Fair Shares Gloucestershire
Fair Shares Gloucestershire was set up in January 1998 to create the UK’s first time bank and to explore ways of using time to rebuild communities. We are a Registered Charity, number 1110418.
We now run six time banks in banks in Gloucestershire based in Gloucester, Newent, Moreton, Stroud, Cirencester and Stonehouse and we also run a number of countywide projects.
All of our time banks connect people, help them share time and strengthen communities. So far Fair Shares joined 835 people and 168 organisations in a mutual network of support, which created around 55,000 hours (in 2010) of community support.
What is time banking?
Time banks are community based projects which meet everyday needs through the exchange of time, skills and opportunities. For every hour you spend helping someone, you are entitled to an hour’s help in return. The time bank creates a mutually supportive network of neighbours helping neighbours and helps turn strangers into friends.
The help provided is in many forms – practical tasks such as gardening, befriending, running errands, providing transport or helping someone learn a new skill.
Time Banking for Organisations
How it works
We are asking organisations to join the time bank in the same way that individuals do. On joining, we will note the skills, experiences and resources that they could share with others, as well as those that they need.
Organisations would then be able to share:
- Equipment and resources (digital projectors, laminators, meeting rooms and office space)
- Vehicles (Fair Shares Gloucestershire has a minibus, van and car which we are happy to share with other organisations)
- Skills (policy, finance, HR etc.)
We also have a number of companies and further education institutions that will also join the scheme, sharing their specialist skills and expertise.
We plan to list the available skills, resources and partners on a dedicated section of our website. The Time Broker would then match the offer and need, making sure that both organisations are happy with the exchange (as we do with individuals).
We realise that smaller organisations may have less capacity to offer skills and resources. However, we would not be concerned with this and would be happy with smaller organisations to be in time credit ‘debt’.
This will enable voluntary sector organisations to reduce their budgets rather than spending money (or time on submitting funding bids) for resources or on specialist help. We hope that this will help organisations have other options at a time when many are making difficult financial decisions.
Ultimately we hope that this will help charities and community groups focus their spending on meeting the needs of the people that they work with. Some may even be able to increase service provision at a time when the sector is seeing increased demand.
Who we work with
We hope that all existing organisations who work with the time banks will take part in this project. We will also work with GAVCA to reach other organisations and we want to work with organisations across Gloucestershire, whatever their focus and size.
Contact Us
If you want to learn more about this project or any of our time banks, please contact:
Lawrence Hughes
Chief Executive
Fair Shares
City Works
Alfred Street
Gloucester
GL1 4DF
Telephone: 01452 541337
Email:
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