barter better

Barter Better is a digital marketplace and exchange platform built to help you trade valuable goods and services without the need for currency, with people within your local neighborhood or through virtual services online. Think Nextdoor meets Facebook Marketplace meets Couchsurfing. Where community spaces, intentional trading, and mutual trust come together to create a bartering experience that not only creates an optional pathway for wealth building, but also builds lasting relationships too.

Barter Better is not just any other bartering app. We have a strict commitment to prohibiting any use or mention of currencies on the platform and do not back any exchanges to any type of currency or point system. Trades occur based on the perceived value agreed upon between two people, and the use of this next era power of AI to do the matching for you. Trades in-person can only occur at a local level within close distances to foster supportive communities and build immediate resilience through establishing new connections. We aim to build an app that not only connects people to trade but also does so in an ethical, accessible, and environmentally supportive manner.

We are planning to launch both the site and app to the public in early 2027. Our goal for 2026 and leading up to an official launch is to pilot the beta version of the product to small communities (both in-person and online), and crowdfund $100,000 through community outreach, government grants, and private investments which will help us use the money to hire a stand-out, purpose-driven team to enhance the initial product and market this much-needed service to the world with as much impact and visibility as possible.

The founder of the International Barter Foundation and Barter Better is Morgan Blackman. An online educator, writer, DIY investor, entrepreneur, and speaker who has been helping empower women over the past 5+ years to build wealth in a way that aligns with their vision and values, so that they can finally feel good about the life they are living. She has a B.A. in International Development with a concentration in Political Economies and Administrative Change, and prior to starting her own business, worked for a not-for-profit focused on a family-centered approach to ending global poverty with food security, peace and justice, economic livelihood, and health.

We really want to say: everyone. But the truth is, the people who will find this app useful are a small minority of those who truly want to build a world where everyone can get what they want. They believe in building wealth together through community, and not a winner-takes-all approach. They believe that there is always enough to go around and that people are inherently good. They understand that Capitalism isn't the answer, and frankly, relying on any one system to create resourcefulness. They want options in a world that tells them there is only one way to feed, house, and support their family, and that's through participating in any one restrictive or competitive monetary system. Our app will be filled with people who are the changemakers, philanthropists, creative entrepreneurs, thrifters, environmentalists, intuitive healers, coaches, activists, artists, those who need a break, and those who believe that one cannot thrive unless we are all taken care of.