Time Banking: Your Time as Currency

Markets are great at using money to mobilize material resources, but they are woefully inept at mobilizing human beings to address the vast social needs and inequities that exist today. This realization led Edgar Cahn to formalize a different type of market – one that valued the time of all individuals equally – called Time Banking. In a Time Bank, you can earn a Time Dollar by providing a service to someone in your community. An online system records that transaction, and you can then spend that Time Dollar by receiving a favor from someone else in the community. Unlike bartering, there is no higher price associated with services provided by people with more education or professional abilities.

Time Banks exist across the country and around the world. The DC Time Bank got started only last year, but has caught on quickly and now has 280 members (including Community Ladders’ founder).

What types of services are being exchanged? – Language lessons, business plan help, dog walking, car fixing, house painting, babysitting, car rides, juggling lessons, dance lessons, gardening, cooking lessons, and much more.

Although Time Bank transactions are recorded online, you don’t have to use a computer to be a part of the Time Bank. The Time Bank Coordinator can facilitate exchanges involving members of the community who do not have computer access.

For a list of Time Banks across the United States (including local chapters in Takoma Park and Columbia, MD), click here. If you are interested in joining or learning more about the DC Time Bank, contact Allison or visit the website. If you’re in the DC area, on November 12th, Hub DC Citizen Circles and Gwendolyn Hallsmith will host a discussion of her book “Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies.” Learn more and RSVP.