Category Archives: Community

A small group held an initial meeting in Oxford on 1 March 2012 to discuss how to get timebanking started in Oxfordshire. This led to more questions and I’ve followed up with practitioners from other timebanks. This blog entry addresses 2 of the questions:

1. Could valuing community activity with time credits devalue the goodwill that volunteers feel?
2. How do you ensure safety of vulnerable people?
3. Is it any different from LETS?

Could valuing community activity with time credits devalue the goodwill that volunteers feel?

• Many people join timebanking out of a volunteering spirit and are not doing it to get something in return. People who do not want anything in return for their volunteering donate their credits to the timebank and this often happens. These credits can then be given out to particular groups such as people nearing the end of life or new members.
• Reciprocity is encouraged in timebanking but not enforced in the timebanks that I have spoken to. Some timebanks find that some people always request things without asking for help in return.
• Timebanks aim to include people who would not normally be involved with community volunteering because the benefits of participation are of particular relevance to socially excluded people (Cahn, 2000). Timebanking leads to expansion of community activityby encouraging the involvement of those on the margins of the conventional economy – the jobless, those in low-income households, the retired etc. It reaches people and activities that normal volunteering does not reach such as people who are isolated or with high needs. In a survey carried out by a London timebank, 40% answered “No” to “have you done volunteering before?”
• Timebanking is very flexible which is important as some people living on the margins can have up and down days and may not always turn up. The services exchanged typically include companionship, giving lifts, telephone support, sharing skills, small DIY jobs, gardening, dog-walking etc. These are typically tasks that are not relevant to formal volunteering where organisations need consistent commitment of a set amount of time from volunteers.

How do you ensure safety of vulnerable people? Are CRB checks required?

• Timebanks can and do carry out CRB checks where necessary, for example for work with vulnerable children and adults. But they emphasise that they try to avoid situations where CRB checks are needed as they are a major barrier, breaking down trust, taking up to 8 weeks which discourages new members. CRB checks are not needed for many activities.
• Timebanks get lots of questions about the risks but so far no one has had a serious problem of stealing or assault. The only problem I have heard of was theft of a mobile phone which was soon recovered by people in the community. The types of people who are interested in timebanking “are not dodgy”.
• Activities such as babysitting may not be offered in timebanking. Instead, one timebank offered activities for parents and children to come to. Parents may meet people who they grow to trust through timebanking, but they are unlikely to accept child minding services from a stranger, no matter whether they are CRB checked.
• Timebanks typically take up references in the community (eg two people of standing such as their GP). Often new members come recommended by those already in the network.
• Timebanks focus on building up trust. In very local schemes everyone lives locally and knows one other.
• The broker role is very important. Successful schemes have a broker who matches people well. They need to get to know members, have an initial chat with each new member for about one hour (can involve existing members in this), and find out what they are interested in offering and receiving. The broker needs to be sensitive to the needs of each person.
• The broker needs to use good judgement in matching people and know which people are vulnerable and need a different approach. One broker always goes with a new member to their first exchange and follows up afterwards to find out how it went. Another always ensures that any timebank service is provided at a time that a support worker is with a vulnerable recipient.

How is it different from LETS?

• Timebanking is essentially similar to alternative currency schemes such as LETS, and began from the same movement in the 1990s. In Oxford a LETS began in 1992 and grew to almost 700 members which was the largest in the country at that time.
• However, time credits are not particularly useful as a currency as they are not fully exchangeable. They are a tool for encouraging neighbourly interactions and are unlikely to be used for things that people can earn money for.
• In timebanking there is no ambiguity on value. 1 hour given = 1 hour received. Some LETS systems equated their unit of currency to time but not all. However, in many timebanking schemes members can also exchange time credits for goods and services from organisations. This requires a decision about how many hours something is worth. The goods and services offered are often spare capacity and/or things that meet the organisations’ objectives. Examples of goods and services offered by organisations within timebank networks are discounted theatre tickets (spare seats which haven’t been sold), or use of meeting rooms or of a leisure centre at times they are not much used.
• All of the timebank practitioners I have spoken to emphasised that the broker plays a very active role. There is a paid person (or sometimes a volunteer) at the centre of each timebank who interviews and gets to know members, and matches people requesting time with suitable people offering time. The timebank brokers are involved in every exchange. The administrator role was the focal point of LETS schemes as well but exchanges were facilitated at one remove by regular mailings of offers and requests, newsletters and trading days.

References:

Fair Shares Gloucester

Timebanking UK

Rushey Green TImebanking

Newsome Ward Timebanking

Timebanking is a system of reciprocal exchange based on time. Everyone’s time is equal: 1 hour = 1 hour. Neighbours provide services for neighbours and in turn request services from others in the network. Participants decide what they can offer and what they need. A coordinator matches requests/offers.

Timebank UK video clips of timebanks show how it works and why people value it.

Other useful references are

• “No More Throw-away People: The Co-production Imperative” (Edgar S. Cahn 2000)
• “Your Money or Your Life: Time for Both” (Martin Simon) and
• “Right Here, Right Now: Taking co-production into the mainstream” (David Boyle, NEF 2010) http://neweconomics.org/publications/right-here-right-now