Inviting your board

Board members are residents with extra access. They see the admin tools and run the community alongside you. This guide gets the rest of your board onboarded.

Before you start

Have ready:

• The full list of current board members - names, email addresses, and their titles

You should already have done property roster import before this - board members pick their own home when they sign up, like any other resident.

What “board member” actually means

A board member is a user with:

• The Board Member role (or Admin if you want full management access - see below)
• An optional board title - free text like “Treasurer,” “President,” “Secretary,” “Member-at-Large”
• A link to a property in the community (their own residence)

Board members can:

• See the admin dashboard
• View community-wide data (financials, residents, requests)
• Approve pending residents
• Send announcements
• Issue and resolve violations
• Talk privately with the rest of the board in Board Chat
• Configure community settings

They show up to other residents with their title displayed (e.g., “Sarah Chen, Treasurer”) in the directory.

Board member vs. admin

You’ll see two roles that look similar:

Role	Typical use	What’s different
Board Member	Most board members	Full management access to the community
Admin	Treasurer, President, or whoever owns the HOA’s HomeHerald account	The same access, plus the admin-only controls: adding or removing people on the management team, sending board invite links, and changing someone’s role

A safe default: make the Treasurer an Admin, and everyone else a Board Member. You can always promote later. You should always have at least two Admins in case one goes inactive.

Step-by-step

For someone who isn’t in HomeHerald yet:

1. Go to Settings in the admin sidebar
2. Find the HOA Management Team card
3. Click Send direct invite link to new Board Member
4. Fill in:
   • Invitee email - this is what the invite goes to
   • Label (optional, private) - a note to yourself, e.g. “New treasurer”
5. Click Send invite

The invitee gets an email with a single-use link, good for 7 days. You can also copy the link and send it yourself. When they open it:

• They sign in or create a HomeHerald account using that same email
• They join the community as a Board Member
• They pick their home the same way any resident does

If they already have a HomeHerald login for a different community, the invite adds this community to that login - they move between the two with Switch Community. Want them to be an Admin, or to carry a title? Set both afterwards from the HOA Management Team card (see below).

Pending invites show on the HOA Management Team card until they’re accepted, and you can revoke one from the invite window.

Setting board titles

Titles are display-only - they don’t change permissions. But they matter because:

• Residents see them next to the person’s name in the directory
• It’s how you tell board members apart on the HOA Management Team card and in Board Chat

To set or change a title, click the member on the HOA Management Team card and edit their title.

Common titles to use:

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Member-at-Large
• Architectural Committee Chair

Use whatever your bylaws define. If your bylaws are silent, keep it simple - President / Treasurer / Secretary covers most communities.

When to invite vs. promote an existing resident

If the board member is already signed up as a regular resident:

1. Go to Settings in the admin sidebar
2. On the HOA Management Team card, click Add Team Member
3. Search for them by name
4. Pick Board Member or Admin
5. Enter their title (required)
6. Click Add to Team

No new invite needed - their existing account just gains access. (You can also change anyone’s role from their profile under Members with Change Role, then add the title on the team card.)

Removing board access

Two situations to handle separately:

A board member’s term ended but they still live in the community.

• On the HOA Management Team card, click the remove button next to their name and confirm. They’re demoted to a regular Resident.
• They keep their account, their property, their balance, their history. They just lose admin access.

A board member moved out.

• Use the standard move-out flow (Move-ins and move-outs)
• Their role doesn’t matter at that point - they’re being unlinked from the property entirely.

Don’t delete board members’ accounts unless they explicitly request it. Demoting them back to resident preserves the audit trail of past board actions.

Reusable best practices

A few things worth doing once and forgetting:

• Always have at least two admins. If your only admin gets locked out of email, you’re stuck contacting support to recover. Two is the minimum.
• Use real names, not “Treasurer Email.” Avoid treasurer@yourhoa.com as the only login - when the position changes hands, you’ll have to swap accounts. Use the person’s actual email.
• Update titles after elections. Add a calendar reminder to your annual meeting agenda: “Update HomeHerald board roles after the vote.”

Where to go next

• Inviting residents - same flow for the rest of the community
• User roles explained - full breakdown of what each role can do
• Approving pending residents - handling self-signups