Local
Maryland nonprofits trade equipment and supplies through SWAP network
A resource-sharing platform launched in Howard County is helping nonprofits find what they need by offering something another organization can use. Baltimore Community ToolBank has used it to obtain phones and pass along a television.
A digital exchange is helping Maryland nonprofits share equipment and supplies as they work with limited staff and budgets.
The platform, called SWAP — short for Sharing With a Purpose — lets organizations list resources they can provide and needs they hope to fill. Nonprofits must offer something to participate in exchanges, said co-creator Jen Pazour, an engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The project began with a pilot in Howard County in 2021. Pazour and fellow RPI engineering professor Andy Trapp developed the system to help organizations make better use of resources already available across their communities.
Baltimore Community ToolBank, which supplies tools to community groups, is among the Maryland organizations using SWAP. Noah Smock of ToolBank USA said local teams often have just three to five core staff members and rely heavily on volunteers.
The ToolBank obtained used iPhones through the platform to collect digital signatures. In another exchange, it offered a 32-inch television to a group that needed one and was preparing to buy a new set.
Smock said the exchanges have also helped organizations build more purposeful connections. The platform, he said, can reveal that one nonprofit’s surplus is another’s unmet need — such as a tool warehouse having equipment but lacking office supplies.
SWAP is expanding beyond Maryland, with new groups forming in Kentucky and the Denver area. Its organizers say the model is intended to help participating nonprofits extend the reach of what they already have by making exchanges with one another.