Frequently asked questions

FIMBY is currently live in the V6A postal code area of Vancouver — Strathcona, parts of Chinatown, and the Downtown Eastside. We’re growing neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

Anyone 19 or older (BC age of majority) who lives in an active FIMBY neighbourhood. You don’t need to be part of any organization or community group. FIMBY is open to everyone — sign-up requires you to attest that you are 19 or older and able to agree to the Terms.

Go to sign up and enter your postal code. If your neighbourhood is active, you’ll be guided through a short onboarding that includes setting your name, photo, and care preferences. If not, we’ll add you to the waitlist and ask if you’d like to help bring FIMBY to your area.

Yes — free to you. There are no ads, no premium tiers, no fees, and we don’t sell your data. FIMBY does cost money to run; as a non-profit endeavour, those costs are covered by donations, grants, and community contributions — never by charging neighbours to take part.

FIMBY is designed for brief check-ins, not constant scrolling. A typical week might look like seeing a couple of asks or offers from neighbours, browsing the lending library, or noticing an event you want to attend. Some weeks you might not open it at all. That’s fine — FIMBY is meant to be there when you need it, not to demand your attention.

You can post asks (things you need), offers (things you can give), events (gatherings, open events, community events), bulk buys (shared purchases), stories, prayers, and thank yous. See How it works for a visual walkthrough.

Yes. FIMBY has a support person feature — someone you trust can use the app on your behalf, posting, responding, and messaging as you. Learn more about this on Our Approach.

The Library holds items and skills. List tools, books, kitchen gear, or standing help neighbours can ask for. Browse by Items or Skills, request to borrow items, or tap Ask for Help on a skill to open a message thread. Loans are tracked with return dates; you manage everything from your profile.

When you first join FIMBY, you can use most of the platform right away — you can post asks and offers, share stories, RSVP to events, and even list items or skills. The one place we pause is borrowing items (the Skills view does not show the vouch banner).

Before you borrow an item from a neighbour, we ask someone who already knows you — a peer or a community group rep in your neighbourhood — to vouch for you. This is just a small “I know this person.” It is not a credit check, an interview, or a background investigation. It is the kind of introduction neighbours have always made for each other.

While you are “Settling in”, the library shows you a warm banner with a “Request a vouch” button. You provide the name and email of someone you know in your neighbourhood (or a community group), they get a message asking them to vouch, and once they do, the library opens up for you.

If you do not know anyone yet, your neighbourhood moderator can introduce you to someone or vouch for you directly.

If someone you vouched for has their library access revoked for a serious reason, we let you know privately. There is no public scoring — nobody else sees who you have vouched for or what happened. Your profile shows a small private history strip that only you can see.

If two of the people you have vouched for in the past year are revoked for serious reasons, your ability to vouch for new people is quietly paused while a moderator reviews. You can always reach out if you have questions.

The goal is care, not punishment. Vouching matters because it carries quiet weight; the weight is what makes it meaningful.

Bulk buys let you coordinate large purchases with neighbours. The organizer posts what they’re buying and how many shares are available. Neighbours reserve their share, and FIMBY tracks allocations. Payment is arranged directly between participants.

FIMBY has three event types: Gatherings (small hosted events with RSVP and capacity), Open Events (larger events where neighbours can tap “I’m Going”), and Community Events (events someone else is hosting that you want neighbours to know about).

Yes. Local organizations, churches, shelters, community centres, and other groups can have a presence in their neighbourhood through FIMBY’s Community Groups feature. They can post events, share meal times and program schedules, and connect with the people around them. It is one of the ways FIMBY helps informal neighbourly care and formal community supports sit closer together.

Only people in your neighbourhood can see your posts and profile. Contact information is never shared automatically — you choose exactly what to share, with whom, and can revoke access at any time.

Yes. Blocking is bidirectional — neither person can see the other’s posts, send messages, or interact in any way. Blocks are private and can be undone at any time.

You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete my account. Your login is revoked right away, and there is a 30-day grace window during which you can restore your account via a link we email you. After 30 days, your posts, messages, and profile are permanently removed. The confirm screen also has an opt-in checkbox to skip the grace and delete immediately if you need to. Full details at /delete-account.

FIMBY uses restorative language and processes. If something goes sideways, the system reaches for check-ins and follow-ups — not penalties or reports. The goal is always to help neighbours sort things out.

No. FIMBY grew out of a church community, but it is for neighbours of all backgrounds. Some people share prayer requests or God stories because that is part of their life. You are never expected to join in, agree, or participate in religious content to belong here. All that is asked is that neighbours treat one another with dignity.

FIMBY was created by Stephen Rathjen, a neighbour who has called Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside home since 2009 and first started volunteering here back in 2007. He put down early roots at Jacob’s Well, then spent eight years as program director of Saint James Music Academy, a non-profit offering free music lessons to low-income families, and later moved into technology — today he works as a Solution Architect at Salesforce. Since 2014 he has served on the board of Strathcona Vineyard, where he is now Board Chair.

Over those years Stephen kept noticing the same thing: neighbours — and even the churches and charities doing good work side by side — could live in close proximity and still barely know one another. Walking home from Stanley Park one day, he had what he calls “a bit of a vision” — the city floating above the city, a picture of what it could look like if neighbours actually worked together. He decided to combine his IT skills with his faith and his values, and FIMBY was born.

He took it for a test drive in early 2023, “strong-arming” a couple dozen neighbourhood friends into trying it. Remarkably, people who had lived side by side for years stepped into each other’s homes for the first time. Stephen also learned the tool was only half of it: “To be a neighbour, you have to actually make room.” Making that space in his own life was, he says, painful — and completely transformational.

FIMBY grew out of the kind of neighbouring that was already happening — shared meals, lending, prayer, checking in on one another — long before it was an app. Strathcona Vineyard, the church community Stephen is part of, provides the support and infrastructure that makes FIMBY possible.

No. FIMBY is not a replacement for shelters, detox, health care, crisis lines, or other essential services. It is a way for neighbours and local community groups to share everyday life, practical help, and local information more easily. In neighbourhoods like V6A, those relationships can sit alongside formal care, not replace it.

FIMBY is a non-profit endeavour, operated under the charitable status of Strathcona Vineyard Church. There are no ads, no data sales, and no venture capital — the aim is to cover the cost of running FIMBY, not to generate profit or sell your attention. Those costs are met by major donations, grants, and contributions from individuals and community groups. If you’d like to help cover them, you can support FIMBY through Strathcona Vineyard Church’s donation page.

FIMBY grows neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Sign up with your postal code — if we’re not in your area yet, we’ll add you to the waitlist and ask if you’d like to help launch FIMBY there.