Inviting your board

Board members are residents with extra access. They see admin tools, get copied on important community events, and can sign things on behalf of the HOA. 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
• The property each board member lives in (you’ll link them in the same flow)

You should already have done property roster import before this — board members get linked to a property 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
• Configure community settings (depending on whether they’re a Board Member or Admin)

They show up to other residents with their title displayed (e.g., “Sarah Chen, Treasurer”) on the directory and on board-published items.

Board member vs. admin

You’ll see two roles that look similar:

Role	Typical use	Can change billing / payments / plan?
Board Member	Most board members — full operational access	No
Admin	Treasurer, President, or whoever owns the HOA’s HomeHerald account	Yes

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

1. Go to Members in the admin sidebar
2. Click Invite Board Member (or Invite Admin for the higher role)
3. Fill in:
   • Name
   • Email — this is what the invite goes to
   • Property — pick the lot/unit they live in (their dues attach here)
   • Board title — free text, e.g. “Treasurer”. Use what your bylaws use.
4. Click Send invite

The invitee gets an email with a sign-up link. When they click it:

• They create a HomeHerald account using that email
• They’re auto-linked to the property you picked
• They’re auto-granted the role you selected
• They land on the admin dashboard, not the resident view

If they already have a HomeHerald account on a different community, the invite will link the existing account rather than creating a new one — they’ll just need to switch communities in their account menu.

Setting board titles

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

• Residents see them on board announcements (“Posted by Linda — Secretary”)
• Letterheads and physical mail can include board signatures
• It’s how you tell board members apart on the directory

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 Members in the admin sidebar
2. Find them in the list
3. Click their name → Edit
4. Change role to Board Member or Admin
5. Set their Board Title
6. Save

No new invite needed — their existing account just gains access on their next page load.

Removing board access

Two situations to handle separately:

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

• Edit the user → change role back to Resident → clear the Board Title
• 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 (coming soon)
• Approving pending residents — handling self-signups (coming soon)