Dear volunteer HOA board member,

This is an appreciation of you.

First: You do a lot.  

You’re the person who steps up to take responsibility for things.  The person who volunteers their own personal time and energy to their HOA to keep things running.  The person who listens to everyone in the community and solves the problems.  

You’re happy to help…always.  You have exactly as much time in your day as every other owner has.  But you’re giving part of your time to help the whole community.  You take on the duties that are required of the HOA. 

Second: There’s a lot to do  

You’re making sure dues get collected, and dealing with it when they’re not.  You’re dealing with vendors and making sure HOA bills are paid.  You’re filing taxes and business registrations.  You’re maintaining community records, calling and conducting meetings, and handling community communication.

You’re the signer on the bank account.  You’re getting all the mail.  You’re producing financial reports and filling out lengthy questionnaires when an owner sells or wants to refinance. 

You’re making sure shared services are working, like water, power, or garbage. You’re solving security and maintenance issues.  You’re dealing with it when someone violates community bylaws.

Someone has to volunteer to run a homeowners association.  And although it’s not a large community, your HOA is still a legal business entity that has dues and debts, legal and financial reports and filings.  Someone has to do all of those.  

Third:  It’s not your job.  

This is volunteer work.  You can’t be paid.   Most state laws and community bylaws prohibit compensation for HOA board member positions, even though what you do is critical. The property value of all owners depends on the HOA being run well.  When lenders review properties for resale or refinance, they examine how well the HOA is run.

And unlike a job, there was no training for this.  You may have stepped up even though you’re concerned that you don’t have the necessary skills and expertise.  There may not even be a clear scope of work, or a task list, or a schedule of when things happen.  It can be intimidating to figure out on your own how to run an HOA without clear instructions.  You get surprised a lot.

Most HOAs are working with limited resources.  You have the HOA budget that was given to you, but often there are routine needs that are not covered by the budget. You have to figure out how to pay for those.

Plus there’s liability.  There’s a risk that something could go wrong, and the community could blame you.  With all the good intentions and generous gift of time and effort, sometimes it feels like the old saying is true: No good deed goes unpunished. 

And you can’t quit!  Or it’s hard to.  When board election time comes around…where are the volunteers to take your role?  And sometimes isn’t it just easier to stay in place?  I mean, you know all the ins and outs, and nobody else does!

It can be thankless. 

So we’re thanking you now---and saying, we see you. 

And we see that a little bit of support would not be such a bad idea. 

Although you are the leader, you’re one of a group of homeowners.  Volunteers don’t have to bear all of these responsibilities.  Everyone in the HOA has an obligation and an interest in keeping the community in good shape.  Shouldn’t all members kick in a little to take the burden off the volunteers?

We will help.

MicroHOA makes living in a small HOA easier and friendlier for owners and board members.   No one wants to collect dues from their neighbor.    Our online platform makes dues payment easy for owners, provides online access to all community information and resources, and takes the financial and legal pressure off volunteer board members, at a low cost.    

When you have the support of a professional manager, you’re not alone trying to figure it all out---you’re connected to a community that has seen the things you’re facing, and knows how to solve them. You’ll still have plenty to do---but you’ll have a support team to take on the thankless jobs of financial and legal management.

Dear volunteer board member, thank you.  You are the reason that MicroHOA exists.  We appreciate what you do, and we’d love the chance to support you.