A TimeBank is a network of people who exchange services with one another, wherein the "currency" of exchange is time. Members earn “time dollars" (TD$) for time spent helping others, which they can spend on getting services for themselves. One hour of service equals one TD$. For example, one person may provide two hours of painting in exchange for one member’s hour of childcare and another member’s hour of yard work. TimeBanking connects people and unmet needs with untapped resources by enabling individuals to use their everyday skills to benefit a network of people.

How exactly does it work? Once you join Time Trader, you can earn TD$ by using your time and skills to help others. When you spend an hour doing something for someone, you earn a TD$. Then, you can use that TD$ to “purchase” an hour of a member’s time. You can also earn TD$ by attending member gatherings, assisting Time Trader and recruiting your friends to become members. In fact, to help get you started, we will give you five TD$ when you join!

For every hour of help you give, you also receive an hour of help. In addition, you are making a difference in someone’s life – whether it’s giving a ride to a person who doesn’t have a car, tutoring a student, translating, sewing or helping with computer problems. You can also learn new skills, make friends, and get to know your way around your community much better.

Some ways people have used TimeBanking to achieve their goals include increased neighborhood safety, community renewal, health improvement, mutual support for single-parent families, peer self-help, integrating people with physical and learning disabilities, respite for caregivers, improved intergenerational understanding, learning opportunities and environmental clean-ups – to name a few.

If you like to give time to your community, TimeBanking is a way to get something back in exchange for your time. If you want to build a network of support within your neighborhood or community at large, TimeBanking can help you do exactly that. Instead of paying professionals to look after your children, care for aging parents, and do the work that family and neighbors used to do for one another, TimeBank members do those things for each other.

TimeBanking is not volunteering (unless you choose to donate some of your TD$)! Many of the services people exchange in a TimeBank are the types of things they already do every day. For example, those with children are already cooking for them, driving them to activities, and helping them with their schoolwork – among other things. If you have a dog and take it for a walk every day, why not pick up your neighbor's dog along the way? Cooking an extra portion of food for someone down the street who is housebound, picking up your neighbor's kids on the way to soccer practice, or helping the child down the street with his homework do not add work to your day.

Even better, TimeBanking helps you gain extra time when you spend the TD$ you've earned to have someone do something for you that you can't fit into your schedule or simply don't know how to do!

No. There are no membership fees.

The possibilities are endless, really! From walking a neighbor's dog, raking leaves, stuffing envelopes, braiding hair, cooking meals, giving music lessons, running errands to lending professional advice and getting an oil change, everyone has a valuable skill to share and something they can gain!

We suggest earning TD$ by doing things you enjoy doing. Give what you want; get what you need.

1. Attend a new member orientation or set up a personal orientation with Time Trader. (507-287-2010)
2. Fill out an application.
3. Your references will be checked and a background check is conducted.
4. Complete your online Community Weaver profile at www.community.timebanks.org. (Scroll down to find “Time Trader” in Rochester, MN.)
5. When your membership is approved, your profile is activated.
6. Add your service requests and offers.
7. Start earning and spending TD$!

No. Anyone in the surrounding area is welcome to participate. Members identify their neighborhood in their TimeBank profile. The City of Rochester is divided into four quadrants: Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, and Northwest. The outlying cities/suburbs are grouped into larger areas as well.

No. You can receive rides via Time Trader, take the bus or walk.

You earn five TD$ when you join the TimeBank, so you start out with TD$ in your account!

Having a negative balance is not a big deal in a TD$ account. After all, people have to receive in order for others to give. Our TimeBank has a limit on how far a member's account can go into debt, which is explained in the Member Handbook. When a member goes 5 TD$ into debt, he/she will get a call from the Coordinator to discuss options for earning TD$.

The Community Fund is a pool of TD$ donated by TimeBank members that goes toward helping those who cannot earn TD$ themselves due to extenuating circumstances. The Community Fund is a “member” of the TimeBank. To donate TD$ to the Community Fund, you create a transaction in Community Weaver™ or request the TimeBank Coordinator to set up the transaction on your behalf. To become a Community Fund Receiver, you would meet with the Time Trader Coordinator to explain your need and circumstances. From there, we will come up with a plan of involvement.

