05/01/2021
Welcome to Wellingborough Time Bank!
Wellingborough Time Bank is a One Wellingborough Plus project that is open to all, so that everyone will be able to join in, regardless of background, age, health or ability, because everyone has something to offer.
We work with a diverse range of organisations that offer a wide variety of timebanking opportunities. Wellingborough Time Bank is collaborative, sharing and caring; unifying people and other organisations to build community resilience through cooperation.
What is Timebanking?
Timebanking is a way of spending one hour of time helping someone out by, for example, mowing someone’s lawn, or doing their shopping. For every hour spent, you earn an hour in return.
This can be spent on receiving an hour of someone else’s time or, with our partners or reward points provider, things like theatre or cinema tickets. You could learn something new or share a skill you have like cooking or playing a musical instrument.
No money is exchanged. If, however, your request does require money such as a lift in a car you would be expected to offer reasonable petrol money to the driver.
Everyone’s time is valued equally; one hour of sharing skills or helping others is recognised by giving that person one hour as a time credit – a community loyalty point.
Timebanking is not the same as volunteering. It is less formal with people being able to give and receive time doing things they enjoy, when they want to. It is a 2-way process of giving time and receiving time.
Timebanking is a way to help various community organisations. It gives timebankers the chance to develop skills and confidence, make new friends, help into employment or simply enables people to become more involved in their local community.
What does Wellingborough Time Bank do?
Wellingborough Time Bank exists to encourage timebanking and to build a community of timebankers through sharing skills and rewarding participation, by working with partner organisations including community groups, businesses and local service providers.
Wellingborough Time Bank will not be set up to organise projects or host events. It acts like a bank, with time rather than money as credits.
Wellingborough Time Bank will help facilitate timebanking at activities, by turning the time they have contributed into time credits that can be used/spent by each timebanker.
How do time credits work?
One hour timebanking equals one ‘time credit’. Time credits will be managed by Wellingborough Time Bank, with partner organisations supplying the details from their activities.
Timebankers will have the option to save their time credits with Wellingborough Time Bank, with the reward points provider, or transfer them to someone else.
If the timebanker wants to use the reward point provider, they will have to set up an account with that provider to manage their own points and to spend them.
If the timebanker prefers to save their credits with Wellingborough Time Bank, they will have time credits issued as vouchers or have to contact Wellingborough Time Bank to use their time credits.
What is a partner organisation?
Any community organisation, local service, charity or business can become one of our partners. Once registered, partner organisations are able to offer time credits to encourage more people to join in.
Partner organisations are also be able to offer rewards for these time credits, available to all timebankers, thus creating sharing via a network of partners and timebankers
