35th Funding Cycle: September 12 marks the beginning of WCF's next funding cycle. Completed applications are due on or before November 1. See the Funding Opportunites and Grant Guidelines sections for more detailed information, including the new online application form.
Year in Review: June 30th marked the end of Wisconsin Community Fund's 2011 fiscal year. With the support of hundreds of activist donors, the Fund facilitated a total of $83,401 in grant funding to further social change in Wisconsin, and beyond! Thank you to all who were a part of this effort through their gifts of time, expertise, or charitable contributions.
Demystifying Grantmaking: One form of grantmaking that Wisconsin Community Fund is pioneering has been called community grantmaking. To learn more about this innovative and participatory form of allocating grant monies, see our Spring 2011 Newsletter.
Grantee Spotlight: Milwaukee (Area) Time Exchange
Even before the Great Recession, a new form of “currency” had begun to circulate. Not just monetary in nature, this currency focused on human transactions, exchanges of knowledge, skills and practical support. The Milwaukee (Area) Time Exchange (MKE TE), which took part in Wisconsin Community Fund’s (WCF) Second Community Grant Making event this past February, has become the Milwaukee area’s premier promoter of this innovative concept. Facilitated by MKE TE, community members exchange non-fiscal assets, such as individual skills and expertise. It is through these transactions that the group’s core philosophy finds expression: “When we use all that we have, we will have all that we need.”
Through this modern-day barter system, the Milwaukee (Area) Time Exchange works to address the extremely high levels of poverty and unemployment in many of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods. Over 300 members strong, the group works to incorporate persons who are often left out, devalued, or marginalized by the mainstream capitalist economy. These include elders, low-income families, immigrants, persons with disabilities, ex-offenders, and the unemployed. Together they form a network of exchange in which everyone has something valuable to contribute. For example, one Time Exchange member could help another member with a plumbing problem in exchange for a ride to the grocery store. Unlike the typical commercial bank, the exchange of time democratizes community transactions, resulting in the teenaged dog-walker’s time being valued on a par with a CPA’s professional services. Whatever the service offered or received, members are able to both give and get, all without cash ever changing hands. Hours are logged in a computerized “time bank” into which one makes both “deposits” and “withdrawals”. Ultimately, the Milwaukee (Area) Time Exchange strives to create a more self-reliant and resilient community based on trust, respect and reciprocity. Its unit of measure is this “complementary, community currency.”
By participating in WCF’s Second Community Grant Making event, MKE TE received a $7,200 grant. The group plans to use these funds for administrative staff and operational expenses as it continues to broker the requests and offers of services of its growing membership.
Time banking itself is a growing phenomenon, both nationally and internationally. Wherever it operates, time banking promotes f ive core values:
- We are all assets
- Some work is beyond price
- Reciprocity
- Building and strengthening social networks, and
- Respect.
The Dane County TimeBank – itself a former WCF grantee - is one of the earliest and most dynamic proponents of this growing movement. Unlike the mainstream U.S. economy, which undervalues large portions of the population, this system creates an economy based on democratic principles, in which every individual is valued and able to contribute and benefit equally. In the words of the Dane County TimeBank: “Everyone has something to give…and everyone has needs that others can serve.”
To learn more about the Milwaukee (Area) Time Exchange or the Dane County Timebank, visit their respective websites, http://mketimeexchange.org and http://www.danecountytimebank.org.
- Thank you to volunteer Karla Lund for preparing this article