Draft of House Party Article
ROUGH DRAFT AND NOTES:
LIVE BUT NOT MENU POSTED
House party
https://volunteerblue.org/action-recipe/vbs-how-to-guide-for-hosting-a-political-action-house-party/
https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/435
House Party Q&A
1. What is a House Party? It is a party at your house (SMILE EMOJI) that also serves as a cozy little fundraiser held by supporters and designed to bring friends, family, and new acquaintances together in a specifically political way.
2. Who can host a party? In general, any US citizen can host a party to support a candidate for office or issue involved in a federal or state elections. (There are restrictions on noncitizens, so this gets a little tricker. If this applies to you or those you might invite, you should do your own research ...LINK....(BILL TO RESEARCH THIS MORE)
3. What does a House Party look like? It can look like anything you want it to: Warm summer evening in the garden; Game Day in the family room; Barbeque out of the garage; College friends gathered in the common room of your apartment complex; Kids and grandparents gathered at the park in a park shelter you reserved. It can be a "hot wings and ranch", "brats and beers" or "wine and cheese" crowd - your call and your menu. By their nature, these parties tend to short - typically 1-2 hours is about right. There should be time for mingling but a short but clear program early on to introduce the host and special guests, layout your support for the candidate, thank people for coming, and ask for donations. Let people know you will be sharing information on the house party, including attendee lists and photos, with the campaign. If anyone asks to be kept "off list" then by all means respect their wishes.
4. I don't live in a house, can I still host? If you don't own a home then maybe team up with a co-host who has space --- or you can host it an any other "non-venue" type space that you have the right to reserve, is willing to allow political-themed gatherings, and which is free or has only a nominal registration fee. The more commercial or expensive the venue, the more you might hit up against some campaign finance limits (more on that later). If you keep it all low key and low fee, you should be good.
5. Do I have to ask for money? Money is essential to campaigns. Donations, even small ones, are a tangible form of support someone can give a candidate long before election day. Those donations are seeds that grow fruit. So while you could gather just to cheer folks on, the "fundraiser" part of a House Party is the key point. At the right moment in your party, there will be some speaking in support of the candidate or cause, and you just state matter-of-factly "Jane Smith is investing in us by running for this office, and we need to invest in her. We hosted this party to help encourage people to get to know and her and to make a tangible donation to her campaign. Please donate to Jane now, and here's how ...."
6. Do I handle the money? NO NO NO. You are hosting a party to share your appreciation and support for a candidate or cause and to encourage people to give. But when they give, they are giving To The Campaign. This is where the logistics, support, compliance rules and fundraising tools all have to work together.
Most candidates today are set up for electronic donations and let's face it, most everyone will have their phone. So if the candidate has an electronic option, this part is easy. Have the website links handy (print a QR code) and encourage guest to pull out their phone and make their donation right then. Have friends help the less tech-savvy ones with getting to campaigns website and following the prompts. Electronic donation is best because it is immediate - and also because the electronic process gathers all the donor info the campaign will need for reporting.
Depending on age and nature of your party guest, you may have some who "just don't do electronic." You can help those by having some pre-addressed envelopes available with a suitable donor information paper form and ask them to fill it all out, put their check in and seal up the envelope. Put out a basket, you can add your donated stamps, and You the Host drop all the envelops off at the post office that night or the very next day. The checks and the envelopes are all made out BY the individual donor TO the candidate - you are just a friend taking mail to the post office.
This same check and paper process also works well for small local races - like city commission or school board. In those cases, though, it is even more likely the candidate or their representative will be there as a guest and they will have the materials and be able to accept the donations themselves.
Under no circumstances should you accept money from anyone and send it to the campaign under your name (that's a huge No No). Each donor must make their contribution directly to the candidate via traceable financial means (electronic or check, no cash) AND provide the required personal information for campaign finance reporting. As host, you cannot be the go-between on financials and you never want to mingle donor money with your own.
For this same reason, you should not ask for financial donations to cover your costs for the party. The campaign itself will run other fundraisers where they charge tickets to cover the event cost and net donations - but those are reported by the campaign in their finance reports differently. Your "House Party" needs to be a labor of love and generosity. Several co-hosts can divvy up the expenses (see question XX for limits) and you can certainly make the food and drinks "potluck" to keep expenses down. But if attendees want to tip you something to "help out", kindly let them know you can't accept it and that the best way they can help is to give generously to the candidate or cause.
7. Do I need permission from the candidate to host my party? Actually, No. You have a 1st Amendment right to speech and assembly. If you decide to gather 10 friends for politics over wings and football, or wine and cheese, or whatever - then do it. It is your party. If you care enough about a candidate to host a party for them, chances are you already know enough to be an advocate --- but you can always research the news and websites and give their office a call to learn more. Remind those who come that "this our party, for the candidate" and not an event of the campaign itself. Some campaigns may have a deliberate strategy in support of house parties and may have a kit with talking points and "swag" (buttons, posters, stickers, etc). If so, then by all means request those supports. Other campaigns may not be quite so focused on house parties - but that need not hold you back.
8. Does the candidate need to come? No, and for most larger races it isn't practical. The candidates may selectively plan a few of their own events that they call house parties, but those are often larger and a little different in tone than what we are describing here. This is your party. If a candidate or their staff do come to your house party, they would do so as your guest and not as the host. When your party is over, it is a good practice to email a summary of your event to them so they know. Best if you can include a list of attendees with complete contact information as well as some photos (make sure people in the photo are all ok with their image being shared).
9. Can I only support one candidate at a time? While most parties focus on just one, you can host a party themed for several candidates or a slate. It might get a little more complex and the focus may get diluted. But its your party. If you have multiple candidates to support, you will need donation resource materials for each one and the donations themselves must obviously go direct from each donor to each individual campaign they chose.
10. How much may I spend? The limits vary depending on the race. Races of US President and Congress (both House and Senate) are governed by the Federal Election Commission, which says ................... State and local races are governed by state law and at times, local ordinances. For Kansas, the __________ says ................... It is a general principle that personal volunteer time is not reported or treated as an expense. So if you bake the cookies yourself it is just the grocery bill you need to watch. If multiple co-hosts go together on a party, each host is responsible for abiding by their personal limits. And the limits are counted as a total per candidate during an entire cycle, so if you want to see a series of house parties for a single candidate, it is best if you host the first one and then encourage others to host the remainder. While it may not be strictly requried, it is a good idea to document the expenses on an event and keep your receipts just in case. (BILL TO RESEARCH AND REFINE THIS)
(Note: The guidelines relative to campaign finance rules have been taken from a good faith reading of the applicable manuals relative from both federal and state of Kansas authorities, applicable to the 2026 campaign, along with other readings on house parties. The author is not a lawyer and the material may contain inadvertent errors. Citations are provided so house party hosts should feel free to read for themselves. Some of the guidelines given above may even suggest more cautious limits than the regulations require. If errors are noticed, please contact XXXXX) (BILL TO RESEARCH AND REFINE THIS