When it comes to offering social programs and amenities to a community, residents' wants, needs and preferences can run the gamut. For board members and property managers, having programs in place that cater to the collective—toddlers to octogenarians and those in between and beyond—can be a challenge.

“A community that has activities and opportunities to get together creates a much stronger sense of belonging and a much more positive atmosphere,” says Attorney Ellen Hirsch de Haan, a partner with the Tampa-based law firm of Wetherington Hamilton, P.A.. With over 28 years of experience in the practice of HOA and condo law, de Haan serves also clients in Dade and Broward counties. “They have fewer disagreements, less challenges with the board and more cooperation with the operations and governance of the community.”

“You find that across the country, depending on where you are, you are going to have a different type of culture and possibly a totally different demographic mix,” de Haan continues. “The Chicago area, for example, is very urbanized so they will have a different way of doing things than a community in Texas or Tampa. Housing stock matters. Geographic location matters as does cultural and demographic backgrounds, and of course age.”

Since a condo property can be populated by a wide range of residents, board members and managers often have to work in a collaborative fashion to ensure all residential requests are considered. For example, a young married couple raising children will likely have different wants, such as playrooms and daycare, than a retired couple who may prefer game nights and social outings to the museum.

“Our community association offers programming to older adults or our 50-plus group and over the last few years, our most popular programming has involved those that are more social in nature,” says Lisa Cox, PCAM, community manager for the Missouri City, Texas-based Sienna Plantation Residential Association. Cox was named a 2014 CAI Manager of the Year and is member of the National Recreation and Park Association and the Greater Gulf Coast Parks and Recreation Directors Association.

“The most popular activities for this group are our one-day field trips to festivals, music venues, entertainment places such as bowling, wineries and shopping outlet malls,” says Cox. “Our other popular active adult programs include bingo night, karaoke night, casino night, potluck dinners and DJ dancing as well as our holiday dance in December.”

Communication is King

Once the go-to gathering place to share news and information, the humble bulletin board has morphed in recent years to a more virtual experience. While certain older residents still prefer cork board and push-pinned fliers, it is viewed as a dying form of communication. Many boards and property managers use websites such as BuildingLink to communicate. The company, which serves 984,510 residents, 46,623 property managers and staff in 2,615 buildings worldwide, serves as a paperless portal for news, information and sometimes sounding off.

However, certain associations are considered troglodytes, people who are not ready or willing to adopt new communication practices. “Many associations are very slow to embrace new technologies. Now many will use e-mail,” says de Haan. “I can’t even get my clients to Skype with me and this isn’t a new technology. I’m either on conference calls with them or visiting with them in person.”

To gain a better understanding of residents’ needs, Cox explains that she has had great success using simple and affordable surveys like www.surveymonkey.com, which provides actionable feedback.

“Online surveying seems to be our best method of gathering feedback; however, our managers that are working events such as the active adult events take time during these events to visit with those attending to find out what else they want to offer,” says Cox. “We produce a monthly mailed newsletter to our members as they consistently tell us a printed newsletter is the way they want to find out about activities in our community.”

Board members and managing agents can also reach out to organizations that specialize in recreational programming opportunities such as NRPA (National Recreation & Park Association). “Companies should consider sending their staff to national conferences as these conferences offer outstanding program idea sessions,” says Cox. “Most states also have similar statewide parks and recreation associations (i.e., the Florida Recreation and Park Association at www.frpa.org) that also offer annual workshops and conferences on program planning.”

For many associations, the best form of communication takes places during scheduled meetings where residents, board members and managers can interact face-to-face in real time. In this format, boards and managers can execute informal polling to try and get a better understanding of what programs will be successful.

“You get a sense of a community the more you are there and are interacting,” says de Haan. “It’s going to be an educational process particularly as we get more inter generational residents.”

William B. Campbell, vice president of sales and marketing for the Pompano Beach-based Campbell Property Management, noted in a recent column for Florida Association News that it is often beneficial to form a volunteer activities committee.

“Well-organized and efficiently-run community committees can produce great results. They can preserve the harmony and desired appearance of the community through friendly, yet firm enforcement of the governing documents and organize social events that bring the community together,” he notes, but adds: “The opposite can also be true. Poorly organized and run committees can actually create more problems than necessary. They can cause hostility among neighbors and lawsuits regarding selective enforcement and discrimination.”

