To attract new «sharers» and raise awareness of sharing, not owning things as a new sustainable business philosophy, last Wednesday, a new non-profit grassroots organization Peers was launched in the U.S., aimed to mainstream, protect and grow the sharing economy. 

Apart from helping individuals share their homes, cars and other resources more effectively, the newly founded platform will function as a body that protects the interests of the largest peer-to-peer service providers currently dominating the market, such as AirBnB, Lyft, Taskrabbit and Vayable amongst its 22 launch partners.

Peers states that we are now witnessing the rise of what’s called «the sharing economy movement». It drives the community life to a new level, where people help others do what they can and when they can, and get the help back when they need it and in the form they require it. The Peers.org website explains how shared economy contributes to improving lives on the community, national and global level. For instance, it states that hosts who share their homes in San Francisco make on average $5,000 YR, and up to 27% of U.S. CO2 emissions can potentially be reduced by sharing the cars. The focus here is on accessing things that are already owned without buying them, which will make lives more affordable, more social, and less wasteful.

The non-profit encourages the international audience to join the movement as Founding Peers by sending in basic personal data and the story why they share. Peers will connect the members to important sharing economy activity in their local surroundings when they emerge. In the first two days after the launch, 7,500 peers joined the movement, contributing 2,800 personal stories of sharing.