Hi. One of the members of Cowork Frederick brought TimeBanks to my attention. I’m wondering if anyone has used it or something like it for their coworking communities.
At first I was super-excited about the concept, especially the aspects of everyone having something of value to offer, the non-monetary economics of every hour of work having the same value (one hour), and the changing of “How can I help you?” to: “Will you help someone too?”. I immediately wanted to do something like this for our coworking community.
Then I began to have reservations that putting such an exchange in place would lead people to start thinking of everything as a trade, a transaction, instead of freely giving. I grew concerned that people would expect something in return (eventually) and if they never got it would be resentful.
Then again, some of our members have already come to me and mentioned that they spent time helping another member, time they would normally get paid for, and they wished there was some way of recognizing that. And, I suspect we have “takers” in our community, people who get a lot from others and rarely give back. Creating a structure would let them know they are expected to help others when they are helped. while providing a way people with little money reciprocate. A person who gets an hour of consultation from an attorney might give back by spending an hour cleaning the break room.
So, that brings me back to my question: In past GCUC’s, there was talk of “Pay It Forward Walls” and the like. I don’t hear much about it anymore. Has anyone in this group tried something like TimeBanks or any other way of provide a structure for giving of our time and skills? If so, I’d love to hear about it.
Never used it but thought a lot about it and would love to love to hear responses as well.
We had a group of about 5 members who started one themselves. They had already become friends and knew they had complimentary services. I don’t think they even knew what a time bank was; they just liked the idea of trading services with each other. They just set up a spreadsheet and I think everyone started with a couple free hours and they started trading each other for work. For them it worked great. One of them showed it to me just because he was really excited about how well it was working and thought I might want to start it for everyone in the space.
If you’re looking for a system, you might want to contact Nate Heasley from Goodnik.org (it’s a platform and virtual currency specifically for time banks). He’s worked with some coworking spaces and at least was very open to the idea of setting up an internal time bank system using Goog Nickels for coworking spaces.
On Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 9:53:36 AM UTC-4, Julia Ferguson wrote:
Hi. One of the members of Cowork Frederick brought TimeBanks to my attention. I’m wondering if anyone has used it or something like it for their coworking communities.
At first I was super-excited about the concept, especially the aspects of everyone having something of value to offer, the non-monetary economics of every hour of work having the same value (one hour), and the changing of “How can I help you?” to: “Will you help someone too?”. I immediately wanted to do something like this for our coworking community.
Then I began to have reservations that putting such an exchange in place would lead people to start thinking of everything as a trade, a transaction, instead of freely giving. I grew concerned that people would expect something in return (eventually) and if they never got it would be resentful.
Then again, some of our members have already come to me and mentioned that they spent time helping another member, time they would normally get paid for, and they wished there was some way of recognizing that. And, I suspect we have “takers” in our community, people who get a lot from others and rarely give back. Creating a structure would let them know they are expected to help others when they are helped. while providing a way people with little money reciprocate. A person who gets an hour of consultation from an attorney might give back by spending an hour cleaning the break room.
So, that brings me back to my question: In past GCUC’s, there was talk of “Pay It Forward Walls” and the like. I don’t hear much about it anymore. Has anyone in this group tried something like TimeBanks or any other way of provide a structure for giving of our time and skills? If so, I’d love to hear about it.
On Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 9:14:48 AM UTC-4, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace wrote:
Never used it but thought a lot about it and would love to love to hear responses as well.
We had a group of about 5 members who started one themselves. They had already become friends and knew they had complimentary services. I don’t think they even knew what a time bank was; they just liked the idea of trading services with each other. They just set up a spreadsheet and I think everyone started with a couple free hours and they started trading each other for work. For them it worked great. One of them showed it to me just because he was really excited about how well it was working and thought I might want to start it for everyone in the space.
If you’re looking for a system, you might want to contact Nate Heasley from Goodnik.org (it’s a platform and virtual currency specifically for time banks). He’s worked with some coworking spaces and at least was very open to the idea of setting up an internal time bank system using Goog Nickels for coworking spaces.
On Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 9:53:36 AM UTC-4, Julia Ferguson wrote:
Hi. One of the members of Cowork Frederick brought TimeBanks to my attention. I’m wondering if anyone has used it or something like it for their coworking communities.
At first I was super-excited about the concept, especially the aspects of everyone having something of value to offer, the non-monetary economics of every hour of work having the same value (one hour), and the changing of “How can I help you?” to: “Will you help someone too?”. I immediately wanted to do something like this for our coworking community.
Then I began to have reservations that putting such an exchange in place would lead people to start thinking of everything as a trade, a transaction, instead of freely giving. I grew concerned that people would expect something in return (eventually) and if they never got it would be resentful.
Then again, some of our members have already come to me and mentioned that they spent time helping another member, time they would normally get paid for, and they wished there was some way of recognizing that. And, I suspect we have “takers” in our community, people who get a lot from others and rarely give back. Creating a structure would let them know they are expected to help others when they are helped. while providing a way people with little money reciprocate. A person who gets an hour of consultation from an attorney might give back by spending an hour cleaning the break room.
So, that brings me back to my question: In past GCUC’s, there was talk of “Pay It Forward Walls” and the like. I don’t hear much about it anymore. Has anyone in this group tried something like TimeBanks or any other way of provide a structure for giving of our time and skills? If so, I’d love to hear about it.
My Co-Founder Levi Baer asked me to post this (just invited him to the group so he can participate going forward):
"I have not used time banking in a coworking space, but I was involved in the Chicago Time Exchange. In theory, time banking is a great way for people to understand that everyone has skills that are useful and that everyone’s time is valuable. In practice it is difficult to implement and often it does not reach its goal. For example, the people that would benefit the most from a robust time banking system are those who don’t have skills that are valued in traditional, top down, and frankly often racist, sexists, and classist hierarchies. If a single, low-income mom or dad could use it to buy groceries, pay rent, and visit the dentist, that would be awesome. But in reality, those institutions are not participating in time banking, and usually the only people who are, are those with the privilege of extra time. So there ends up being a lot of things like yoga training, juggling teaching, and guitar lessons that are cool but sort of miss the point of the whole endeavor. Some places have managed to pull it off better than others; the Dane County Time Bank in Madison has a people’s jury and all kinds of great components.
We’re planning a workshop in our coworking space with Mike Strode of The Kola Nut Collective to learn about how it can work with an organization such as ours. I’m sure he’d be open to any questions and discussion. [email protected]
Inside of a coworking community where the exchange of skills, often for a fee, is so vital, you would have to be careful about not offending people who are used to getting paid for their services. I think any time banking implementation would have to invite voluntary participation and might have to focus on recreational exchange rather than professional, i.e., people might be more willing to give away guitar lessons than startup coaching.
Feel free to reach out to me with other questions! [email protected]. "
···
On Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 8:53:36 AM UTC-5, Julia Ferguson wrote:
Hi. One of the members of Cowork Frederick brought TimeBanks to my attention. I’m wondering if anyone has used it or something like it for their coworking communities.
At first I was super-excited about the concept, especially the aspects of everyone having something of value to offer, the non-monetary economics of every hour of work having the same value (one hour), and the changing of “How can I help you?” to: “Will you help someone too?”. I immediately wanted to do something like this for our coworking community.
Then I began to have reservations that putting such an exchange in place would lead people to start thinking of everything as a trade, a transaction, instead of freely giving. I grew concerned that people would expect something in return (eventually) and if they never got it would be resentful.
Then again, some of our members have already come to me and mentioned that they spent time helping another member, time they would normally get paid for, and they wished there was some way of recognizing that. And, I suspect we have “takers” in our community, people who get a lot from others and rarely give back. Creating a structure would let them know they are expected to help others when they are helped. while providing a way people with little money reciprocate. A person who gets an hour of consultation from an attorney might give back by spending an hour cleaning the break room.
