The Freecycle Network
The Freecycle Network logo
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| Abbreviation | TFN |
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| Motto | Changing the world one gift at a time |
| Formation | 1 May 2003 |
| Legal status | 501(c)3 |
| Purpose | Recycling |
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Region served
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121 countries |
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Membership
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6,880,991 |
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Founder, executive director
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Deron Beal |
| Website | www.freecycle.org |
The Freecycle Network (TFN, or Freecycle) is a nonprofit organization registered in Arizona and as a charity in the United Kingdom. TFN coordinates a worldwide network of "gifting" groups to divert reusable goods from landfills. The network provides a worldwide online registry, organizing the creation of local groups and forums for individuals and nonprofits to offer (and receive) free items for reuse or recycling and to promote a gift economy.
TFN originated as a project of RISE, a nonprofit corporation, to promote waste reduction in Tucson, Arizona. RISE then transferred the project to a newly founded nonprofit organization, the Freecycle Network, whose executive director (Deron Beal) was the initial project leader. Beal originated the first Freecycle email group for Tucson residents. The concept has spread to over 110 countries, with thousands of local groups and millions of members.
The organization began as a collection of Yahoo! Groups linked from freecycle.org. It has become a web-community platform on freecycle.org for all groups, which are run by local volunteers. TFN encourages the formation of new groups, subject to approval by regional new-group approvers. Groups approved by TFN are listed on the website, can use the TFN name and logo, and are subject to rules which are enforced by a network of global and regional group outreach assistance. As of March 2009, all new groups had to join freecycle.org's new-group system, which provides Freecycle-specific tools for local volunteer moderators and gives TFN oversight of individual groups. As of 2015, all local groups are listed on freecycle.org.
TFN has a global organization of over 4,000 local chapters, and passed the two-million-member mark in February 2006. In February 2014, its membership was 6,880,991 in 5,120 groups worldwide.
In February 2005, TFN accepted corporate support for the first time: $130,000 from Waste Management.
A notice of opposition was filed in federal court by FreecycleSunnyvale against the Freecycle Network in January 2006. An injunction was granted against Tim Oey in May 2006 for allegedly disparaging the TFN trademark. The injunction was stayed in July 2006 and dissolved by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in September 2007. To defend its trademark in 2006, TFN pursued other free recycling groups who used the word "freecycle" or allegedly had "confusingly similar derivations thereof".
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Wikipedia