main image

Timebanks

BACE logo

Got more time than money? We've got the bank for you!

The Community Living Campaign is lending its support to the Bay Area Community Exchange (BACE) who has started a TimeBank that taps the wealth of time and experience of the City's residents. Want to help? Call the Community Living Campaign at 415.821.1003 or go to www.bace.org.

What is Time Banking All About?

At its most basic level, Time banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community. That hour goes into the Time Bank as a Time Dollar. Then you have a Time dollar to spend on having someone doing something for you. It's a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.

Each Time Bank has a website where you list what you would like to do for other members. You look up Time Bank services online or call a community coordinator to do it for you. You earn Time Dollars after each service you perform and then you get to spend it on whatever you want from the listings.

With Time Banking, you will be working with a small group of committed individuals who are joined together for a common good. It connects you to the best in people because it creates a system that connects unmet needs with untapped resources. It is especially rewarding to see what happens, because the members help make it run.

Time Banks exist to promote exchanges that honor five core values:

  • Assets - We are all assets. Every human being has something to contribute.
  • Redefining Work - Some work is beyond price. Work has to be redefined to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice, and make the planet sustainable. That kind of work needs to be honored, recorded and rewarded.
  • Reciprocity - Helping works better as a two-way street. The question: "How can I help you?" needs to change so we ask: "How can we help each other build the world we both will live in?"
  • Social Networks - We need each other. Networks are stronger than individuals. People helping each other reweave communities of support, strength & trust. Community is built upon sinking roots, building trust, creating networks. Special relationships are built on commitment.
  • Respect - Every human being matters. Respect underlies freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and everything we value. Respect supplies the heart and soul of democracy. When respect is denied to anyone, we all are injured. We must respect where people are in the moment, not where we hope they will be at some future point.