How Nextdoor Is Cultivating A Kinder World By Celebrating The Best Neighbors In America With The Nextdoor 100

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 29: In this photo illustration, the homepage of Nextdoor, the neighborhood app, is seen on a computer screen on April 29, 2021 in New York City. Nextdoor is the app where you plug into the neighborhoods that matter to you. Neighbors turn to Nextdoor daily to receive trusted information, give and get help, and build real-world connections with those nearby — neighbors, local businesses, and public agencies. | Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Nextdoor

Nextdoor is a hyperlocal social networking platform where you connect to the people and neighborhoods that matter to you. Neighbors around the world turn to Nextdoor daily to receive trusted information, give and get help, get things done, and build real-world connections with those nearby — neighbors, businesses, and public services.

Last month Nextdoor revealed the winners of the Nextdoor 100, a nationwide celebration of the super amazing supportive, surprising, creative, compassionate, never-not-there-when-you-need them neighbors. Unlike other award programs, this ‘for neighbors, by neighbors’ celebration shines a light on the people who make a difference in our everyday lives, but don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Over 46,000 entries poured in from city centers, suburbs, small towns and rural communities across America. While the stories are as varied as the individuals, the common theme was acts of kindness, big and small, that help create neighborhoods everyone can rely on. These first-ever Nextdoor 100 honorees include neighbors, small business owners and local organizations who are making a difference in their neighborhoods.

I sat down with Maryam Banikarim, outgoing Head of Marketing, Community and Global at Nextdoor to learn more about Nextdoor 100 and also the core values and purpose that stand behind the Nextdoor community.

Maryam joined Nextdoor in February 2020, with a strong belief in the company’s purpose-driven leadership and brand. In her previous roles as CMO of Univision, Gannett and Hyatt, and even in roles she carved out for herself in college and early in her career, three ‘pillars’ emerged in her career: storytelling, purpose and making a difference. 

Maryam Banikarim, outgoing Head of Marketing, Community and Global at Nextdoor | © BY RAINER HOSCH

I began by asking Maryam how she articulates the purpose of Nextdoor and the values core to the company and the brand. “At Nextdoor our purpose is to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood to rely on. We use our purpose as a decision making framework – it guides us and enables us to remain steadfast about the difference we want to make in the world,” she explained. In terms of values, Nextdoor has defined six that they believe will create the environment that will enable us to deliver on our purpose. Those are: earn trust every day, invest in community, be customer obsessed, think big, experiment and learn quickly and act like an owner.

I asked Maryam how the ‘groundswell of kindness’ manifests itself in the Nextdoor community and what her favourite stories from the Nextdoor 100 were. “Groundswell of kindness is a very apt description for what we’re seeing via the Nextdoor 100 nominations,” she smiled. After the last two years, they felt at Nextdoor it was time to recognize those everyday heroes, the super amazing neighbors – the supportive, surprising, creative, compassionate and never-not-there-when you need them, neighbors. And they weren’t alone. They put the call out for nominations (for which by the way there was no prize) and got incredible 46,000 nominations. That’s right, 46,000. 

All the submissions were winners in her book – and the enviable job of narrowing the field down to 100, was left to the diverse and illustrious panel of judges which included: comedy icon, actor and philanthropist, Cedric the Entertainer; Olympic gold medalist, FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, coach and broadcaster, Brandi Chastain; founder of Operation: HOPE, John Hope Bryant; author and Editor-in-chief of Woman’s Day, Meaghan Murphy; veteran journalist and founder of URL media, S. Mitra Kalita; and Maribel Perez Wadsworth, President of News at Gannett Media and Publisher of USA TODAY.

Meet this year's Nextdoor 100! | NEXTDOOR

However these are the 3 stories she wanted to share by way of example:

• Nancy in Queens, New York nominated Jr’s Bagel shop in Queens; they delivered breakfast daily, free of charge to her 96 year old mother during the pandemic, who could no longer make it to the shop.

• An entire neighborhood in Atlanta nominated themselves - and won a spot in the Nextdoor 100, the Adair Park neighborhood. This community is truly there for one another; they recently worked together to fundraise and support a neighbor whose home was on the verge of being condemned, to ensure she could stay in her home. They also run an annual fundraiser and celebration called ‘Porches and Pies’, that is a celebration of the community they’ve built together.

• The Davidson Public Library in Davidson, North Carolina was nominated by their community, for the passion, purpose and caring they bring to their work, everyday. Their entire staff was cited for being knowledgeable, nurturing, patient and energetic, and truly being a resource for their town.

It’s these efforts - big or small, but always appreciated - that the Nextdoor 100 is about.  You can meet the inaugural Nextdoor 100 at www.thenextdoor100.com.  

When asked if they were seeing a resurgence of what it means to be a good neighbor and what Nextdoor can do to help support that, Maryam reflected: “What the tens of thousands of Nextdoor 100 nominations showed us, is that while the past 2.5 years have been difficult, and frankly at times remain very challenging – kindness is rising.”The pandemic showed how vital those ‘right next door’ relationships are in our lives. They also saw how we could make a difference for each other – in small and big ways that were tangible. That is why they immediately saw a huge spike in terms of neighbors offering to help each other. 

Their role at Nextdoor is to be an enabler – to help neighbors and neighborhoods leverage tech to connect digital in order to connect in real life. In the end, as Maryam added, they are here to ‘enable community and everyday humanity’. They like to say, it is ‘as easy as waving or saying hello’.

When I asked for some final advice that Maryam has for other purpose-driven leaders to help guide their thinking authentically is that Purpose is about the difference your company wants to make in the world. She has seen first hand how taking the time to uncover your purpose and articulate can help align an organization, keep it steady so that it can grow. “What a Purpose provides you is a beacon for everything you do, a barometer for authenticity -  and today it’s what customers and employees are demanding,” she concluded.