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How to grow your neighbourhood with mailed invitation letters

Written by #TeamNextdoor

Nextdoor connects you to the people and places near you. Unlike other social networks, Nextdoor is based on proximity. This  creates  an emerging form of social infrastructure that unites people who might not otherwise know one another, to build stronger relationships where it matters the most: the neighbourhood. 

Since Nextdoor’s launch,  neighbour-to-neighbour invitation letters have been one of the top tools neighbours use to connect and welcome each other to the neighbourhood. 

Meet Nancy, a Windsor Neighbour who uses invitation letters to grow her neighbourhood.

Why invitation letters? 

Thriving neighbourhoods are built by reaching out to neighbours we don’t know and inviting them to build a stronger community together.

 According to a Nextdoor Canada study, 38 per cent of Canadians know only one or two of their neighbours. Nextdoor can help you form meaningful connections with your neighbours in the real world. 

When Nextdoor was first introduced, members requested neighbour-to-neighbour invitations as a way to invite neighbours, most of whom they didn’t know, to join Nextdoor. The letters were so well received that we decided to build them into the platform. Today, people in neighbourhoods  all over the world continue to choose to send these free invitations to their neighbours. 

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An invitation you can trust

Nextdoor is made up of the real people that make up your neighborhood. We ensure that conversations and interactions on the platform are between you and your neighbours, creating trust and mutual accountability. 

Every single invitation sent is sent with the sender’s permission. We provide detailed information about how the process works and what appears on the invitation letter: your name, your street name, and information about your local community. 

It is remarkable to see the good that happens when neighbours have an easy way to connect. We’ve been inspired by our neighbours who go above and beyond to build strong, connected neighbourhoods. Neighbours like Eva, who launched the Coffee Society group in Toronto and brings neighbours together each week to share a cup of coffee with a side of great conversation. Or Susan, who rallied her neighbours to send Christmas cards to an elderly neighbour bringing holiday joy to a care home at this important time.

 At Nextdoor, we strive to provide a platform that makes it easy to reach out to those around you to build stronger, real world connections in your neighbourhoods. In the words of one of our neighbours: “you might just meet someone wonderful.” 

As always, we encourage you to contact us directly with feedback and questions. 

Here are the top questions members ask about our invitations:

What happens when I allow Nextdoor to mail letters on my behalf?

When you allow Nextdoor to print & mail invitation letters on your behalf, you are giving permission to periodically send a neighbourly invite to nearby neighbours who aren’t already on Nextdoor. This invite will include your name, street name & helpful information about Nextdoor to encourage them to join your neighbourhood on Nextdoor. 

We may continue to mail letters on your behalf while your Invitation letters setting is toggled on. Once you opt in and given permission, you can opt-out any time. Opting out will cancel any invitations that haven’t been processed for mailing and ensures Nextdoor no longer sends invitation letters on your behalf until you provide us your permission again.

My neighbour received an invitation from me, but I don’t remember sending it.

Every invitation sent to neighbours is done with the sender’s permission. You are asked when you first sign up if you’d like to send invitations to your neighbourhood. The invitation contains the name and street name of the sender so that your neighbours know who this invitation is from.

How can I control whether I am opted in or out?

By going into Privacy Settings, under the Invitation Letters section, you can toggle between allowing or not allowing Nextdoor to mail letters on your behalf. This setting defaults to opt-out and is only set to opt-in when you confirm when you first join or when you send invitations.

If you learn about invitation letters through an email or promo, select opt-out to indicate you do not want Nextdoor to send invitation letters on your behalf and invitation letters will not be sent.

My neighbour received an invitation from me, but I don’t remember sending it.  I don’t know why my neighbour received a letter from me.Every invitation that is sent to someone on behalf of a Nextdoor neighbour is done with that neighbour’s permission. To make connecting with neighbours easier for you, we work with Canada Post to mail these invitations on your behalf for free. As a  Nextdoor user, you can opt-in to send invitation letters to your neighbours. When you opt in to sending invitations, we ask for your confirmation twice before we process any invitations for mailing. 

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I don’t know the neighbour on my invitation letter. Is this letter really from them?

Yes, this letter is a neighbour-to-neighbour invitation. Your neighbour has chosen to invite members of the neighbourhood–including yourself– to join Nextdoor and with the sender’s permission we sent the letter on their behalf. It was delivered to you by Canada Post. 

I accidentally clicked to send invitation letters. How can I cancel them?

If you accidentally chose to send invitation letters or changed your mind, stop further invitation letters from being sent by accessing your privacy settings on Nextdoor, then scroll to the bottom of the page and unclick “allow Nextdoor to mail invitation letters on your behalf.” Then contact our Support Team here.

Are these invitation letters spam, or a scam?

No: every letter is sent by a neighbour on Nextdoor, who would like to grow their Nextdoor neighbourhood to build a stronger local community.

I’d like to provide feedback about the invitation letters. How can I do this?

We welcome your feedback: please click here to send us yours

Thank you for inviting your neighbours to Nextdoor!

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