Block party fundraisers

A neighborhood association's fundamental problem is not money — it is that most of the people who live there have never heard of it. A block party fixes that in one afternoon, and an auction attached to it turns the afternoon into a project and a list.

Why the party matters more than the auction

• It reaches households no mailing does, including renters and new arrivals
• It is the one context where knocking on a door is welcome
• It creates the relationships that make every future ask possible
• It costs very little and needs no permission from anybody's board
• And people who have met their neighbours give to their neighbourhood

Run the party for its own sake and let the auction ride on it.

The practical business first

• A street closure permit, which most cities issue for block parties and which takes lead time
• Notice to every affected household, including the ones not attending
• Emergency vehicle access maintained
• Insurance, which some cities require and which an unincorporated group should think about
• Alcohol, which in a public street is usually a separate question and frequently a no
• Accessibility — a street party on a street is generally good, but check surfaces, seating and toilets

Reach every household, not the usual ones

The block party is where the legitimacy problem is fixed or entrenched.

• Letterbox every address, including apartments, not just the association's list
• Ask building managers to post in lobbies
• Knock on doors on the streets that never come
• Make it free to attend, with food provided rather than ticketed
• Provide for people who cannot contribute food, without making it visible
• And put signage up a fortnight ahead so it is not a surprise

Attaching the auction

• Open it a week or two before and close it at the party
• QR codes on the flyer, the signage and the tables
• A display table where the food is
• One announcement, short, when people are eating
• And bidding on a phone, which suits an outdoor afternoon perfectly

Capture the households — this is the point

Every person at that party is somebody the association could not otherwise reach. A sign-up sheet, a QR code, a prize draw entry that collects an address — any of them, once, and the association's reach is permanently different.

Ask for street and email rather than for membership. Membership is a bigger commitment than a stranger at a barbecue will make; a contact is not.

Items that suit the day

• Neighbours' own skills — a day's gardening, a repair, a haircut, a lesson
• Dinner cooked and hosted by a neighbour
• A parking space, for a street where parking is scarce
• Use of a neighbour's driveway, tools, trailer or ladder for a weekend
• Local business certificates from the nearest commercial strip
• A kid-run stall's proceeds, which children in the neighbourhood will happily organize

The neighbour's skill is the item to build. It sells well, it costs the donor a morning, and the transaction itself introduces two households to each other — which is what the association exists for.

Do it annually and in the same month

The compounding matters more than any single year's total. A block party in its fourth year has a date people expect, a list, a reputation and a set of returning donors — and the association has become something residents recognise.

General information, not legal or tax advice. A homeowners association and a voluntary neighborhood association are different entities with different powers and different tax treatment — check your own governing documents and exemption status before telling anybody a contribution is deductible.