Economic Growth United States Project #29425

Help Empower Timebank Communities Around the World

by Time Dollar Institute, Inc. dba TimeBanks.Org

Project Report | Jun 6, 2019
A Time for Celebrations

By Pam de Ocampo | Project Leader

Timebanking in Spain

Greetings from Washington, DC!

It’s been a beautiful Spring this year over here, and we have exciting news to share with you since we last wrote in December.

Timebank Anniversaries

Just over a month ago, the Banco del Tiempo led the 20^th anniversary celebration of timebanking in Spain. Pictured above is Belen Alvarez, timebank coordinator, and timebanking founder Edgar Cahn at dinner in Madrid during the celebration. Born almost blind, Belen is a timebank coordinator in love with timebanking and the way it has opened opportunities for her and so many others by valuing all that people have to give. Timebanking was brought to Spain in 1999 by Elvira Mendez, initially as part of the women’s movement during a time when the country was recovering from Franco’s fascist government. Elvira was inspired by timebanking’s emphasis on people’s strengths and its way of supporting families through community ties that grow through giving and receiving. It’s exciting to see that 20 years later, the timebank is holding strong in the Spanish community. Go to our Instagram page by clicking on the link below to see more from the 20^th year celebration.

After joining the celebration in Spain, TimeBanks USA’s Edgar Cahn and Christine Gray headed over to Southwest England, where the Fair Shares timebank, the oldest timebank in the UK, turned 21 years old! They met with friends, Martin Simon, who started Fair Shares and then went on to lead Timebanking UK, and Sarah Bird, who is now Timebanking UK’s CEO. It was a sunny day with a chill April wind, a great time catching up in the “outdoor office” of Timebanking UK in Stroud, with its small garden, pictured below. Edgar and Christine also had a chance to catch up with old friend, David Boyle, author of the book, “Funny Money”, who introduced timebanking to London 21 years ago as well. Recently, David convened a meeting on Co-Production with students and clinicians at London South Bank University.

Closer to home, the Phoenixville Area Timebank proudly celebrated their 15^th anniversary in April. Current board chair, Diana Baldi, celebrated the work of founders Joel Bartlett and Margo Ketchum, and thanked them for their dedicated leadership over the years. To date, the timebank has exchanged over 41,000 hours!

First Annual International Timebanking Day

With all that is happening with the timebank movement in different pockets of the world, the global movement held its first international timebanking day this year – a day that we all get to celebrate together worldwide – on March 23rd, birthday of timebanking founder Edgar Cahn. People everywhere shared their stories of how using time as currency has impacted their lives and redefined their understanding of the words, “stranger”, “work”, and “value”. Lenore Eklund, who made the documentary film, “Time as Money”, shared:

"Today is the first International Timebanking Day! Timebanking was something I got involved in when I was living in Los Angeles. I loved the concept that everyone had something to offer no matter what. Services were traded for time dollars, a currency with no scarcity. I earned time dollars doing yard work, being a dog nanny and even jumping out of closets to surprise guests at a Halloween party. I spent time dollars to have someone watch my bird while I was away, getting rides to the airport and so many things to put together our wedding.

I was so fascinated by time banking and the awesome community around it, I put together a documentary about it. I often think about the core values of time banking being at home with a medically complex child over the last 2 and a half years. Not being able to work or give has been incredibly hard on me. But then I remind myself that the work that I do caring for, advocating and supporting Charlee has such a deeper value.

So much gratitude to everyone we met through this community and to founder, Edgar Cahn and Christine Gray and all their work they do with TimeBanks USA.

#timebankingday”

Edgar also celebrated #timebankingday by launching a weekly series of podcasts, reflecting on the 50 timebanking stories that TimeBanks USA collected from timebankers. Listen to Edgar’s reflections by clicking on the link below.

So many stories shared, each one a reminder of why we do what we do at TimeBanks USA, supporting timebanks around the world, giving them the tools to create community and building a network of support for the worldwide movement.

We thank you again for helping us create limitless possibilities for communities in different parts of the world with your support.

Thank you for being the kind of person who not only cares, but cares enough to take action. Your contribution puts in motion an intangible gift that speaks to the core of being human and of honoring each individual’s inherent value. Please take time to consider the depth and breadth of your contribution the next time you choose to contribute, and know that you are making an impactful difference in our world. We are eternally grateful for your support.

Timebanking in UK

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Dec 18, 2018
Receiving Support from the Timebank Community

By Pam de Ocampo | Project Leader

Planting bulbs in the Fall

Here we are at the end of the year. This year went flying and just like that, winter is approaching in this northern hemisphere. It’s a good time, we hope, to bring you this update on our progress.

First off, we hope you enjoy these photos from the garden of timebanking founder, Edgar Cahn. For Edgar, it is so much more than “just a garden”. It is, every year, a story of investment, emergence, flowering, growth, and a gift from him to the community.

