Dear Kim Q&A Column Archive

REPEATING HOUSE PARTIES

Dear Kim:

Our small national organization has 12 regions around the country. We do fundraising nationally and regionally, with a strong belief that people like to give to something that is making a difference in their own communities. Over the last year, several of our regions took the plunge and hosted house parties - all were quite successful! This year, some of these same regions are saying, "We did a house party last year. Why do it again? Who would we invite?" I'm thinking that we should build on our success and expand our reach by choosing different hosts and different themes or projects - we shouldn't just stop after a year. Are we beating a dead horse here, or should we wake the horse up and keep on riding? Any thoughts or suggestions?

--Giddy-Up or Whoa?

Dear Giddy:

Saddle up and head out! Seriously, one of the main benefits of house parties is that they can be repeated. The people who come to a house party can be approached to hold their own party with their own friends and this can go on, almost like multi-level marketing, for a long time. Your instinct to have different hosts and different themes is exactly right. You will get some people coming back to hear more about what you have accomplished and they will bring friends. New hosts will have a whole new crowd of people. This can definitely be a yearly activity for at least four or five years. At that point, it is possible that everyone you could possibly invite will have been invited and every theme will have been used, but you can cross that bridge (or ride over it) when you come to it!

--Kim Klein