Joining the Dots: Rethinking Value in Dundee
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
What if organisations could become richer without filling in another funding application?
That was one of the reflections shared at the end of Dundee Dots — a five-month pilot project led by Danielle and Darryl Gaffney du Plooy exploring a simple but powerful question:
Can Dundee build a culture where value flows more freely — where collaboration is easier, resources are shared openly, and organisations thrive through cooperation rather than competition?
What is Dundee Dots?
Dundee Dots is a mutual-credit exchange system designed for community organisations. Instead of trading in pounds, participants exchanged support using “Dots” — a simple internal credit. Everyone started at zero. Organisations could offer what they had and receive what they needed.
But the currency itself was never the main point. The deeper aim was to make collaboration easier, reveal underused skills and space, and explore more circular, regenerative ways of working across Dundee’s third and creative sectors.
Across 16 weeks, 13 organisations took part — including community groups, charities and creative enterprises — and over 40 exchanges took place.
Room hire. Board-game facilitation. Design critique. Harvest boxes. Social media support. First Aid training. A “man with a van”. Even a wormery!
The pilot showed just how much value already exists in Dundee — and how often it remains hidden.
More Connected Than We Think?
Dundee has a vibrant third sector. Yet several participants reflected that the assumption “everyone is already connected” doesn’t quite hold up.
Day-to-day pressures, tight budgets and staff burnout mean opportunities for collaboration are easily missed. Organisations often work in parallel rather than in partnership.
Dundee Dots created a gentle structure to reconnect. As one participant put it, it became “a vehicle to meet people”.
The most powerful exchanges often began not with a spreadsheet, but with a conversation.
What Worked — and What Didn’t
The pilot was intentionally experimental. It was designed to test, not to perfect.
Time is the scarcest resource
Across interviews, workshops and surveys, one theme dominated: time.
The third sector is time scarce. Participation took energy. The spreadsheet ledger sometimes felt like “another time sponge”. Even coordinating volunteer swaps required capacity that organisations didn’t always have.
The learning was clear: collaboration does not happen automatically. It needs light but consistent stewardship. When coordinators introduced people, prompted exchanges, and clarified offers, momentum grew.
Relationships matter more than currency
Some participants found assigning Dot values difficult — especially for physical goods with a clear cash price. Others felt the system risked “adding a layer of complexity” to exchanges that might otherwise happen informally.
For some, Dots felt “just another currency”. Yet something deeper was happening.
Participants began to revalue their own skills. Poster design. Event facilitation. Strategic thinking. Transport support. These were recognised as meaningful, tradeable assets.
One organisation reflected they had been “short selling ourselves”, and were told by peers: “That’s worth a lot more than you think it’s worth.”
The currency helped track flow — but relationships, trust and mutual recognition were the real drivers.
Shifting the Meaning of Value
Dundee Dots sits within a wider regenerative conversation happening across the city — one that questions the idea that money is the only meaningful measure of value.
By encouraging organisations to list their offers and needs, the pilot made hidden resources visible: spare space, surplus food, facilitation skills, creative expertise, time.
It also surfaced hesitation. Some organisations worried about over-committing. Others were unsure what was “appropriate” to offer. Larger organisations found that frontline staff handling bookings and deliveries sometimes didn’t recognise Dots — leading to missed opportunities.
These frictions were not failures, but insights.
They revealed that value is multi-layered, internal communication matters, and culture change is as important as system design.
And perhaps most importantly, they showed a strong appetite for doing things differently.
Participants welcomed playful, low-pressure gatherings. They wanted more opportunities to visit each other’s spaces. They felt that “the benefits are only just coming”.
Why This Matters for Dundee
At a time when many organisations are stretched financially and emotionally, even small exchanges can make a meaningful difference.
Dundee Dots demonstrated potential impact across three levels:
Environmental: encouraging reuse, reducing waste, circulating surplus.
Economic: helping organisations stretch budgets and access support without additional financial pressure.
Social: strengthening relationships, building trust, and increasing collective resilience.
It asks Dundee to imagine a local economy that is more circular, more connected, and more people-centred. Its aim was not to create a perfect system where money is replaced, but to conduct a practical experiment to test if the Dots system could reveal hidden value that is often missed in monetary transactions.
What Happens Next?
The pilot strongly suggests that Dundee Dots is worth continuing.
The recommendations are clear:
Light coordination (just a few hours a week) to hold the space and match offers with needs.
A simpler, more visual marketplace tool.
A broader and more diverse network of participants.
A monthly, one-hour social rhythm to keep relationships alive.
Because the real engine of Dundee Dots isn’t the currency. It’s trust, generosity, and community.
It’s the willingness to question old assumptions about scarcity and explore what becomes possible when value flows more freely.
The pilot doesn’t answer every question. But it offers a hopeful signal: when organisations are given permission, structure and support to experiment, they are ready to join the dots.
