• WHAT WE DO

     

    We build community that values people over profit.

     

    Timebanking is the practice of counting people's hours of labor (work) as a type of currency. Members in a timebank simply agree to help each other out when possible and as needed. Every hour of help provided is calculated as an hour of community service work and therefore earns the provider one unit in the timebank. All hours earned are valued equally, regardless of the help provided. Our currency units are typically referred to as "hours" or "credits" by our members.

     

    Timebanking 101: 1 hour of help = 1 currency unit earned

     

    Timebanking offers an innovative way for people to connect and create a local sharing community that is founded on a spirit of abundance and trust. Our community continues to grow, as members invite coworkers, family, friends, and neighbors to share their time, skills, and resources with others. Nonprofit organizations and local businesses have also discovered creative ways to plug in and support us. Over the years, these diverse efforts have evolved into a more unified community-building grassroots initiative. We now have well over 200 members participating in the timebank.

     

    Our motto for sustainable growth: "No money, no problems."

     

    Membership in our timebank is (and will always) be money-free. Membership is open and inclusive to residents in the Tallahassee area; it is not restricted by age, nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, ability, citizenship, sex/sexual orientation, gender/gender orientation, political orientation, personality type, musical preferences, etc. A diversity of perspectives, tools, talents, approaches, skills, resources, abilities, expertise, and experiences are essential ingredients to the long term, sustainable success of a local sharing economy, so we strive to preserve and nurture diversity.

     

    We equally strive to develop and practice our conflict-resolution skills to preserve our nonviolent community. Timebankers have facilitated discussions and trainings on nonviolent communication (NVC) and conflict resolution for our members, as well as local activists groups and interested parties. For more information on the NVC process, see our Learn More section.

     

    More on how timebanking works.


    Members can share requests for help based on whatever unmet needs they experience. Some typical examples include requests for help with child care and tutoring, elderly care, pet care, home repair and construction project assistance, gardening and lawn care assistance, food preparation, event planning, website design, resume building, transportation assistance, help with running errands like groceries and laundry, heavy lifting, and so much more. At the same time, members can also share offers to help based on their own free time (availability) capabilities, skills, talents, and resources.

     

    Networking among members happens in many different ways.

     

    Examples include:


    • By meeting other members at any of our community events (e.g. member potlucks and meal shares, free market days, tool-sharing and skill-sharing workshops, new member orientations & workshops, community service projects, disaster & emergency relief assistance initiatives, social events)


    • By announcing a new request for help or offer to help online through your online (time)banking account in our Tallahassee hOurworld website


    • By posting a new request for help or offer to help online through our Facebook group

     

    Active members can then proactively search for opportunities to connect presently unmet needs (requests) with presently underutilized resources (offers). In other words, active members are pooling and sharing their time, skills, talents, resources, and creative problem solving capabilities to meet the immediate needs of anyone requesting help in our community as best we can (witness: the power of diversity in action). Members use the hours they have accumulated through helping members in the past to give as gifts to the members who are helping them out now or in the future.

     

    Members share a "pay-it-forward" attitude.


    Many of our members are simply seeking opportunities to help build and strengthen our local community; they often give their excess units as gifts to other members who may be needing to request help. In other words, our "wealthy" members are among the first to gift from their abundance of wealth to the newcomers in our economic system. Money system anxieties about debt slowly release their grip on the imagination of new members as they start to understand, trust, and embrace the practice. What remains is what arguably has been there all along: our human drive to reciprocate what has been done for us.

     

    Our growing capacity to assist families burdened by unmet economic needs stems from member's generosity of attention, time, kindness, trust, passion, care, and compassion for others. Every hour of help exchanged in a timebank demonstrates the capacity of individuals to freely and nonviolently coordinate and create innovative solutions to complex economic and social problems.

     

    What steps do I take to join?

    • First things first, fill out our online membership application 
    • Once approved, you gain access to establish a personal online (time)banking account. You can then do the following:
    • Upload a profile photo, introduce yourself in the bio section
    • List tools or other useful stuff you are happy to lend to others (if any) in the bio section 
    • Check off any skills, talents, and abilities you are happy to share from our drop down lists
    • Review your time bank account statement of transactions
    • Announce any new offers to help or requests for help
    • Explore other members’ offers and requests 
    • Record the number of hours of help you provide to, and receive from, other members
    • Peruse the email update we send out at the start of each week (it announces new members, offers, or requests posted to our website in the previous week) 
    • Check back for new offers and requests throughout the week by visiting the website
    • Learn about timebank events by email or by following the Tallahassee Time Bank on Facebook or by joining the Facebook group

    Note: Thanks to the ingenuity and vision of hOurworld open source software engineers, we can now also download the hOurworld mobile app for free to our smart phone devices and record our timebanking transactions on the go. Learn more about hOurworld and it's expanding international network of neighbors helping neighbors (and download the app).

