Isn’t the whole point of mutual aid societies that they are made up of relatively similar people all helping each other out? This means that all can benefit, and they can use their knowledge of each other’s circumstances to provide more appropriate assistance. What you’re looking for sounds much more like traditional charity, which is indeed dominated by wealthy people. I recommend checking out GiveDirectly. They target the poorest people, and are probably also better equipped to prevent the misuse of funds.
I’m not sure it’s key to mutual aid that people are similar demographically, I’d say the key point of it is to share resources unconditionally. A traditional charity does not give unconditionally, as they gate-keep who is or isn’t ‘deserving’ enough of help (that’s not to say that traditional charities can’t do great work of course). Mutual aid also recognises that different people’s needs might be different: one person might need financial assistance to avoid eviction, another might need a second-hand mobility aid, and another might need a hot meal brought over a few times a week. So the aid is mutual, because the same people might be recipients of some types of aid and givers of others, if that makes sense.
Isn’t the whole point of mutual aid societies that they are made up of relatively similar people all helping each other out? This means that all can benefit, and they can use their knowledge of each other’s circumstances to provide more appropriate assistance. What you’re looking for sounds much more like traditional charity, which is indeed dominated by wealthy people. I recommend checking out GiveDirectly. They target the poorest people, and are probably also better equipped to prevent the misuse of funds.
I’m not sure it’s key to mutual aid that people are similar demographically, I’d say the key point of it is to share resources unconditionally. A traditional charity does not give unconditionally, as they gate-keep who is or isn’t ‘deserving’ enough of help (that’s not to say that traditional charities can’t do great work of course). Mutual aid also recognises that different people’s needs might be different: one person might need financial assistance to avoid eviction, another might need a second-hand mobility aid, and another might need a hot meal brought over a few times a week. So the aid is mutual, because the same people might be recipients of some types of aid and givers of others, if that makes sense.
GiveDirectly makes unconditional cash transfers so that sounds like what you are looking for?