Virtual Fundraising House Parties 101

Why Have a Virtual House Party?

Virtual house parties have many of the same benefits as in-person house parties. They’re fun for attendees and relatively easy to plan and execute. They provide an informal way to share about your work, network, and boost morale for members. 

Holding a house party virtually also has additional benefits. 

1. It’s inexpensive. Costs will likely be lower than hosting a house party in person since you won’t need to pay for food, and you may also save on costs like printed invitations or presentation equipment. 
2. It’s accessible. Holding a party online allows for community members to attend regardless of where they live or their mobility.

House parties allow for an emphasis on relationship building, a key component of fundraising. When people get to hear first-hand testimonials of the impact your group has had and have one-on-one conversations with members, they form a more personal connection  This relational aspect is key to the success of a house party, and it’s important to think creatively about how to create opportunities for relationship building in an online setting. You can find more details and ideas in the “Program” section below. 

Set Your Goals

What is the goal of your house party? Having clear goals will drive the entire planning process and give your group the ability to reflect and improve for the future. Try to make your goals “SMART”: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

For example, you could set the goals:

• Fundraising goal: Raise $500 at the event (on top of any costs), with at least 10 new donors giving
• Attendance/networking goal: 35 people attend the event, with at least 20 non-Indivisible members who may be interested in learning about your upcoming actions
• Engagement goal: At least 10 people asked or answered questions during the call, either via the chat or video. 

Choose Your Online Meeting Tool

Early on in your planning, you’ll want to decide what tool you’ll use to host the online meeting. There are various options with different features and costs. Here are a few that may work for you:

• Zoom. Zoom costs $15 per month and allows you to host meetings with up to 100 people. It has a chat feature, and allows you to break up attendees into smaller “rooms” to have more intimate conversations. You can view a basic Zoom tutorial here.
• Google Hangouts. You can use Google hangouts for free when you have a google account. For online events it’s best to get a paid account for $6-$15 per month, which will be more reliable for video conferencing. Google hangouts has a chat feature and is integrated with G Suite. You can find more information here.
• Facebook video chat. Facebook video chat is a free tool that can host up to 50 people at a time. This would be a good tool to use if your group and their connections are already familiar with and active on facebook. You can find more information here.

Tip: You can use funds from the distributed fundraising program to pay for any of these tools. 

Plan the House Party

Once you know your goals, don’t forget these important details:

• Host Committee: We recommend first creating a “host committee” that is responsible for putting everything together! This should include “worker bees” who manage logistics, “connectors” who invite people, and a host. Though the host won’t be hosting in their physical space, this should be a committed group member who will welcome and thank the attendees. . (Note: committee members can definitely take on more than one role.)
• Timing: When deciding when to hold your virtual house party, be sure to consider key dates, such as holidays and annual community events that might compete with yours. Also be sure to give yourself enough time to send out invitations and get the event on folks’ busy calendars.
• Budget: Create a simple budget for the costs of the event. One benefit of hosting a virtual house party is that costs are lower than in-person house parties. 
• Invite List: Remember that this is a fundraising event when creating your list. Focus your list on those with the ability to donate and likely interest in Indivisible’s work (capacity and proclivity are key!). Encourage attendees to forward the invitation to a friend or associate to help grow the list.
• Promotion: You can invite people online through sites such as Evite or Punchbowl. Be clear in your invite that it is a fundraiser so people are primed to consider donating. Include a “RSVP by” date and don’t be afraid to reach out directly via calls, texts, and emails to confirm RSVPs! Be sure to include a link to your video conference meeting “room” in the invitation. Evite has an integrated tool to make this easy. If your event isn’t private, you may consider using social media to promote and raise awareness. Check out our sample event invitation here.

We’ve also put together a helpful party planning checklist that can be found here. Some of these list items (like food and venue) won’t apply for virtual house parties, but many will.

Details to Consider

Sign Up

If you're using a tool with preregistration like Zoom, be sure to collect the attendees’ phone number and any other relevant contact information so that you can follow up with them after the event. If you can’t collect that information up front, consider asking for it as folks arrive to the meeting, either via one-on-one chat or a Google form. 

Reminder Email

Depending on what tool you use to hold your virtual house party, the registrants may automatically receive a reminder email the day before the event. If not, be sure to email a reminder with the time and link to join. 

