Photo by Naassom Azevedo
April 2024
Our TimeBanks.Org Chats-On-A-Bench are held monthly on the third Sunday of the month from 4 pm to 5 pm Eastern US time. Here’s our standard format:
- Welcome
- TImebanking’s 5 core values – a quick rundown.
- Breakout session – “What would you like to share with each other?”
- Whole group sharing – drawing on topics from the breakouts.
The Opening: Welcome and The Core Values
The Core Values: 1. All people as assets; 2. See, value and count as real work what it takes to build strong homes, families, and community; 3. Reciprocity -- Valuing receiving as well as giving leads to a community rooted in trust; 4. Connection & Kindness -- We all need them!; 5. Mutual respect -- underlies everything our well-being on every front.
Chat-On-A-Bench, April 19, 2024
The large group conversation waded into some of the avenues that come up with timebanking:
- “TimeBank”: Is that label confusing?
- TimeBanks and their governance
- “Dunbar’s Number” and why it’s important to know!
- TimeBanks.Org and the Sociocracy Approach to Governance
- Should family members record hours for services done between them?
- How important is it to record hours?
- Timebanking in the international context of our times
The “TimeBank” Label
Money and the way that we relate to one another through money are what we are all familiar with – but time credits are not the same! Which can turn them into a puzzle sometimes.
Several of us felt that the word “bank” in timebank does lead people to think that it’s like money terms. A name that emphasizes the exchange of time or services like “Time Exchange” or “Service Exchange” can help members more quickly take on board that timebanking is asking people to give and receive services in time.
TimeBanks and Governance
Governance in its most general sense applies to the way in which groups, organizations and governments make and enforce decisions and rules. The idea that we have to pay attention to the kind of governance we create for a group or an organization has grown in recent times, and old forms that people used to take for granted are being questioned and exchanged for new ones that are more in line with a group or organization’s mission and goals.
This is true for TimeBanks.
Dunbar’s Number and TimeBank Governance
Dunbar’s number gives an explanation for why and when timebanks need to pay attention to governance. It is named after a sociologist who saw that small groups or communities get along just fine without formal rules because the members of the group can develop and communicate their expectations of good behavior through direct contact and they can easily come together to enforce them when needed. However, when a group gets over a certain number, direct communication no longer works. A more formal system of governance has to be created.
Some timebanks stay below the threshold of needing a formal governance system, but most aspire to be bigger, and then the big question is how to create a governing system that works well for the timebank.
TimeBanks.Org and the Sociocracy Approach to Governance
Under the leadership of Krista Wyatt and one of its Board members, Mike Strode, TimeBanks.Org is shifting its governance model from the traditional, governing-board model for nonprofits to a circle-based model called sociocracy, which by design is participatory, democratic, and transparent.
Sociocracy was developed originally by the Quakers. Many co-ops use it. Sociocracy has a central governing circle which is made up of representatives from circles that are each concerned with organizing specific aspects of the mission; things like membership, fundraising, finances, compliance with state and federal laws. Every circle shares the same operating principles so that principles like transparency and equality occur naturally.
Timebanks have mostly appointed Working Boards whose members take on the decision-making of the timebank and carry out its work.The decision was made by the TimeBanks.Org’s Board to shift over to the sociocratic model of governance because its operating principles feel more aligned with timebanking than the traditional non-profit approach, which vests authority in a few people. Mike Strode has experience in this model, and Krista has been taking training in it. As we learn to operate this new approach, TimeBanks.Org will be sharing that knowledge and experience with timebanks.
The “Two Sisters” Stories and Time Credits Between Family Members
A story came up about two sisters, one of whom helped the other, and then asked for time credits. The sister receiving help said yes, but was troubled by the request. Surely family members are meant to help one another as part of their caring for one another as family. Isn’t it commodifying their time to count the time they give in helping one another?
That question led to a mixed response!
One person noted that in many cases of timebank exchange – and this sounded like one of them – both people get something out of the exchange, so why not reflect that in the allocation of time credits and give each person half of the total?
But another person saw that as barter. Adding time credits to a transaction where each person benefits is, in IRS terms, a taxable act because it was done in the context of giving and receiving services between themselves. Timebanking, he said, is different because it involves paying it forward. You receive a service from one person who uses the time credits you give them to get services from someone else – and as that chain of services expands, it builds community.
And another person felt that there is the difference between sisterhood and community which applies to time credits earned. Members of a family do know each other’s strengths and capacities but community members don’t – they have to gain that knowledge through the timebank. That’s the purpose of the timebank, and recording the hours helps to build a stronger, more resilient community. An example: that person’s children has “visited” through Zoom with the members of a Youth TimeBank in Uganda. As a result, they have been learning about the economic conditions and struggles of children in that country and how they are rising to the occasion to meet them. They would never have learned this without the timebank, and the hours exchanged are building a new and different kind of community for her children that stretches across continents.
The discussion led to another story between sisters who belong to a timebank together. In this case, one sister has long-covid and is suffering from fatigue so badly that she can only converse for a few minutes at a time on the phone. So, based on what they have learned about the five core principles of timebanking, they have agreed to give equal time to one another on the phone. So if the ill sister can manage only 5 minutes talking, the other sister will reciprocate with five minutes. Every one of the five core principles comes into operation. The exchanges are profoundly meaningful for them both, and adding up and recording the time they have spent together over the course of several days or a week highlights the value that each has given to the other.
This whole discussion raised the question: How important is it to record the hours?
Recording the Hours – How Important?
Most felt that it’s important because it’s such an essential signal that shows what kinds of activities are going on between membership. Recording the hours means that other members can see what’s possible. It serves as a model as well as an indicator of the timebank’s activity, impact, and presence in a world that is mostly focused on money.
One person pointed out that even more important than the number of hours exchanged is the number of transactions that take place.
TimeBanking in the International Context of our Times
Another concern that came up in the Chat was how much our world these days is suffering from isolation, lack of trust, lack of community spreading across the globe more generally. There’s a huge need for connection, not just locally, but internationally, too. And timebank exchanges can help generate that in two ways. One way is to have cross-country internet based exchanges. The other is to form international networks whose members exchange knowledge and skills in a particular area, such as urban farming.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of TimeBanks.Org, TimeBanks, or Timebank members.
