is involved at all, and it arrives once the group has written its Charter.
  • Break Glass. One tap when something terrible happens.
  • A way out, written down in advance. What you get back and when, decided while everyone is calm.

The rules. A ratified Charter, a supermajority vote, and a six month trial that expires on its own unless everyone renews it.

4

Covenant

Locked

There is a fourth tier. It asks for far more than the first three, and almost nobody will go there. We explain it at the very bottom of this page, for the few who want to know.

A group of twenty can share an emergency fund. Sixty can share a ladder. The room gets smaller as what you’re sharing gets bigger.

08

Hours

We don’t keep score.

The moment you put a price on your mother’s sewing, it stops being your mother sewing for you. That trade never goes back the other way. So Tribe doesn’t use money. It uses time. One hour is one hour, whoever spent it, with a small bump for licensed or genuinely dangerous work that never goes past double.

There is no leaderboard. There will never be a leaderboard. Your balance is yours to look at and nobody else’s.

When somebody has given a lot and asked for nothing, that usually means they could use some looking after. The app is the thing that notices.

9:41
Since JuneKin · 20

We don’t keep score

Hours, not dollars. No leaderboard, now or later.

Care signal · only you see this

Rosa has done six things for the tribe in two months and hasn’t asked for anything.

Check on her Post an Offer
The tribe, in balance
Rosa Wren
gave 19 · got 3
Marisol Okafor
gave 11 · got 9
You
gave 8 · got 14

One hour is one hour. Specialist multiplier caps at 2×.

MapAsksLedgerTableYou
09

Break Glass

One tap, when it’s bad.

A job ends. Somebody lands in the hospital. Somebody dies. A house floods. One tap tells the whole tribe and puts the response together before anybody has to think straight.

A job ends Somebody in the hospital A death A house floods
MealsA rota with real names in it
MoneyPledges against the emergency fund
ChildcareCovered, day by day
RidesAppointments and school runs
Everything elseThe dog, the lawn, the mail, the plants

The person in the middle of it shouldn’t have to make a list and ask for things one at a time. The tribe divides it up, and the small things get handled before anybody thinks to mention them.

Break Glass
10

Going deeper safely

We built the exit before the entrance.

Any group that gets people depending on each other can go wrong in the hands of somebody who wants control. “That won’t happen here” is just a promise, and promises are easy to make. These protections are built into how the thing works.

  • You can always leave.Nobody can stop you. It is not something the group gets to vote on.
  • Depth expires.Every deeper tier runs out on its own unless everyone actively renews it. In most groups, drifting along takes you further in. Here, drifting takes you back out.
  • The coordinator rotates.The job has a term limit. There are no permanent leaders.
  • You keep other people.You can belong to several Circles. Your whole life is never in one room.
  • Vesting is written down first.What you get back, and how fast, gets decided while everyone still likes each other.
11

How Tribe makes money

Never a cut of what you do for each other.

The better this works, the less money moves through it. Taking a percentage would mean charging you for the exact thing we’re trying to make easier, so we don’t.

Through organizationsChurches, unions, co-ops, veteran and military family groups, neighborhood aging-in-place networks
Groups pay by depthCircle is free and stays free
Extra servicesBackground checks, insurance, pointing you to a professional

Deeper tiers pay, because that’s where we’re doing real work: charters, funds, records, sorting out disagreements. Organizations already do all of this on paper and group texts, which is why they are the largest part of the picture.

12

What ships when

In order, on purpose.

01

Circle

Skills, the Library, Asks and Offers, the calendar, the map.

02

Exchange

Hours, vouching, scheduling, reservations.

03

Break Glass

The tribe shows up without being asked twice.

04

Kin

Charters, standing commitments, the emergency fund, and every piece of the way out.

05

Covenant

Last. Always last.

Read about it below

One group going wrong in public would end this permanently. So we earn the last tier by building everything underneath it first.

13

The last tier

Covenant.

Almost nobody will do this, and that is the correct number.

SizeUp to 20
VoteUnanimous
Before it startsOne full year

Covenant is up to twenty people who pool income and share it out by need. It requires a real legal entity, a unanimous vote, and a full year between the decision and the day it takes effect. A year, so that anyone who changes their mind has all the time in the world to say so, at no cost.

It exists because a small number of families and long standing groups genuinely want it, and have wanted it for a long time without any decent way to do it. It’s the far end of the ladder. Most tribes should never walk that far, and a tribe that stays in Circle for twenty years has used this exactly right.

If you’re the sort of person who reads to the bottom of the page, you’re the sort of person we’d talk to about it.

The people you already have.

9:41
← The Table Closes Sun 8pm
Tier vote · 4 of 4

Move to Covenant?

Income pooling at 12% of net, for a 90-day trial. All twenty of us or nobody.

Threshold 20 of 20
Trial 90 days
Expires 1 year
Voted so far 14 yes · 0 no · 6 waiting
Before you vote
You can leave at any time. Nobody can vote to stop you.
Covenant reverts to Kin in a year unless renewed.
Your vesting: 100% of contributions, returned over 6 months.
Read the Charter amendment (4 pages)
Vote yes Not yet
A single “not yet” holds the tier. That’s the design.
MapAsksLedgerTableYou