Gathering Volunteers

Residents who volunteer their time to their community are a rare and valuable resource. Sometimes it is a challenge to find residents willing to serve on the board of directors and some dedicated board members have to stay on longer than they would prefer. Committee volunteers are even harder to find and many times spouses of board members are drafted into those positions.

Sometimes frustrated board members feel other residents just don't care. However, that is rarely the case. People naturally have a strong connection to their home, community and neighbors. Most people are very happy to devote some of their time and talent to a good cause. The challenge in finding volunteers is that everyone is busy. We all must divide our limited time between family, work, church, entertainment, relaxation and all other activities.

So what are the secrets for gathering volunteers? If board members will follow these steps, you'll have more volunteers helping your community than ever before.

• Prepare a list of specific volunteer opportunities. Break them into "bite-sized" opportunities that cover all the goals and unmet needs of the community. Here are a few opportunities that cover a full spectrum of commuunity association needs: social events (e.g. splash day party), communications (e.g. website administrator), policies (e.g. task force to consider patio cover guidelines), outside relations (e.g. liaison with HPD storefront).
• Say "please" and personally ask a friend or neighbor to help with a specific task. By asking in person, the potential volunteer has a chance to ask all their questions. When personally asked, people are more likely to say "yes". An make a point to ask for volunteers for specific upcoming projects at every community meeting.
• Be clear on committment. People are much more likely to volunteer their time if they know what they are getting into. They are more likely to volunteer to coordinate an Easter Egg Hunt than to be the Social Committee. Knowing they will need to spend an average of 6 hours a month to be a board member will give them enough certainty to decide whether they can make that commitment.
• Create a pyramid. Encourage volunteers to reach out to their friends and neighbors to help them on their assigned project. This increases the number of involved residents, spreads the workload among more people and creates more community social interaction.
• Say "thank you". Make sure all volunteers are recognized for their effort. If they give a report at a meeting, thank them for their effort and everything they have accomplished so far. Acknowledge their work in newsletters and on the website. Introduce all volunteers at the annual meeting. Consider a volunteers appreciation event once a year.
• Make volunteer development a priority. Once you have a few volunteers, the numbers will grow by using the pyramid and by making sure the jobs are rewarding. However, it is important to keep the momentum going. Conside making it the responsibility of one of the board members to develop and maintain the volunteer base.

Now that you have the tools for gathering volunteers, here are your first four assignments!

1. October - National Night Out. This one is easy because there are so many reseources available to help (info). Find someone who has a personal interest in safety to head this up. A community wide event would be nice but settle for a small event in a cul-de-sac if that is all the volunteers wants to take on. The community can provide the basic refeshments. Encourage neighbors to bring lawn chairs and a desert or side dish to share. Invite the police, fire department and politicians.
2. November - Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving. There are many possibilities here. A community food or clothing drive, coordinate volunteers to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the less fortunate (details), a turkey give-away to struggling community members, work with a church on their Thanksgiving charitable programs. Find someone who has been involved in similar efforts before.
3. December - Holiday Family Festival. It is easy to have fun around the holidays. Here are a few ideas: coordinate volunteers to decorate the entries, have a tree decorating party in the park with snow and snacks, invite Santa and elves to come by for photos, cookies and games, set up a hayride with carolling with hot chocolate, hold a decorating contest and have fun driving around as a group to select the winners and award the prizes. Find someone in a mother's group or baby-sitting coop to lead this effort.
4. January - Super Bowl Tailgate Party. We all hope the Texans will make it to the Super Bowl in Miami this year. That's a long way to drive to do some tailgating so how about setting up a Super Bowl Tailgate Party for your neighborhood? The tricky thing here is getting a big screen for the viewing. Beyond that, the tailgaters provide the food and entertainment (details). There are lots of creative games and contests you can work around the event (ideas). It should be obvious who you ask to head up this one - anyone who likes beer, brats and football.

If you would like to share your experience with any of these or other successful volunteer opportunities, please send us an email by clicking here.

The Super Budgeting Process

In August and September of each year, our C.I.A. Services Seminar Series features "The Super Budgeting Process". Many of you have attended the seminar and the rest may be saying "What the heck is Super Budgeting?"