  • EDUCATION IS EMPOWERMENT

     

    Online Resources

    1. Time Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? (Magazine article)
    2. Timebanking Basics (TimeBanks USA website)
    3. Timebanking Philosophies (TimeBanks USA website)
    4. Time Banking on Good Morning America (Youtube clip)
    5. The new wealth of time: How timebanking helps people build better public services (PDF)
     
    Book Recommendations
     

    1. No More Throw-Away People 

     

    Authored by distinguished legal scholar, economist, and founder of the modern timebanking movement, Dr. E
    dgar S. Cahn, this book is noteworthy for how it explores the transformative impact of timebanking on contemporary money practices, market values, individuals, and communities.

     

    2. What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets 
     
    Authored by Harvard professor, political scholar, and public philosopher, Dr. Michael J. Sandel, this book is noteworthy for how it explores the moral and economic limitations of contemporary market systems.
     
    3. The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies
     
    Authored by the complex systems analyst, economist, and political scientist, Dr. Scott E. Page, this book is noteworthy for how it explores the science behind diversity as a tool to optimize solutions to complex, deeply rooted, and systemic problems (social, economic, moral, political, and otherwise).
     
    4. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life 
     
    Authored by psychologist and founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, this book is noteworthy for how it can provide practical skills for creating compassionate and conflict-resolving communication between individuals. Nonviolent communication (NVC) requires that we make some basic changes to how we think, process, and speak in the English language. Making these adjustments empowers us to express needs, feelings, offers, and requests with more clarity, precision, transparency, forthrightness, and compassion.
     
     

  • WHO WE ARE

    Teamwork makes the dream work.

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    Carmen Maria Marcous

    Director / Founding Member

    Mary Marcous is a student and teacher at Florida State University, where she is working on her PhD in philosophy. Mary is passionate about community service and education through direct action. Mary serves as managing director for the timebank, liaison to the international Transition Towns Movement, and as a contributing member to the international Philosophy of the City Research Group.

     

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    Jim Ball

    Founding Member / Community Liason

     

    Jim Ball works with Transition Tallahassee and the Tallahassee Timebank to help the community get ready for a new cooperative sharing economy that's all about prosperity and support for everyone. Jim has worked in marketing, magazine publishing, and radio broadcasting and he's fired-up about making the Tallahassee Timebank a powerful engine for our local economy. Jim and Helen serve as community liaisons and outreach advocates.

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    Daryl Nall

    Founding Member

     

     

     

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    Daniel Parker

    Founding Member

     

    Daniel Parker is a lifelong public servant and writer, graduating from the Florida State University and spending time in Russia, Japan, England, Canada, and Central America. Daniel was a six-year Planning Commissioner for the Tallahassee-Leon County Florida Planning Commission, with nearly 18 years in government. Trained as an urban planner with a career in public health, Daniel worked in a leadership role to find improvements in the short term while steering focus toward long term, sustainable outcomes. Daniel has facilitated several classes on sustainable living and spoken at numerous venues on smarter growth policies. He lives with his wife and three children in Tallahassee, Florida.

     

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    BrendaLee Lennick

    Panhandle Action Network Liaison / Social Media Advocate

    I am a retiree that fills my time with activism and just trying to make our city, state, country and world a better place. This is what makes ME happy! The Panhandle Action Network is a network of progressive volunteers who organize direct action for progressive chance in the areas of criminal justice reform, women's rights, immigration reform, racial justice, education, environmental justice, economic justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, voter's rights, and first amendment protections for free speech and freedom of the press. You can learn more about our efforts by visiting the Panhandle Action Network Facebook page.

     

     

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    Pat Maurer

    Lending Libraries Liaison / Outreach Advocate

    Interested in participating in Pat's current project to catalog, expand, raise awareness, and promote networking among lending library practices in the Tallahassee Area? Contact her at 4patmaurer@gmail.com to learn more, share your knowledge or resources, or join our efforts.

     

     

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    Rachel Leigh Peller

    Community Liaison / Outreach Advocate

     

     

     

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    Joa Jin

    Community Liaison for The Plant / Outreach Advocate

    The Plant is an all-inclusive collaborative space, where everyone is welcomed and empowered to organize, research, and encourage the free expression of others. The Plant is a not for profit venue and is operated by volunteers. Events held at The Plant are usually FREE but donations are encouraged. ALL AGES INVITED. See our Facebook monthly calendar and call first if you would like to meet with a Key Volunteer. Learn more about The Plant.

     

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    Rosa Morgan

    Sustainable Tallahassee Liaison / Community Liaison

    Sustainable Tallahassee is an award winning non-profit that fosters environmental stewardship and economic vitality in Tallahassee. Sustainable Tallahassee is dedicated to promoting environmental, economic, and social sustainability through education and collaboration. Our work was initiated by a grant from the Knight Foundation, and is continued by membership dues, renewals, and private donations. Learn more about Sustainable Tallahassee.

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    Brian Lee & Kim Ross

    ReThink Energy Florida Liaisons / Community Liaisons

    Rethink Energy Florida is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to engaging and educating the public on energy issues. This includes the use of fossil fuels and the need for renewable energy and diminished energy consumption. Our mission is to engage, educate, and empower citizens to take action and achieve energy independence in a healthier, more sustainable environment. Learn more about ReThink Energy Florida.

  • GET IN TOUCH

    You're awesome, let's connect.