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JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/02/2007 3:34 PM
I have searched the archives HERE for any information on the subject of newsletter(s) and it just will not take me to anything on that subject or... possibly because there is nothing discussed in the past. I would like to know what other people have witnessed on this subject. I am very much in agreement that we should have one sent out at least quarterly BUT at the same time, I am afraid of the costs involved. I would appreciate any and all comments/EXPERIENCES of others on this subject.

hoatalk

Posts:486

11/02/2007 5:41 PM
Hi Jim, Search this forum for: newsletter cost You will find a few interesting topics. It will also be interesting to see other's experiences here.

HOATalk.com, A free service of Community123.com Provider of Upscale Community Websites CLICK HERE to get a FREE trial community website *See legal notice below (end of page) or go to www.hoatalk.com/legal

JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/03/2007 6:26 AM
Thanks.. I thought there was one because in the past, I had asked a question. Thus, it all depended on what to put into the SEARCH box. I did find some information. Am looking more for the PROS... and then the CONS and am trying to put something together in order to make a final decision.

LindaC3
(Florida)

Posts:526

11/03/2007 8:16 AM
JimM10.........Our HOA sends out montly newsletters to all members....They have the upcoming events in it...the minutes from the previous monthly BOD meeting, articles of interest concerning the community...times of any upcoming committee meetings.. birth announcements, deaths, illnesses , things for sale etc....... It seems to be pretty popular and they have been doing it for years...I am not sure of the cost involved, as the secretary in the office puts it together, and we have bulk mail price for USPS... I know in our household we look forward to recieving to be sure all is on track...We double check the minutes against notes taken at meeting and IF there are errors in the reporting BEFORE they ( BOD ) approve the minutes for the prior meeting at the next meeting it is brought to their attention....They ( BOD ) are thankful for this as after all they are human ? and can make mistakes..... I think that newsletters are worht the costs in my opinion just for the fact it keeps folks in the know.....LindaC3

PatrickH
(California)

Posts:197

11/03/2007 11:01 AM
Hi Jim, My HOA sends out a newsletter about four times a year. Or Secretary and Treasurer combine to write it with updates on the financials, any projects that are being worked on or planned, any news announcements. They keep it pretty simple and no more than one page long. They email it to our property manager who then prints it out and puts it in the envelope with the monthly dues statement. I don't think it adds any more to the postage costs, so the cost of printing and stuffing envelopes is quite reasonable when looking at the overall costs of operating the HOA. Don't know how often your HOA sends out it's billings to the members, but if you can combine the newsletter in a billing, it saves the cost of a separate mailing just for the newsletter.

NancyD1
(Florida)

Posts:447

11/03/2007 12:09 PM
We have a monthly newsletter that is hand delivered to each door. It is put together by a newletter committee with articles written by them and others solicited in the HOA. It has all the community news; the committees, and what they are up to, the usual birth, deaths, birthdays and anniversaries, articles from different members from the community about their different professions, decorating ideas, jokes, scores from golf tournaments and bowling. The first page is the letter from the board and the last is the monthly calendar, with all the committee dates on it. This works very well because you do not have to call to find out when there is a meeting of a certain committee. Our newsletter is 8 1/2 x 11 glossy with approximately 20 pages and costs us about $1,300 per month. Local advertising offsets about 1/2 the cost.

JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/03/2007 3:44 PM
Nancy: What kind/type of advertising is it? pictures,whole page or what? Is your newsletter on the Internet?

JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/03/2007 3:59 PM
Does anyone have an example of a HOA newsletter? One that I can bring up on the Internet to see different types/styles/etc? Thanks in advance....

DuaneW1
(Georgia)

Posts:29

11/03/2007 4:21 PM
Jim, I don't know if you're in the market for a 'cheaper' version of a newsletter, but for our association, I use Word Tasks and they have newsletter forms there (flyers too). I simply have a template for our subdivision name, plus how many we've done - issue 12 (every other month). I chose a picture from a large program of Clip Art ('The Big Box of Art- 410,000 pieces') to put at the top, then sections on the front page having each Board Member's thoughts on what they have been doing, plus the minutes for two sessions of monthly board meetings. I've called it 'cheap' because we were having our Property Management Company do the newsletter, and we decided we could save costs and do it at home on our computer, then make up 106 copies and take them door to door. We have saved costs to the HOA, but truthfully, I haven't charged our HOA for printing costs either. So, maybe it's not quite as cheap for me. Good Luck,

CharlesW1
(Georgia)

