Toolkit
The Time Banks UK toolkit provides tried and tested resources developed by
time bank practitioners throughout the UK.
Whether it's popping in to check on a neighbour or giving someone a lift to
the shops - giving your time can provide the impetus for much more. By
creating a local time bank with people living around you and measuring your
contribution you can create a virtual domino effect whereby those you help
will in turn pass this gift of time on.
Why do we need time banks? We want to live in places where we know our
neighbours and can call on them when we need help. Money can't buy us that
trust - but time banks can help provide support when we need it, and at the
same time, help us to get to know our neighbours. Time banks make the real
work of building communities and neighbourhoods count and by valuing the
time everyone has to give, time banks make sure no-one's skills are
wasted.
So here's a quick ten-step guide to creating a time bank of your own.
- Look around you - find a place where people are. It could be a
school, hospital, housing estate, older people's centre. Anywhere which
needs the active participation of the people who learn, live and work there
to really thrive.
- Be creative - explore what people want doing and create a vision
of where you want to get to together. It might be an after-school club or a
community- clean up. Make sure you tap into people's priorities before you
get going. Keep focussed, this way you will build on local enthusiasm and
support - the most important ingredients.
- Make the right connections. Talk to potential partners and
explore local initiatives - people who share your concerns will want to
support the project with money or in kind by donating space, office
equipment or volunteer support.
To get started you need a co-ordinator, a phone line, basic office equipment
and basic running costs (postage, heat and light etc) plus insurance to
cover your members when they are earning their time credits. Make sure to
add into the equation the time contribution local people will be making
through the bank. Possible sources of funding include local health and
regeneration initiatives as well as charitable trusts.
- Find a base where your co-ordinator can set up the time bank and
install the Timekeeper software which matches people's needs and keeps track
of their time (you can download this free from our
software page).
Create a tangible presence for the time bank and make it easy for people to
see you and the difference you are making.
- Start small - Five or six people are enough to get going. These
could be your friends, people from a local tenant's association, people you
meet in the doctor's waiting room or parents and teachers from your local
school. Show people what is achievable immediately by getting active -
together, through a community clean-up or a garden tidy for elderly people.
Working as a team is an ideal way for people to get to know and trust each
other.
- Explore with members where their skills and talents lie - and
also where they might need some help. Instead of remembering all the things
people can't do be radical and ask people what they can do. Then
help them to do it!
- Get active and involved by using the energy and talents they are
offering immediately. Link them up with people who need their help.
Support and train your members this way you share the knowledge that's
needed with the people who know best.
Use members ideas for new initiatives and get them to bring their family and
friends along. Encourage them by offering them time credits for each new
member they recruit to the time bank.
Make sure your members are part of the day-to-day management and development
of the time bank so that they can tell you what is going wrong and right -
and help you fix it. Make sure members feel safe by taking up references and
running regular training sessions.
- Make your time bank enterprising by getting local charities and
businesses to sponsor you or donate unwanted goods (food, clothes,
furniture) - anything you can re-cycle through the time bank.
- Measure the difference. What difference is your time bank making
to the local community? The indicators you choose (levels of bullying,
transfers off the estate or older people being admitted to hospital) is up
to you, but the evidence is vital to demonstrate to your supporters that
they can't afford to be without you.
Get the message out there, show people what a radical difference you can
make by involving everyone in the production of the things they need most -
a helping hand, a listening ear, good friends and neighbours.
- Be part of the Time Banks UK Network and benefit from regular
updates and training. Don't re-invent the wheel, join the
network.
Time banks don't use real pounds and pence money. Instead they encourage
people to make deposits and withdrawals of their time.
In a time bank, participants earn credits for helping each other - one hour
of your time entitles you to an hour of someone else's time.
Credits are
deposited centrally in a time bank and withdrawn when you need help yourself.
Help is exchanged through a broker who links people up and keeps a record
of transactions through the Timekeeper software.
Unlike real money, anyone and everyone can earn time credits - no-one is
excluded. Almost everybody - young or old - has something to offer, from
making supportive phone calls to neighbours to running small errands. Most
importantly, everyone's time is worth the same.
Government ministers have ruled that time credits - earned by helping out
in your local community via a time bank - should be disregarded by the
Benefits Agency (See Time Banks UK Newsletter, Issue June 2000 for full
details of the ruling). This follows on from a decision in August 1999 that
time credits are tax exempt.
Top Tips for Making it Happen
- Involve participants in creating the vision and setting the
goals.
- Make the evaluation an ongoing process. Have a space for people
to write up their feedback and suggestions. This could be a flip chart on
the wall with the different topics, for example - Goals, What's happening,
Achievements and Ideas for making the project even better.
- Integrate the evaluation into regular group activities so that
participants can feed into the evaluation process.
- Use your experiences to inspire other time bankers by sharing
what you have learnt through the Time Banks UK Network.
Time Banking PowerPoint
presentation (174kb)
Time Banks UK display
for events - just add your own photos and stories (40kb Word document)
We provide:
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