Super Budgeting is our name for the process of taking a comprehensive look at the short and long term financial obligations of the association. The process creates a business plan and the defines the financial means to achieve the plan. Super Budgeting involves concepts not considered in simple "revenue and expense" budgeting.

All community budgets will be presented and approved in the next few months. If you haven't attended our seminar, you may want to read a short article written for the Community Associations Institute (CAI) a few years ago by C.I.A. Services President, Ralph Troiano. The article describes the budgeting process and provides an easy-to-understand description of reserve funds and how to calculate the proper fund levels. This is a great article for Board members to read while contemplating their own budget.

Hill Country Consulting

Last year we opened our new Bandera Office to provide support services for our Houston Offices and clients. Eventually we will begin managing communities in San Antonio and throughout the hill country. Over the last several months, we have assisted a self-managed community a few miles from our office in Pipe Creek. The Comanche Cliffs Homeowners Association has 155 acreage lots with 119 owners on the Medina River in Bandera County. They have had some significant challenges in the past surrounding their elections.

We performed a comprehensive Management and Operational Review for them and presented the report to the community at a workshop in July. Because of their past election issues, we offered to handle their elections process for them. We helped with a nominating committee, verified property ownership through the public records, distributed the meeting announcement, collected ballots using our secure PIN system, organized the annual meeting and counted the ballots.

Our Bandera office hosted the 2009 Annual Meeting for Commanche Cliffs Homeowners Association on Saturday morning, August 15th. There were more than 40 people in attendance and almost 40% of the lots were represented in person or by proxy. Coffee, juice and breakfast snacks were served. The community members elected five new board members from a slate of nine. They also passed four proposed amendments to the Bylaws. There was a lot of good discussion during the meeting. The community will be able to pattern their future annual meetings after the steps and procedures they saw this year. Congratulations to the board members of Commanche Cliffs - we hope you enjoyed the meeting and our hospitality.

If you love sports then it doesn't get any better than this. Baseball and women's basketball are getting into the playoffs. Football is kicking off and basketball is bouncing onto the scene. But, of course, the best thing about this time of year is hockey, eh!

The American Hockey League season begins in October and we're pleased to announce our 2010 Hockey Nights. Our 12th Annual Hockey Night with the Houston Aeros will be held on February 27th when the Aeros take on the new Texas Stars. The Stars are the minor league affiliate of the Dallas Stars so this will become an in-state rivalry (think Texans versus Cowboys). Our 2nd Annual Hockey Night with the San Antonio Rampage will be held on March 27th when the Rampage will take on the Lake Erie Monsters (ooooooo scary). The Monsters are in the North Division of the Western Conference who we don't see often so that game will be exciting.

Each year, we invite our community volunteers, employees and friends to join us to watch a fun game. We have lots of door prizes, our collectible cowbells and programs for hockey newcomers. Everyone has a great time watching a fast-paced and really cool game. Click the photos below to see fun from the last few years.

2007	2008
Houston 2009	San Antonio 2009

As we get closer, we will provide more details and a personal invitation to our community volunteers and board members. Until then, mark your calendars for February 27th in Houston and March 27th in San Antonio. However, if you can't wait, feel free to reserve your tickets now by sending an email to HockeyNight@ciaservices.com.

Consumer Handbook Available

There is a wealth of free information available from federal and state agencies. Here's something you might find useful from the Federal Citizen Information Center. Their 2009 Consumer Action Handbook has everything from tips on buying a car to building a good credit rating. To order a free copy, visit www.consumeraction.gov and click on "Order Handbook". A Spanish-language version is available at www.consumidor.gov. You can also order it by phone (888-878-3256) or mail (FCIC Handbook, Pueblo, CO 81009).

Silver Anniversary

On September 29th, C.I.A. Services will have completed 25 years in business. All of our employees have worked very hard to get here and we are very proud to be part of a company that on a daily basis makes a postive impact in each of our communities. We manage 100 communities with nearly 50,000 homes and more than 200,000 residents.

We have a dedicated staff of more than 80 people working in three offices. Our stockholders have all been with us more than five years and are leaders within C.I.A. Services. We would like to recognize each of them here.