Program

Create a brief agenda or run of show to keep yourself on track, including who says what. Key items to cover are:

1. Introductions (host): Welcome guests and be sure to thank the host committee.
2. Social time: At an in-person house party, it’s more organic for attendees to chat with one another. During a virtual house party, you’ll need to make a plan for how you’ll engage attendees. Zoom allows you to separate attendees into virtual “breakout rooms” with small groups to facilitate more intimate conversations. You can also use the chat feature to ask questions or ask attendees to share with one another. This is an opportunity to be creative in the way that you replicate the social experience! 
3. Present Your Group: Present what your group has done, the impact of your work, and describe how the funds you raise will help you achieve more. This could be a formal powerpoint presentation, or a speech with a couple anecdotes about your work, or both. Either way, consider how you’re framing your work and connecting it to the change you are trying to make; needing support to buy paper isn’t exciting, but saving healthcare is!   Be proud of your successes and use these as a testament to why people should support you. Make your remarks more relevant by speaking about current events, both local and national. You can use this fundraising pitch guide to get started planning your presentation. 
4. Ask: Make an ask! (See next section.)

You could also consider having influential community members speak, but be sure they stay on message and keep their comments brief. We urge you to use caution when inviting members of your community who are running for office. You need to make sure that the event is NOT tied to any coordinated election work as this would be considered ILLEGAL under our IRS tax status.

Sample internal agenda:

• 6:15pm: Host and other key speakers log into meeting
• 6:30 pm: Guests begin calling in. Host greets and thanks attendees as they log in, asking folks to introduce themselves in the chat. 
• 6:40pm Break attendees into “rooms” of 4 people and ask them to introduce themselves, their relationship with your group, what issues are important to them
• 7:00 pm: Bring all attendees back to main meeting. Aisha (host) welcomes guests  and thanks host committee.
• 7:05 pm: Group leader speaks about the growth of Indivisible Antarctica and the impact she has personally seen visiting Senator Penguin’s office during the TaxScam fight.
• 7:15 pm: Show video of Indivisible Antarctica’s most recent action.
• 7:20 pm: Jose makes a direct ask, describing what support is needed and what Indivisible Antarctica will be able to do with those resources. Mention how to donate, and put the link in the chat. Thank all guests for attending and ask that they get involved both by joining your group and through a contribution
• 7:30 pm: Break guests into rooms of 6 people, each with a group leader or member of the host committee, to discuss Indivisible Antarctica's work and thank them for coming. 
• 7:45pm Bring all attendees back to main meeting; closing statements and log off 

Asking for support

This is part of the program, but we want to break it out to reiterate how important the “ask” is. A few tips:

1. Some people get nervous to make an “ask,” so we recommend practicing the exact language you’d like to use ahead of time. You can say: “We’d like to invite you to donate today so we can accomplish our goals,” “I hope you’ll consider contributing $50 to support our work,” “If you’re able to make a donation, the funds we raise today will allow us to…”
2. Remember, be direct with your ask and don’t be shy! You are giving your guests the opportunity to support a great cause.
3. Ask and wait. After you make a direct ask, give your prospective donor the opportunity to respond. Making an ask can feel uncomfortable at first, so be mindful of wait time and don’t talk yourself out of it.
4. Setting suggested contribution levels, and/or clarifying what you can accomplish with different levels of giving, will encourage people to give at greater levels. Where possible, you can tailor specific contribution levels to the individual you’re asking based on previous support.
5. Sometimes, a co-host or another attendee will agree ahead of time to match donations made at the house party, up to a certain amount. That’s a great way let people feel their impact is doubled.
6. A co-host or another attendee can also agree ahead of time to commit to giving at the party. This will get momentum going for others to join in!
7. To take in contributions from the ActBlue page most effectively, we recommend pasting the donate link in the chat multiple times. Be sure a member of the host committee monitors the chat to answer any questions about donating. 

Follow-up and Reflect

Your work isn’t done when the event is over. You will want to follow up individually with attendees and thank them for attending. If they did not contribute, this is another opportunity to make an ask. Include a link to your ActBlue page for those who haven’t given yet!

After your follow up, you will want to debrief with the host committee and assess how well your event achieved your goals. What was the attendance and what feedback did you hear from attendees? How much did you raise? How many new contacts did you make? How many prospective donors did you cultivate? Were you able to successfully allow for relationship building in an online setting? Compare your results with the goals that were outlined when you planned the event. Use what you learned to build on your success and make improvements for your next house party!