Posts:818

11/03/2007 8:59 PM
JimM10, Our association isn’t mandatory to produce a newsletter, however I've (Vice President) personally written several newsletters. We (the board) were distributing them into mailboxes, when I had read an article about the possibility of being sued (by a homeowner) for placing "mailable" content in a mailbox without postage. The homeowner COULD notify the USPS, who would identify the board as the offenders of such criminal act and possible be accessed hundreds upon thousand is fines and court costs. It would be considered a federal offense, which was something (as a volunteer board member) I didn’t want to be concerned with. Once I realized the possibility of a potential law suit. I addressed my concern to the other board members and we proceeded to mail the newsletter at which point we try to fill it with as much important information as possible. As a homeowner (prior to being a board member) of this association I felt as though I had some very good idea and/or suggestions of what I felt residents would like to read about. I have “pick-up” many useful tips when creating a newsletter I would like to share with you, many of which I received from posts off this forum. I would suggest using the same size font (10 or 12) in the main context. Use size 14,16 for titles/sub-titles. I ALWAYS had the board members included on every newsletter always in the same spot, with email address and web-site address. Those who read the newsletter began to recognize who their elected board members were. It didn’t take long for members of the community to put a name with a face. I listed (as previously posted) anniversary, birthdays, birth announcements as well as holidays, up-coming meetings, community events, day light saving time reminders and lawn care tips. I felt there was a tremendous amount of information, many resides were unaware of, to fill the newsletter with information that wasn’t relevant to the association. I felt that the space and time were extremely valuable in every newsletter. Therefore I limited the "fluff" and "fillers". I always, thoroughly explained various convents of our governing documents. Many of which were recent violations found in our community for that particular month, like reminders, street parking, lawn care, pressure washing (driveways, house etc) and occasionally, I’ve quoted city ordinance to further express the severity of these violations. A well inform community is a happier community and makes the boards “job” that much less stressful. I also suggest NEVER PUTTING ARTICLES IN THE SAME SPOT IN THE NEWSLETTER. In other words, don’t always put community events on the first page (bottom left corner) switch it up that way there is a better chance that the entire newsletter will be reviewed. I ALWAYS put a calendar on the back page of the newsletter, that way when the homeowner was done reading it they could continue using it instead of throwing it away. I also had a list of import phone numbers such as police, fire, MC, animal control, poison control, etc all on the back page for easy access as well. I’ll attempt to post regularly, to help you as much as possible, with information I have gather, through the years, much of which you may already know, some you may not. I’m certainly glad it isn’t mandatory to produce a newsletter, weekly, monthly or even quarterly for our community. However, I did and still do feel as though it is our (BOD) voice to the community and I have made every attempt to send out several bulletins (1 or 2 pagers) throughout the year at different times of the year in conjunction with other various, mandatory HOA, mailings to reduce costs. I will continue to post information for you as I hope to address many more of your concerns. Keep us posted and if you should have any further questions, be sure to ask we are more than willing to help. I wish you much success. Sorry for such a loooooooooong post. LOL Chuck W.

Charles E. Wafer Jr.

JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/04/2007 6:30 AM
Chuck: Could you also send out the newsletter by email? as an attachment in an e-mail? I suppose as a starter, you developed a template... ON YOUR OWN.. because I could not find any such thing in Word anyplace.

CharlesW1
(Georgia)

Posts:818

11/04/2007 8:18 AM
Posted By JimM10 on 11/04/2007 6:30 AM Chuck: Could you also send out the newsletter by email? as an attachment in an e-mail? I suppose as a starter, you developed a template... ON YOUR OWN.. because I could not find any such thing in Word anyplace. JimM10, The newly elected board have been gathering email addresses, which will be used to email the newsletter. We can because our governing document don’t say we must produce a newsletter, yours may, you would need to verify. Many of these email addresses were gather from existing pool forms, and other various HOA forms of communication. Our associations email address also collected many address due to homeowner complaints, concerns and some homeowners specifically specified they would prefer to have the newsletter emailed to them, thus resulting in having their email address. It has taken several years to accumulate all that we have and yet there are still a needed. We will (once the newsletter is created) send it to those whose addresses we have from our web-site, as a PDF file.(to be downloaded) I’ve enclosed a link I’ve used to down load templates. There are many to choose from, all of which cost you absolutely nothing. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx I hope this helps. Best of luck. Keep in touch Chuck W.

Charles E. Wafer Jr.

JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/04/2007 11:55 AM
Thanks much.. By the way... this morning, I found a bunch of TEMPLATES for news letters in my Publisher software that I had...

JimM10
(Arizona)

Posts:48

11/04/2007 5:03 PM
Charles: Thanks again.. I went to that site you posted... the Microsoft site and I think it will be easier to work with than Publisher. Thanks again !!!!

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