Speak to any volunteer-run organization, whether it is a town board, the soccer association, a church’s childcare program or the school PTO, and the same complaint resounds: “We don’t have enough people stepping up to serve.” Condominium homeowners associations (HOAs) are no exception. Finding people willing to volunteer for board positions can be difficult. Apathy, however, isn’t necessarily the reason.

According to David J. Levy, PCAM, president of Sterling Services in Holliston, Massachusetts, “If a property is well-run, the communications are frequent, and the results of condo associations or homeowner associations are transparent, then the volume of owners highly-motivated to volunteer is typically low.” Why?

Why Serve?

As David Abel, senior manager at First Realty Management in Boston, explains, “Many times, people will usually participate in association life when they are angry or want to see change occur, so if people aren’t upset, then there may not be an incentive for them to run. If we have happy owners, it means we’re doing our jobs well, but it can also contribute to a lack of volunteers.”

Dan Rivers, PCAM, director of G&G Management in Newton, Massachusetts, adds, though, that sometimes “there are circumstances where a lot of projects are being undertaken at a property which scares off owners that may otherwise want to be on the board. It is a volunteer job, and if an owner sees it as possibly taking up a lot of their time, they tend to shy away from volunteering.”

Abel concurs. “Often, the people who really dedicate themselves to board work, putting in amazing hours for things like complicated capital projects, are usually retired persons.” He adds, however, that sometimes people just like to take the path of least resistance and occasionally people don’t feel qualified for the types of tasks being on the board requires. According to Levy, though, “There are some anomalies to this general rule [of having few volunteers step forward], as some properties have a long-term ‘culture’ of very active volunteerism. Typically these properties have a clubhouse and/or an amazing super-star recruiter very early in the life of the CA/HOA.”

What if a community association or HOA doesn’t have a clubhouse or an amazing super-star recruiter? Are there strategies current boards and property managers can use to encourage volunteerism? Rivers says, “There are ways to help encourage owners to join the board which include putting measures in place to keep board meetings on track, trying to have less meetings and conducting more business through emails and online. It is easier for an owner to come home after work, settle in, and then respond to a few emails than have to worry about taking time out for a monthly meeting.”

According to Rivers, the goal of property managers is to help the boards reach a point where they are giving directions to the managers who in turn do the work of executing the board’s desires. By doing so, “more people will want to volunteer and help out because it is not so time consuming.”

Encouraging Participation

Levy adds that “It starts at the top: with the board chair and the owner of the management company. How are volunteers acknowledged and appreciated in the newsletter or the annual meeting? Are owners encouraged to volunteer to be on a specific project and/or committee which can get them started on a future path to be a full board member?”

Abel agrees and says, “There’s no exact science but there are approaches which work well—like subcommittees. Subcommittees are a good way to draw someone in because they get involved in the system with a lower level of time and work commitment, and then they become invested which prepares them to think about the next go around when someone resigns from the board.”

And when someone does resign and that opening arises? “One of the best ways to get people involved is to show the owners how the board sets the policy,” says Rivers, “and how the manager handles the legwork.”

When people understand that the property managers are performing their jobs well by “doing the proper preparation and presenting all of the information ahead of time to the trustees, it takes a lot less effort on the board’s end to make the decisions,” Rivers says, and this in turn is “an attractive sell when trying to get an owner to join the board.”

The managers all agree, though, that trying to use “enticements” is not the way to go. Rivers indicates that “it could be viewed as unethical” to offer something for board service.

Offering Incentives

Abel says that “sometimes people will do a door prize to get people to attend an annual meeting, but in reality it never comes up that a HOA offers an enticement for being on the board.” As Levy says, “What we want to do is focus on making it ‘easier’ and ‘almost fun’ to be a board member. Per (Massachusetts) state law, there are no restrictions about enticements but a legal adviser should always review specific, recorded bylaws. If a board can focus on strategic level issues and select the right managing agent, great results can flow year-in and year-out and still be ‘enjoyable without burnout’ for the volunteer board members.”

Sometimes, however, even the best strategies don’t bring out the volunteers for board elections. Many HOAs find it difficult to get people to attend association meetings in general, let alone get them to run for board positions. Elections are usually the same people re-running unopposed or the HOAs “digging up” just enough people needed.

“Most properties do not have enough candidates for an election,” notes Levy, “and everyone who runs—wins; and in fact, some boards even have open seats,” he adds. Having open seats, though, isn’t necessarily a reason for alarm. “It’s not usually a problem,” says Abel, “to have lingering vacancies because a board can operate if, say, three out of five openings are filled. Technically, everyone on a board has the same power, but you like to have the numbers to make sure everything is handled well and no one is burned out from doing all the work.”

To fill vacant positions, Rivers says, that “we send out detailed memos helping trustees to see, in a positive way, how they can help to better and improve the community by volunteering.” He indicates, though, that the results vary, depending on associations. “If you have a building in Boston that is predominantly rented or a condo on the beach where many snowbirds live, you may not get as many people running for the board as you would in a rural townhome community.”

The managers also agree that if an association ever wants to increase the number of people showing up for a meeting and/or considering a board position, that they simply need to announce a capital expenditure, an increase in fees or that they’re doing a special assessment where money needs to be raised in a hurry. As Rivers states, “Owners are very passionate about their homes, especially when it affects their wallet.” As he explains, “A lot of condominiums were built in the 1980s, and roofs and siding are now at the end of their useful life. This is resulting in larger projects, which in turn means fee hikes or supplemental fees, and owners want to make sure their money is put to good use.”

Consequently, people who might have strong feelings about how their money is being spent may be enticed to run for board positions they wouldn’t have considered a few months earlier. Levy adds, however, that “Major operational problems, such as many roofs leaking, horrible snow removal, or systemic exterior paint peeling, and a major change of owner rights like the removal of a pool, pet ownership, or a smoking ban” are two more triggers that can draw owners out of their worlds and into greater association life.

“Good managers work with the boards to be transparent,” says Abel, “provide good communication and prepare owners with information regarding what the board is working on and in what direction, so any special assessment/increase in fees will not be a surprise. The result may be that there is not a reaction of surprised owners attending the next meeting.”

Getting New Blood

So, is it necessarily bad that some boards are made up of long-time members who continue to run unopposed? According to Levy, “In a perfect world, which very, very rarely exists, there is a mix of long-term trustees and new volunteers where the long-term trustees have what is called ‘institutional knowledge,’ and the new volunteers bring ‘new blood.’ Essentially, new ideas, new perspectives, new energy.”

The world being imperfect isn’t always terrible, though. “If you have an owner who truly cares and does what is best for the association, it is never a bad thing to have them serve for many years,” Rivers says. “Their history and knowledge of the property and the reasons behind decisions can prove to be very valuable. It is also great having new blood, as it brings an entirely different set of opinions and way of thinking to the association.”

In most cases, an HOA might not want a sudden and complete change of the board all at once. “In general we don’t want to change whole board because the board loses institutional memories,” Abel explains. “A good management company can provide institutional memory but usually you’re taking a step back if you have to bring people up to speed.” He clarifies, though, that usually a complete board change only happens when there’s a “revolt” against the previous board, so the goal is to “always have a transparent board which takes the steam out of people wanting to overthrow them.”

In the end, Abel, Levy and Rivers believe the best persuaders for getting new “recruits” for HOA boards are current board members, who have had a good experience working with professional managers who have provided a strong support structure.

Through their cooperative efforts, owners see that being on the board is a good investment of their time and their energy and more willingly step up to fill the need.    

Paula Castner is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to New England Condominium.