I feel guilty receiving TD$ for this!

Sometimes the "artificial" connections made through Time Trader become friendships. A Time Trader takes on a project for someone and they like each other. They decide to spend time together outside of Time Trader activities; they go out for coffee, they attend social events together, they go shopping.
This is EXACTLY what we want in Time Trader; people making connections and building community.

However, when a friendship develops, I am seeing a trend: people don't want to accept TD$ for things they enjoy doing, or for things they do for someone they consider a friend.

Please rethink this if you are one of those people. Some Time Traders receive services such as companionship or transportation to medical appointments. If you provide those services, even if you consider the recipient a friend, please record the transaction!

Part of the reason is here; the numbers tell our story. But there is more. We need those TD$ moving through our economy.

If you really don't want those TD$ because you feel guilty about accepting TD$ for something you enjoy doing, you can donate them. We have a Community Fund for just that purpose. You also may donate to one of our partner organizations such as the Rochester Area Family Y.

The most important thing is that we WANT you to accept the TD$. We want you to have fun while doing the service you provide for other Time Traders -- that's why we encourage people who love baking to offer baking, and people who love to do crafts to offer to do those crafts or teach them to others.

It's one of Time Banking's Core Values:

Social Networks

We need each other.

Networks are stronger than individuals. People helping each other reweave communities of support, strength & trust. Community is built upon sinking roots, building trust, creating networks. Special relationships are built on commitment.

So, please record those transactions. the numbers tell our story and if you don't wish to keep the TD$ you earn you can donate them.This adds currency to our TD$ economy and keeps those TD$ circulating through our community.

Please record ALL transactions. Here's why:

Recently a number of Time Traders have recorded multiple transactions that took place over a month or two in one day.

This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. Why?

Because Time Trader is dependent on those numbers, and it helps that they are recorded in a timely fashion.

Each month, around the 8th, I sit down and run a report in Community Weaver. The report details the transactions for the previous month. Every TD$ exchanged is recorded, along with the people or groups involved in the transaction. The numbers are then entered into a spreadsheet and provided to my supervisors at Family Service Rochester and, ultimately, the Board of Directors.

The numbers tell the board how many new members have joined Time Trader. Board members can see not only how many TD$ were exchanged in transactions, but how many people participated in a transaction that month. They can see how many transactions involved Family Service Rochester, FSR Meals on Wheels, or FSR Right at Home Solutions. They also can see how Time Trader builds community by bringing together people who need services (like Meals on Wheels) and people who can provide those services.

In the future, we hope to use those reports and the numbers in them to help us demonstrate growth in the program, to show the impact Time Trader has had on programs FSR runs, and possibly in grant applications.

If you have transactions to record, it's ok to record them all at once; just be sure to record each individual transaction (not 8 TD$ for a "miscellaneous" transaction, but 2TD$ for gardening and 6TD$ for home organizing, for example), and try to have them recorded by the 7th of the following month.

And if you have developed a friendship or relationship with someone through Time Trader and you used to record TD$ but now you just watch each other's children or do mending for each other informally, it is still important to record those transactions. While it is wonderful that we have friendships which have grown out of Time Trader, it is ultimately the numbers that tell our story, and the numbers which can help us grow and flourish as a community.