Having set up the first time bank in the UK back in 1998, Fair Shares has benefited from committed, knowledgeable and experienced staff who, along with the board of trustees, have helped develop and nurture the organisation over the years.
Everyone is skilled at engaging with individuals, organisations and partners to promote positive and enduring community relationships. The roles are not to deliver services but to find out what people in the communities want and how they can all achieve this together by supporting each other. These skills are used to initiate and foster new projects as well as maintaining and strengthening existing work.
Values
Fair Shares works to bring people closer together in the communities, to support and help one another, make new friends and share skills and experiences. They do this through time banking –
THE PRINCIPLES OF TIME BANKING
People are the Strength of the Community
The real wealth of the communities are the people and the skills they bring. Everyone can contribute in some way to make the communities work. They believe that the solutions to the problems they often face can be found from within and they need to find ways to allow everyone to be valued for what they do.
Redefining “Work”
Fair Shares believes that “work” is more than what they do to earn money. Contributing to the community and helping out the neighbours is important and valuable “work” and should be recognised as such. Work can be anything from mowing someone’s lawn to taking time out to talk to an elderly neighbour, and it is this work that is vital for the society to flourish.
Give and Take
They want to more away from one way acts of charity and instead understand that communities naturally require everyone to be involved with both giving and taking and everyone helping each other. Everyone has something to give but they all need an extra pair of helping hands now and then as well.
Building Social Links
Time banking is more than just about acts of volunteering. It’s about creating friendships, relationships, and links between different people and groups. Communities are built on trust, and they build that trust through meaningful interactions with each other. For individuals in those communities, the mental and physical wellbeing depends highly on strong enduring relationships.
AIMS
To support the development of the communities through time banking – Increasing community cohesion, improving health and wellbeing, and contributing to the reduction of health inequalities.
To support, enhance and promote the core economy, by creating effective partnerships and redefining resources.
To ensure that all time banks are strong, vibrant, well supported and reflect the strengths and skills of all involved.
To develop a framework to monitor and evaluate the work, measuring the impact of social capital, changes in health and wellbeing, and effectiveness of co-production.