Community Weaver™ is a secure, password-protected online software program used to keep track of member accounts. Through Community Weaver, members advertise their services, contact each other and have an account of the TD$ they have earned and spent.

For members without access to the Internet, the TimeBank Coordinator will help you set up an offline account and post your service requests and offers. You will be notified via phone when there is a request for your service or an offer to help you. As a TimeBank member, you can call anytime to add, change or remove offers and requests. You will also receive a printed copy of the TimeBank directory and mailings with relevant information and your account balance.

If you have access to the Internet but don’t have an email account, we suggest you set up an email account to help facilitate convenient access to Community Weaver™ and the TimeBank network.

There are two ways to keep track of the exchanges.

1. Record the exchange and the number of hours online, and it will be debited from or credited to your account.
2. If you are an offline member, call the TimeBank Coordinator to organize an exchange for you and then call again when the exchange is completed in order to record the TD$ you earned/spent.

Yes, with their parent or guardian’s permission, children and teenagers can participate in the TimeBank. Community Weaver has a safeguard feature called the “Guardian Angel” mode, whereby transactions must go through the TimeBank Coordinator before being approved. Anyone under age 18 will be in Guardian Angel mode to help ensure their safety and compliance with TimeBank guidelines. The TimeBank can be a great way for children and teenagers to secure tutoring, music lessons, mentoring and job coaching. It also helps foster inter-generational relationships that will enrich young and old alike.

Almost everyone says that! Talk with the TimeBank Coordinator; she will help you explore what you can offer. At the core of TimeBanking is the belief that everyone is valuable and everyone has something to offer. Think of the various tasks you do everyday (e.g. cooking, driving, walking a dog, etc.) and your hobbies (e.g. sewing, graphic design, using the Internet, scrap booking, playing tennis, photography, etc.). Don’t list only what you could get paid to do in the traditional economy. The TimeBank economy is an informal economy of people doing the types of favors that family and neighbors have been doing for millennia. Thus, mentoring, braiding hair, beginning guitar lessons and making chicken soup are all great offers!

Yes, they can use TD$ donated by other members to the Community Fund or earned on their behalf by their family and friends.

1. We conduct a criminal background check.
2. We always ask members to provide two references, to inquire about the individual’s trustworthiness.
3. We meet with individuals through a group or one-on-one orientation.

Yes.

TD$ are tax-exempt and completely separate from federal dollars. TimeBanks USA (the national TimeBank organization of which we are a part) has an IRS private letter ruling that TD$ exchanges are tax-exempt. TimeBanking is different from bartering in that no dollar amount is assigned to services. Every hour of any service is worth 1 TD$ but has no “cash value”; hence, they are free from tax implications.

Yes – if you charge only for the hours it takes to produce something in TD$ and for cost of the materials in regular dollars. (I.e. If you make a scrapbook for someone, you would charge TD$ for the number of hours it took to make and the member receiving the scrapbook would pay for the materials used.) The important thing to remember, however, is that in order to maintain the TD$ tax-exempt status, you can never make an equivalency between a TD$ and regular dollar.

Yes.

1. We don’t give medical help, except giving rides to appointments and translating during appointments.
2. We are not able to provide ongoing services such as giving you a ride to work every day or cleaning your house every week.
3. The farther away from Rochester you live, the more challenging it is to find members who can get to your house because of distance, time and reliable transportation.
4. Last minute requests are difficult to meet; requests should be made as far in advance as possible to respect the busy lives and schedules of members.
5. Some requests cannot be met if members do not offer that service, such as electrical work, roofing, etc. We are always looking for new members who have these skills! If you know someone who could help out from time to time, please tell him or her about Time Trader.
6. Huge projects will be broken down into smaller jobs. For example, if you need several hours of work done, it might take several members one or two hours each, and we cannot promise that the entire project will get done in a short period of time. An illustration is helping you to move: some members can help pack boxes before moving day, others can lift and carry boxes on moving day, someone else could help to clean the old place or the new place, etc.

Neither the giver nor receiver should expect professional standards. Sometimes you get professional quality work, but that is not the point. The point of TD$ exchanges is to build relationships of give and take.

We have a process for handling complaints about conduct; through this process a member may be suspended or removed from the system.