Does your community’s board struggle to stay organized throughout the year? Are board members off-schedule for budget season or administrative goals? Does the community lack a schedule for deadlines, events, and more? If you answered “yes” to any previous questions, now may be the time to implement or refresh your community’s annual calendar for the new year!  

Perhaps one of the best tools boards and community managers use, the annual community calendar is an effective solution to help ensure an organized and productive community fiscal and administrative calendar year. For instance, budget season provides a structure for board members to follow throughout the year and a set reference for community goals, benchmarks, and updates. In other words, by setting clear and actionable checkpoints for the board to follow throughout the budget prep season in August, that same board will reach its desired goals for budget distribution in November.  

Ensure the calendar remains updated to the variable changes and community needs throughout the year. Remember to consistently update the community calendar during each regularly scheduled board meeting to proactively prepare for unexpected changes or updates to the community calendar. Depending on the regular meeting schedule, the board should monitor upcoming tasks for the following 60-90 days and any tasks that may have been missed, delayed, or updated. This method will not only allow board members to remain on track for a successful year, but it also helps keep the board accountable for its yearly community goals and tasks.  

Perhaps, to best organize the needs and deadlines of the community, it may be best to ensure that homeowner deadlines on the community calendar are separate from other board financial or administrative deadlines. This can best be done by creating two forms of community calendars: one for board use and another for homeowner use only. But ensure that both are available for homeowners to review. This will provide extra transparency and help homeowners understand the level of detail and management a board is responsible for executing throughout the year. 

Remember: a community calendar is an accountability, transparency, and productivity tool. It is in the board’s and community’s best interest to create one to follow at the beginning of each year!