What is the Offers and Needs Market?
Your gifts are valuable. Your needs are important. There is a simple, meaningful and effective way to share both with members in your community.
Imagine a combination of speed networking, timebanking, and Craigslist…
That’s the Offers and Needs Market: a two-hour, guided process in which community members meet (virtually or in person) to identify and exchange their passions, knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and needs.
From finding a place to live, to offering graphic design, anything's possible at an Offers and Needs Market.
The Simple Process
Individuals are guided through a process of silently documenting what they'd like to offer others, how available they'd like to make those offers, and what they'd like to charge (if anything).
Offers are shared in groups (or online break-out rooms) of up to 8 people, using a rapid-fire formula. Participants record offers they'd like to pursue, and network once all offers have been shared.
Individuals are guided through a process of silently documenting what they need, how urgent their needs are, and what they're willing to pay (if anything) to have their needs met.
Needs are shared with the same group, using the same method as offers. Throughout the process, participants record needs they may be able to help fulfill, and network once all needs have been shared.
Participants move to another group to repeat the process with new people.
Results
%
Feel more confident expressing what they need and can offer their community
%
Meet a possible collaborator
%
Plan to source more of their goods locally
%
Meet a possible employer
Praise for the OANM
“The Offers and Needs Market is an exciting way to get people thinking about what is most important to their wellbeing. It's been an effective way to get people comfortable with interacting through the time bank here in Chicago, which is, at its heart, about relationships.”
“The Offers and Needs Market is a wonderful tool for creating an active, mutually supportive, interdependent community from any group.”
“The Offers and Needs Market shifts our relationships in a profound way. This is empowering people to be more than just consumers; they become engaged citizens caring for one another.”
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