By Pam de Ocampo | Project Leader
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:
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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