How do you go about ...

How to get members to run for the Board of an HOA? Overcome apathy. How?
Educate, educate, educate. Most homeowners don't realize the importance of good Board members plus a good Managing Agent. The costs to them personally is usually not realized for a badly run HOA until there is an after the fact problem.
Here is an example:
In Westminster, Colorado (a suburb of Denver) there is an HOA which was not properly run by the Board. They did not follow the Declarion nor did they have a Professional Manager who could have helped keep them out of trouble. They filed suit in Adams County against an owner over an Architectural matter. The HOA lost at trial and lost on appeal. It cost their entire reserve fund plus it required a special assessment of hundreds of dollars from each homeowner to pay their legal costs. You could say they got off cheap - if the homeowner had used a good attorney the HOA would also have ended up paying another $40,000+ for the owners costs.

Potential Board members can also be developed at social functions provided by the HOA which will attract members and their families. Newsletters can help when creatively done by knowledgeable homeowners. And if all else fails you can resort to the most common method: TWIST ARMS!

Good Luck,
Roger

Our HOA has had trouble getting good people to serve on our board until this year. We decided to write letters to specific individuals in the community that we knew to be qualified, capable folks. The letter ASKED if they would be willing to sit down with a couple of Board members/nominating committee members, to discuss the possibility of them serving on the board either now or in the future. The letter said that they had been highly recommended by other residents. Our association has about 120+ units. Of the seven letters sent, five responded positively. We met with each one individually to discuss what serving on the board entailed. All five agreed to serve on the board either now (we were filling an unexpected vacancy) or at a later date. We are keeping in touch with the others by inviting them to board meetings (any resident may attend any board meeting), letting them know about education opportunities available, and generally trying to maintain their interet. We were amazed and pleased at the response.

We also have a highly capable Property Manager who really manages making the Board jobs much easier.

Hope this helps
SaraF