how it works
With the timeXchange, you will be working with a small group of committed individuals who are joined together for a common good. It connects you to the best in people because it creates a system that connects unmet needs with untapped resources.
We have a list of services online or which you can find by calling a community coordinator to do it for you. You earn Time Dollars after each service you perform and then you get to spend it on whatever you want from the listings.
It's deeply fulfilling to see what happens each week when you are part of the timeXchange, especially if you are helping to make it run.
circles of love
The timeXchange is about local people helping each other out, one-on-one or with group projects. They help rebuild neighborhood networks and strengthen communities.
A timeXchange activity can be as simple as a group of moms getting together to share carpooling kids to activities. It can also include services like child care, grocery shopping, taking care of elderly neighbors or parents, walking dogs, and helping out with homework.
The kinds of services people share in the timeXchange depend entirely on the group's or community's needs.
In some cases, the timeXchange can act as a network of companionship and support for isolated and lonely members of the community — those who are health-challenged, disabled, elderly or others.
one-on-one exchanges
The way the exchanges happen is pretty simple.
Let’s say you need someone to help out in the garden for two hours. You can log onto the getavision website and find another member and set up the exchange with email.
If you cannot go online, all you have to do is call up your timeXchange coordinator and tell them what you need and when. Your coordinator will check the member records for a "match," call them up, and call you to confirm.
The timeXchange member comes by and helps out in the garden.
The time is reported and logged in the TimeBANK. You’ve spent two Time Dollars for two hours of garden help. The other member has two Time Dollars to spend.
Some day down the road, you’ll get a call from your timeXchange coordinator or an email from another member asking you: "would YOU like to help someone else or join a community project and earn some Time Dollars?"
group exchanges
The timeXchange offers great ways to motivate others members to pitch in and help accomplish your projects. Neighborhood watches, clean ups, and garden projects, fashion shows, food tasting events, share-a-ride programs, poetry contests, fundraising events — these are all good examples of group-oriented timeXchanges.
Group exchanges happen when people get together for a specific project, event, performance, or celebration — even making, growing, and fixing things. These exchanges are a lot like the community barn raisings, block parties, and pot luck dinners that used to happen around the world.
organization exchanges
The timeXchange can help your organization engage with the community you serve in a whole new way. Together we can become partners, co-workers, and active co-contributors to your organization's mission.
There are different ways to collaborate with the timeXchange to achieve this kind of partnering. Your organization can become the host or sponsor of a timeXchange project that focuses on a specific social need — elderly care, drug rehabilitation, homelessness, or child care, for example.
Or, for instance, several organizations could participate with the getavision timeXchange in projects or programs dedicated to building a more inclusive community.
Whichever way you choose, collaborating with the timeXchange means that instead of being stigmatized or isolated from others, your organization can become accepted for who you are and appreciated for what you can contribute as part of a whole community.
