Our Story
PIF stands for Pay It Forward, the English expression for passing something forward without expecting anything in return. The hope is instead that the recipient will be inspired to pass on something else to a third person. If everyone forwards to more than one person, we start a positive spiral that can take the world by storm, all by giving more to each other. Dramatized in the movie with the same name.
Almost two years ago, Anne Lichtenstein started the Facebook group "Kungsholmen PIF" together with another resident of Kungsholmen in Stockholm. The purpose of the group was to pass on things you no longer need to someone who actually has a use for them - pay it forward! Everything from clothes and shoes to furniture, home furnishings, technology gadgets and much more. The group quickly became a success and during the roughly 1.5 years that the group has been active, tens of thousands of possessions have changed hands - just on Kungsholmen! What is striking to see in the group is the great joy found in the members and the obvious happiness of being able to give and receive, knowing that at the same time that you are making a contribution to the environment. An amazing bonus effect is the many relationships that members build with people in their neighborhood when they come together around a common purpose.
We also see a clear pattern in that those who have been members the longest also "dare" to pif increasingly valuable things. We believe it is because they are increasingly shifting their mindset from consumption and ownership to use and flow. That is, the value lies in the actual benefit to the user there and then and not in a paid purchase price. In addition, there is a trust in that what you pif will come back in the form of things you actually benefit from, as part of a constant flow, rather than static ownership.
At the beginning of October, we also started a corresponding Facebook group in Vasastan/Norrmalm in Stockholm. In just one month, the group grew to over 350 members. Now we are also in Södermalm/Gamla Stan and shortly we will start additional Facebook groups to quickly and efficiently continue to grow our community in the Stockholm area.
At the same time, we have identified many limitations in the Facebook format, as it is naturally not adapted for the purpose. When we release the PIF app, we will finally be able to offer the service to anyone regardless of geographic residence, with improved functionality and with the only requirement that you have access to a smart phone.
Join the movement - start piffing!