TimeBanks.Org
TimeBanks.Org started the modern timebanking movement. Law professor Edgar Cahn founded it in 1995. Members of a time bank earn one time credit for each hour they help a neighbor, and they spend credits on help from others. The organization trains new time banks, hosts events, and maintains the Community Weaver software. Its network counts more than 200 time banks in the United States and reaches over 30 countries.
Edgar Cahn's 1995 nonprofit seeded the US timebanking movement and still anchors it: 200+ time banks on the one-hour-one-credit rule, training, an annual conference, and the Community Weaver software. Strong monetary design for a non-market currency; the centralized umbrella and small per-bank scale hold it level with Fureai Kippu (3.4), between hOurworld (3.1) and Timebanking UK (3.8).
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x4.0
Time credits issue debt-free when a member gives an hour of service, so supply is elastic and tied directly to real activity. Issuance lives inside each member time bank rather than being open to anyone, and contraction is limited to credits being spent.
Spending Power Stability2x3.0
The benchmark is one hour of service, a structural labor anchor that has held since 1995. There is no measurement machinery, and no explicit purchasing-power targeting beyond the hour itself.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x4.0
The unit of account is the hour, defined without any fiat reference, and credits never convert to dollars. The umbrella organization itself runs on grants and fees.
Traction2x3.0
200+ affiliated time banks in the US with reach into 30+ countries and a live 2026 event calendar. Individual time banks stay small, and hour pricing stays inside the network rather than the wider economy.
Sovereignty2.0
Member time banks run autonomously, which softens shutdown risk, but the umbrella is a single DC nonprofit and the hosted Community Weaver platform is a central dependency.
Governance2.0
Nonprofit board governance at the center. Affiliates govern themselves locally, but there is no formal network-wide member governance.
Resilience3.0
Thirty years of continuous operation, including surviving founder Edgar Cahn's death in 2022 with the organization intact. Funding remains grant-dependent nonprofit economics.
Inclusivity5.0
Every hour counts the same no matter who gives it, which is the system's founding principle. Joining is free or near-free, the design serves people the money economy undervalues, and only light identity is needed.