So, that brings me back to my question: In past GCUC’s, there was talk of “Pay It Forward Walls” and the like. I don’t hear much about it anymore. Has anyone in this group tried something like TimeBanks or any other way of provide a structure for giving of our time and skills? If so, I’d love to hear about it.
Levi’s comments here pretty accurately match my observations about timebanking as well. In a closed and perfect system, it makes a TON of sense. But even our coworking spaces are neither closed nor perfect.
There’s also the factor of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation and how the latter can dull the former. E.g. the satisfaction that comes from wanting to give, vs what happens psychologically when you’re obligated to give, even when the thing you’re giving is exactly identical.
All of that aside, I think there’s a very valuable pattern in the model which is boosting the visibility of these exchanges. I’d easily estimate that 90%+ of the help that gets exchanged between our members is invisible to us, and to other members. That doesn’t decrease it’s value, of course, but it makes it hard for members to know that it’s even possible to get help or give help without visible models and examples.
Cool discussion!
-Alex
···
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 6:34 PM, Nicole Vasquez [email protected] wrote:
Hi Everyone!
My Co-Founder Levi Baer asked me to post this (just invited him to the group so he can participate going forward):
"I have not used time banking in a coworking space, but I was involved in the Chicago Time Exchange. In theory, time banking is a great way for people to understand that everyone has skills that are useful and that everyone’s time is valuable. In practice it is difficult to implement and often it does not reach its goal. For example, the people that would benefit the most from a robust time banking system are those who don’t have skills that are valued in traditional, top down, and frankly often racist, sexists, and classist hierarchies. If a single, low-income mom or dad could use it to buy groceries, pay rent, and visit the dentist, that would be awesome. But in reality, those institutions are not participating in time banking, and usually the only people who are, are those with the privilege of extra time. So there ends up being a lot of things like yoga training, juggling teaching, and guitar lessons that are cool but sort of miss the point of the whole endeavor. Some places have managed to pull it off better than others; the Dane County Time Bank in Madison has a people’s jury and all kinds of great components.
We’re planning a workshop in our coworking space with Mike Strode of The Kola Nut Collective to learn about how it can work with an organization such as ours. I’m sure he’d be open to any questions and discussion. [email protected]
Inside of a coworking community where the exchange of skills, often for a fee, is so vital, you would have to be careful about not offending people who are used to getting paid for their services. I think any time banking implementation would have to invite voluntary participation and might have to focus on recreational exchange rather than professional, i.e., people might be more willing to give away guitar lessons than startup coaching.
Feel free to reach out to me with other questions! [email protected]. "
On Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 8:53:36 AM UTC-5, Julia Ferguson wrote:
Hi. One of the members of Cowork Frederick brought TimeBanks to my attention. I’m wondering if anyone has used it or something like it for their coworking communities.
At first I was super-excited about the concept, especially the aspects of everyone having something of value to offer, the non-monetary economics of every hour of work having the same value (one hour), and the changing of “How can I help you?” to: “Will you help someone too?”. I immediately wanted to do something like this for our coworking community.
Then I began to have reservations that putting such an exchange in place would lead people to start thinking of everything as a trade, a transaction, instead of freely giving. I grew concerned that people would expect something in return (eventually) and if they never got it would be resentful.
Then again, some of our members have already come to me and mentioned that they spent time helping another member, time they would normally get paid for, and they wished there was some way of recognizing that. And, I suspect we have “takers” in our community, people who get a lot from others and rarely give back. Creating a structure would let them know they are expected to help others when they are helped. while providing a way people with little money reciprocate. A person who gets an hour of consultation from an attorney might give back by spending an hour cleaning the break room.
So, that brings me back to my question: In past GCUC’s, there was talk of “Pay It Forward Walls” and the like. I don’t hear much about it anymore. Has anyone in this group tried something like TimeBanks or any other way of provide a structure for giving of our time and skills? If so, I’d love to hear about it.
Julia
Cowork Frederick
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