The garden speaks so much of what timebanking is and how the year 2018 has unfolded for the timebank community.

This has been a fruitful year for TimeBanks USA. We took big steps towards assuring the financial sustainability of the organization, so that the timebank movement would continue to grow and be supported.

Your contributions helped us establish a new revenue stream to help pay for the costs of Community Weaver timebanking software - a shared resource provided by TimeBanks USA that facilitates the time exchanges and community building - through the new fee structure.

Implementing the New Fee Structure

Since 2015, we have provided timebanks with Community Weaver timebanking software at no charge -- and moving over to being fee-based in 2018 has been a significant change. We implemented the new fee structure over the summer when we last wrote to you, and the show of support from timebanks has been uplifting. Here’s one of many supportive messages that came with payments: "WITH LOVE! (Sent a check so you don't have to pay PayPal fees)", wrote Stacey, a longtime timebank leader.

As of today, 66 timebanks have sent $14,450 to help cover software costs for the last six months of 2018. We are now preparing to send invoices for the next 6 months, continuing to move towards sustainability, and want to thank you for your support in making this possible.

Together, Building Caring Economies

The support coming from our timebank community through their payments is integral to keeping the infrastructure that timebanks rely upon to continue building local caring economies where everyone - across differences in income, race, religion, age, gender, or ideology - is valued.

We want to share with you an example of this great work, which comes from the West Seattle Timebank. When anti-semitism reared up in the community, timebank members stepped up in the true spirit of the core values of timebanking to organize a local community demonstration of unity, followed by scrubbing clean the defacing anti-semitic spray-painted messages. Click on the link at the bottom of this email to read more.

THANK YOU TO ALL

To you our donor, thank you for making this work possible. And to our timebank communities, a big thanks for making your CW payments and helping support the software. If you are among the coordinators who made additional donations on your own, we are adding an extra thank you. We appreciate the work you do every day, nurturing your communities like a garden.

From the home of timebanking, it is amazing to hear the stories of individual lives transformed, watch your timebanks grow, and see your communities bloom.

To quote TBUSA leader, Christine Gray, "What a great metaphor for Timebanking. So often, so hard to predict. So often, so amazingly magical and transformative. It takes leadership. It takes work. It takes vision. But if the investment is true, the results are amazing."

Sincerely,

The TimeBanks USA Team

Peonies in the Spring

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Aug 15, 2018
Big changes at TimeBanks USA this summer!

By Pam de Ocampo | Project Leader

The Nether-Swarthmore TimeBank's Leadership Team

Happy August from the TimeBanks USA Team in sweltering Washington, DC! Summer is in full swing over here with the hot and humid air.

It’s now almost a year since we launched the crowdfund campaign in September 2017 – an effort to strengthen the supports for people and organizations who are rebuilding their communities with the use of time as currency.

So much has changed since then! We’re happy to report on our progress.

In-person connections that are at the heart of timebanking happen with the help of timebanking software. In today’s modern age, online software makes it that much easier to connect with the people in your community, find the help you need, let people know what you can give, and track the hours you have exchanged. Software provides so much value but it also costs money to maintain and improve for the continued use of timebanking communities across the US and New Zealand.

Your contribution to our GlobalGiving campaign has enabled TimeBanks USA to chart a path towards a sustainable future for the timebank movement, including the sustainability of Community Weaver (CW) software which is integral to running a timebank.

We reached out to the leaders of our community of timebanks through a survey and had several community-wide discussions over the phone to weigh the different options put forward for how timebank communities would help sustain the costs of CW timebanking software. The feedback from timebank coordinators was rich and extensive. This process has made one thing clear: to sustain the timebank community, we needed to make a change!

After all the voices were heard, we finally arrived at the community’s majority choice: timebanks would help pay for the costs of the software by paying fees based on the size of their membership. As one timebank coordinator expressed, “Set fees help timebanks plan for expenses and fold into their budgets.”

We are excited to share that we are now rolling out that change!

This summer, the first invoices will be going out to timebanks. Twelve timebanks have already sent their payments in advance! Abby, a longtime timebank leader who made the first payment and has always been on the forefront, wrote, “We can turn a drop into a stream.”

That stream is starting to build. We are heading towards a community-supported movement and it’s exciting for us to share this forward motion with you.

Thank you for being part of our journey by contributing to the infrastructure that timebanks rely upon to build their local communities. We hope you will continue supporting our work.

We’d like to end again with the 5 core values that timebanking stands for, as we did in our last update to you, because they are such great reminders of the kind of world we want to live in and are creating:

Everyone has something to give
Family, community, and home are real work that counts
Receiving is as powerful as giving: It’s a two-way street!
We are not alone, we have each other, we are a community
True respect builds decency, caring, and a passion for justice

Sincerely,

The TimeBanks USA Team

P.S. Also we will soon be launching the first of a series of trainings called “Gathering With A Purpose” to help new timebanks find their footing faster. We’re looking forward to sharing more about that next time.

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