Time Banks

Time Banks = concept and organization

For the concept, see our entry on Time Banking

Organization

URL = http://www.timebanks.org/

Description

Judith D. Schwartz:

"Time Dollars, now used in settings as varied as small towns, retirement homes, schools, and prisons, respond to conventional currency’s limited capacity to measure worth. “Dollars don’t measure value very well,” says David Boyle, a Fellow at the New Economics Foundation in the United Kingdom. They are good, he says, at measuring “the instantaneous value of Microsoft or currencies on the international exchange. But not the value of, say, a local shop, or of me if I’m very old or young. I might have skills, but not those that are conventionally marketable.”

Time Dollars were developed in 1980 by law professor Edgar Cahn, who lamented that crucial work to improve people’s lives—such as child and elder care—is much needed but little valued. He saw that many who could do these tasks were idle and felt useless. To get people economically engaged, Cahn proposed a system where people earn credit according to the number of hours they work. These Time Dollars can then be “cashed in” for services, like yard work, tutoring, etc.

Not only does Time Banking promote social justice by connecting people, promoting reciprocity, and improving neighborhoods—it has also proved quite versatile: People have exchanged Time Dollars for wool spinning, “rune making,” and having a baby delivered by a midwife. And there’s always an ample supply since no community is going to run out of hours.

TimeBanks USA offers a start-up kit that includes instructions and software for starting a Time Bank anywhere. Rose-Marie Pelletier is working on launching a Time Bank in her town of Pownal, Vermont, an economically diverse rural community of 3,500. At a town meeting, Pelletier looked at the listings of delinquent taxes over recent years and saw that they had increased geometrically. She’s a math teacher, and the numbers spoke to her; she saw the extent to which people were hurting. “People want to help each other—when we know how to do it,” she says. “I see Time Banking as a way of building community, one hour at a time.” (http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=3504)

Mira Luna:

"Timebanks USA, a system of over 120 timebanks in the US and many other countries, was developed by activist lawyer Edgar Cahn as a way to help the underprivileged and underserved help each other through an organized system of reciprocity. Official Timebanks purchase software that provides a ready-made, standardized directory and accounting system of individuals, and sometimes nonprofits or government agencies, that are willing to provide services to their communities and receive help in return. Timebank coordinators help create matches between people who need things and others who can help meet those needs locally and enter completed transactions into the system. No money is involved and everyone’s hour is equal in this system, which is one of the features that enabled Timebanks to receive an official IRS income tax exemption declaration so people on disability, social security, unemployment and other government benefits can participate without penalty. The egalitarian nature of the system ensures that people will be able to purchase the services that they need without toiling endlessly for high priced services like in the market economy. People can also trade goods with the stipulation that their price be based on the amount of time involved in producing the goods and not their market value. Timebanks’ most successful application has been to provide a means for at-risk youth who have gone to court to do service for their community." (http://trustcurrency.blogspot.com/2009/11/time-exchanges-share-your-life-energy.html)

More Information

1. Report by the New Economics Foundation: the New Wealth of Time

On Time Banking

1. A Time Banking Video is accessible from the main page.
2. Time-based Currencies
3. http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/documents/CTP43StephensTimebanking.pdf

On Time Dollars

• The TimeKeeper Organization: What is the Time Dollar Network?, http://www.timekeeper.org/whatis.html. Information about what drives the Time Dollar and how it can benefit the economy.
• Time Dollar USA: http://www.timedollar.org/. An organization which works towards building local economies and communities that reward decency, caring, and a passion for justice through the Time Dollar system.
• Time Dollar Tutoring: http://www.timedollartutoring.org/. An organization which works with students by teaching them the Time Dollar system as a way of lending their time as tutors.
• San Antonio Community Connections Time Dollar: http://makingconnections.utsa.edu/mcsa/rgd/communityprojects/timedollar/timedollar.htm