Your first exchange on Golden Hint, step by step

This guide is for any member charity about to do its first exchange on Golden Hint, whether you're getting help or giving it. An exchange is one charity helping another through the Expertise Exchange, recorded in credits. Credits are a record of contribution within the community. They have no cash value, they aren't a donation and they aren't tax-deductible. After reading, you'll know what happens at each step, what the credits do along the way, and what to do if plans change.

Before you start

• Get verified. Our staff check every organization before it can post or propose an exchange. For a registered charity, that means matching it to the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations using its EIN.
• Check your starting balance. A verified charity receives a welcome grant of 5 credits. A member in the founder tier, for charities still forming, receives a starter grant of 10 credits once checked. Your balance may go down to −5 credits, so you can get help before you've had the chance to give any.
• Read the rules once. The credit rules and the community guidelines are short. This guide follows them; if they ever disagree, the rules win.

Step 1: Post, or find a listing

There are two ways in.

• Post a listing. On the Exchange, post an offer (help your charity can give) or a request (help you're looking for). You choose the area, write a title and details, pick a format and suggest the hours and credits. Our guides on asking for skilled help and offering your expertise explain how to write a good one.
• Answer a listing or a match. Browse the Exchange, or look at your matches: charities that are strong in what you need, and need what you're strong in. From a listing or an organization's profile, you can propose an exchange.

Step 2: Propose an exchange

A proposal is a short, specific offer of an agreement. It says:

• who helps whom: "they help us" or "we help them";
• the scope: what will be done, and what "done" means;
• the format: a one-off video call, a document review, mentoring over several weeks, a workshop, or a short secondment of staff time;
• the credits: one hour of help is worth 1 credit, whatever the skill. A piece of work with a clear finish line can instead be a fixed-scope task, priced at an agreed number of credits between 0.5 and 20;
• when it should be finished, if there's a date that matters.

Write the scope as if a stranger will read it in six months. If there's ever a question about what was agreed, this is what everyone will look at.

Step 3: Agree, decline or talk first

The other charity sees your proposal and can:

• message you first to ask questions or suggest changes;
• agree, which turns the proposal into an agreement;
• decline, which closes it. A "no" is normal. It usually means "not now" or "not the right fit".

You can cancel your own proposal at any time before it's agreed.

Step 4: The credits are held

When the exchange is agreed, the credits are held. They're set aside from the balance of the charity getting help and marked as pending. They still count in that charity's balance, but it can't spend them elsewhere. Nothing has moved yet.

The receiving charity needs enough credits available for the hold, counting the −5 floor. If it doesn't have enough, the exchange can't be agreed yet.

Step 5: Do the work

Now the actual help happens. Messages and file attachments in an exchange are private to the two organizations, and to our staff only if there's a dispute or a report. Our guide on working with a volunteer expert covers the kickoff, keeping the work moving and what to do when the job starts to grow.

The community guidelines ask both sides to:

• do what you agreed, when you agreed;
• tell the other side early if something changes;
• treat what's shared in an exchange as confidential;
• say so if something is outside what you know, and if you're a licensed professional, be clear whether you're giving general guidance or acting in your professional role.

Step 6: Both sides confirm

When the work is done, both charities confirm completion. Only when both have confirmed do the held credits move to the charity that gave the help. Confirm promptly, so the other side isn't left waiting.

Step 7: Leave a review

Once the exchange is completed, each side can leave a short review. Reviews must be honest and fair: never trade good reviews, and never pressure anyone into one. About a week after the exchange ends, you'll also be asked a short "did it help?" check-in. Golden Hint shows those answers only in totals, and only once there are at least five answers.

If plans change

• The exchange isn't needed any more. Either side can cancel a proposed or agreed exchange. If credits were held, the hold is released and they go back to the charity that would have spent them. The rules describe cancelling as something you do before work starts.
• The other side hasn't confirmed. The credits stay held. Send a friendly reminder first; people get busy.
• You disagree about whether the work was done, or how many credits it was worth. Either side can raise a dispute. The credits stay held while the Golden Hint team reviews what was agreed, the messages in the exchange and what each side tells us. The team aims to decide within 14 days, then decides where the held credits go and tells both sides why.
• Someone behaves badly. You can report a problem or block an organization. The community guidelines explain how.

A worked example

Here's how a first exchange might look. The organizations are made up.

1. A small youth soccer league posts a request: "Review our volunteer handbook for safeguarding gaps, about two hours."
2. A family support charity that runs a large volunteer program proposes an exchange: they help the league, document review, 2 credits, finished within three weeks.
3. The league asks one question by message, then agrees. Two of its credits are held.
4. The family support charity sends a marked-up handbook through the exchange's messages, and the two talk for 20 minutes.
5. Both confirm completion. The 2 credits move to the family support charity, which can spend them on help it needs.
6. Both leave a short review, and answer the check-in a week later.

Your first exchange checklist

• Our organization is verified, and we know our starting balance.
• We've read the credit rules and the community guidelines.
• We've posted a listing, or found a listing or match to answer.
• Our proposal says who helps whom, the scope, the format, the credits and the finish date.
• We agreed before any work started.
• We kept files and messages inside the exchange and treated them as confidential.
• We told the other side early when anything changed.
• We confirmed completion promptly once the work was done.
• We left an honest review.

Every exchange starts with one small ask or one small offer. Ready for yours? Go to the Exchange.