How to Run Events and Raise Money on a Brooklyn Open Street

Brooklyn's open streets are among the best community fundraising venues the borough has. The foot traffic is high, neighbors are already in a convivial mood, and the car-free environment creates a kind of shared civic energy that makes people receptive to community asks. Here's how to make the most of it — whether you're setting up a simple donation table or running a full programming day.

The simplest approach: a community table

The lowest-barrier way to fundraise on an open street is to set up a table during regular open street hours. You'll need:

• Permission from the open street organizer: contact the block association, BID, or neighborhood group that holds the permit. Most open street organizers welcome community tables — they add to the energy — but you should ask in advance rather than just showing up with a folding table.
• A table, chairs, and a sign: keep it simple. A clear banner with your cause and a large QR code to your donation page will do most of the work.
• A donation link: a QR code linked to your online donation page is faster and more reliable than cash collection, though having a jar for cash is useful too. Keep fees low so more of what you raise goes to the cause.
• 2–3 people: someone to talk to passersby, someone to handle donations, someone to hand out flyers. You don't need a big team.

Bake sales and food tables

Bake sale tables are perennially effective on open streets — the foot traffic is there, everyone is already in a spend-a-little mood from the surrounding cafés and vendors, and baked goods are an easy impulse purchase. A few tips:

• Post the bake sale on the block group chat and neighborhood Facebook groups the day before to drive foot traffic specifically to your table
• Price items clearly and keep prices accessible ($2–$5 range moves fastest)
• Have a donation jar and QR code for people who want to give more than the price of a cookie
• Coordinate with the open street organizer so your table is placed in a high-traffic spot

Organizing a full programming event

If you want to do something bigger — a community fair, a fundraising festival, a neighborhood celebration with multiple tables and activities — you're essentially programming a section of the open street. This requires more coordination:

• Work with the open street organizer: they hold the permit and control the space; your event needs to fit within their framework or they need to co-sponsor it
• Plan your footprint: how many tables, how much space, what activities? Keep it appropriately scaled for the street — an open street is a shared resource, not a venue you have to yourself
• Consider a Street Activity Permit for a larger event: if you want to close additional street space or run an amplified event, you may need your own permit through NYC's MOCCAM office; see the block party planning guide for permit logistics
• Promote it in advance: use the open street's existing social media channels (ask the organizer to post), your own neighborhood networks, and a press tip to local outlets like the Brooklyn Paper or your neighborhood blog

Connecting open street fundraising to an online campaign

The open street is a great in-person launch pad for a campaign that lives primarily online. Use the day to:

• Introduce your cause to neighbors who don't follow you online
• Collect email addresses for future updates (a paper sign-up sheet or a tablet with a form)
• Drive QR code scans to your donation page — first-time visitors who give on the street often become recurring online donors
• Create photos and video content for your social media and campaign updates — open street events are visually compelling and perform well on Instagram

What to raise money for

Open street fundraising works well for causes with a natural neighborhood connection. The best performers:

• The open street program itself — stewarding costs, programming, supplies, and organizational overhead are real expenses; fundraising for the open street builds community ownership of the program
• Block association projects — tree pits, planters, lights, and block beautification are easy asks in a neighborhood that can literally see its own street
• School and PTA campaigns — parents on their way to or from the open street are a captive and sympathetic audience for school fundraisers
• Community gardens — open street neighbors respond well to greening asks; a photo of the garden you're trying to fund makes the connection concrete
• Mutual aid and local support funds — the open street community ethos makes people receptive to neighbor-helping-neighbor asks

See the Vanderbilt Avenue open street guide for the Prospect Heights context, and the Brooklyn open streets guide for a survey of programs across the borough. For block association event planning more broadly, see the block association events guide.