Brenda Alvarez - 21 years	Ed Barnett - 10 years	Dan Barr Jr. - 5 years
Gloria Bell - 20 years	Shelly Brady - 12 years	Charlotte Bulcken - 14 years
Rhonda Culbreth - 19 years	Margie De La Cruz - 9 years	Valerie Doll - retired
Kim Easterling - 11 years	Annette Escarenio - 7 years	Liz Holliday - 13 years
Tina Jameson - 25 years	Paula Lunsford - 6 years	Anna Marron - 5 years
Renea Miksch - 24 years	Karla Santos - 6 years	Laura Tate - 16 years
Sennait Tesfai - 6 years	Angie Thomas - 11 years	Ralph Troiano - 25 years
Nancy Withrow - retired	Cynthia Wood - retired	Dawna Woods - 13 years

We are very pleased to be celebrating our 25th anniversary and extend our sincere appreciation to all of our communities for being a part of our success.

Upcoming Seminars

Our updated C.I.A. Services Seminar Series is now underway for our 7th year of presenting educational seminars for our board members and other community volunteers. Each seminar concentrates on the practical aspects of the topic and provides board members with background knowledge to help them in their decision making. We consistenlty receive positive feedback on the content and presentation. To view the seminar descriptions and full schedule, click here or visit the Library page of our website.

Each seminar begins at 6:00 p.m. and runs 2 hours. We provide deli sandwiches so you won't have to rush to eat dinner beforehand.  You'll leave with knowledge you can use immediately and a great notebook with the seminar slides, samples and reference materials.

The Super-Budgeting Process "Super-Budgeting" is our term for preparing a comprehensive long term budget and business plan. This isn't something you do on the back of an envelope an hour before the budget meeting. We'll break the process down into understandable components and show you how assets and reserves fit in the picture. We'll start with a simple question that very few people can answer correctly: "How much money should our Association have in the bank?" By the end of the seminar, you'll know the correct answer for your Association. This is a critical seminar to take before you start looking at budgets. September 17, 2009 (Thursday), 6:00 p.m. — Southwest Office September 23, 2009 (Wednesday), 6:00 p.m. — North Office

Board Member Orientation This seminar is a must for all new Board members and a great refresher for seasoned veterans. It will help you get up to speed quickly by understanding your responsibilities and authorities. We’ll review each of the documents that govern the way you do business. We’ll give you an overview of the governing documents, basis of authority, conduct of meetings, elections, collections, deed restrictions, architectural control and many other important topics. October 7, 2009 (Wednesday), 6:00 p.m. — Southwest Office October 29, 2009 (Thursday), 6:00 p.m. — North Office

You can register at any time by calling 713-981-9000 or emailing seminars@ciaservices.com.

Community of the Month

We are proud of every one of our communities so it is always hard to find just one to highlight. We start by having each of our Community Managers write a nomination for one of their communities. We then read them and take a vote. Here are our most recent selections:

• September - Quail Green Homeowners Association
  Southwest Office - Tony Victorino, Community Manager
• August - Cypresswood Lake Community Association
  North Office - Kim Easterling, Community Manager
• July - Oyster Point Homeowners Association
  Southwest Office - Leslie Baldwin, Community Manager

To see the full story on these communities and to see the past winners, visit the Community of the Month page on our web site.

Anniversaries

Every month we appreciate the communities that are celebrating their anniversaries with us. Here are the clients that started with us in September.

• Valley Lodge Property Owners Association — 16 years
• Westfield Glen Property Owners Association — 9 years
• Eldridge Park Village Community Association — 7 years
• Woodforest North II Homeowners Association — 7 years
• Clear Lake City Boulevard Association — 4 years
• Fairway Place Homeowners Association — 2 years
• Morningside Place Homeowners Association — 2 years
• New Forest Homeowners Association — 2 years
• Westfield Forest Homeowners Association — 2 years
• New Forest West Townhomes Homeowners Association — 1 year

Our goal has always been to create a positive, long term relationship with all of our client communities. We are very proud to be managing all of these communities.

Employee Spotlight

• It's another milestone for President Ralph Troiano and Executive Vice President Tina Jameson who are celebrating 25 years since creating the C.I.A. Services on September 29, 1984.
• Congratulations to Sennait Tesfai on her 6 year anniversary. Sennait is a company stockholder and an administrative assistant at our Southwest Office.

Ralph Troiano		Tina Jameson