Popular Programming

For teens, single adults, and families, classes like Zumba, Pilates, kickboxing, spinning, sculpting/super-sculpting, high intensity interval training, yoga and yoga barre are becoming popular. Cox, however, noted that teens can be a challenging demographic to please.

“We have found success in providing more casual events where they can just come to ‘hang-out’ with their friends. We have to achieve the ‘cool factor’ to get them to come out,” says Cox. “We offer a popular Teen Mid-Way in the fall that includes activities such as inflatable games and challenges geared to older youth, photo booths, outdoor video gaming, rock climbing, DJ music, skateboarding demos and we get sponsors to help fund the cost of pizza or other free refreshments.”

Another popular event for teens is the annual summer event, Zany Zone, which includes a huge bubble/foam pit, color-wars (throwing washable paint balls at each other) and water balloons. “The Zany Zone is followed by a pool party with DJ music and refreshments,” says Cox. For younger children, a Wild on Sienna Safari event, complete with exotic animals, as well as themed movie nights have proven popular.

For the older set, de Haan says that baby boomers are very big into book clubs, travel clubs, poker games, bridge games, shuffle board, bocce and tennis courts. “Younger boomers look for fitness centers and pools and club house for functions—a movie night or special event like the Super Bowl,” says de Haan.

The Bottom Line

While the majority of properties managed have a budget line for social activities, depending on the property a budget can range from an annual holiday party to numerous parties and social outings such as museums and the like. It all depends on the association, its residents and agreed upon needs.

“Reaching out to seek sponsorships is an extremely helpful way to boost your event and programming budgets and many companies are able to offer in-kind donations if they can’t offer funds,” says Cox. “Our active adult bingo nights are very low-cost as we encourage participants to bring their favorite dessert to share and we are able to get donations from local merchants to use as prizes.”

Cox explains that 10 years ago the community purchased a large outdoor inflatable movie screen, which has proven popular with residents of all ages. These outdoor movie nights require limited staff (maintenance crew to put up and take down the screen and one staff person to operate the projector).

“We do have the rental cost of the movie through www.swank.com to be able to show to the public, which this ranges from $250 to $500 per movie, but that’s basically our only cost,” she says. “Businesses love to sponsor our movie nights. And residents bring their own blanket and snacks.”

For those considered a retirement community, recreational budgets can become a sticky issue. To this end, each community will take a different approach to how they budget for activities. In some cases, it may be a combination of allocated money from the board along with fellow residents banding together to create shared experiences.

“You may have a lot of people on fixed incomes,” says de Haan. “Older people don’t like to pay into reserves because they feel they might not be around to use the funds so they want to pay less money a month. Younger people just starting out with families don’t have as much income or extra money to spend, so between these two variables budgets are always an issue.”

In some cases Cox and de Haan say that associations will charge a fee for the event via a ticketing process. This often will cover the costs of food and soft drinks. This way the board doesn’t have to allocate funds. “The cost for many of these events is reasonable, and sometimes it’s a pot luck event,” says de Haan. “If at the end of the year the board had extra money, they might be able to afford to host a holiday party.”

Creating Meaningful Experiences

While most communities can expect a holiday party—and perhaps a summer barbecue— each year, as units change hands and residents grow older, needs and wants change, as well. As boards, managers, and social committees determine residential needs, they have to adapt to changing circumstances, continually. In many cases, this requires creative thinking.

“The best advice I can give on what to avoid for programming is the fear of offering something that no one turns out for,” says Cox, who adds that she has been in the community programming industry for nearly 25 years. “I’ve planned some events that have had less than three people show up, but no one should let that discourage them from trying different programs. I’ve had some where I thought I might have 100 people and ended up with one thousand.”

As de Haan points out, with communication and shared willingness to affect change, residents can and do come together to make their community different. While these are positive experiences, new board members and younger managing agents also have to keep a mindful eye on any liabilities that can result from an activity—whether a physical activity like landscaping or a social gathering such as a party.

Where liability plays a significant role is when a resident’s age impacts mobility and participation in certain events. As a result, de Haan sees the role of the association manager changing in these communities as in many cases they are not educated to meet the demands or responsibilities of an aging community.

“Community association managers are being called upon to deal with things that they do not have the expertise for unless a masters or PhD in social work or psychiatry. So new forms of education will be needed for managers,” says de Haan. “There are liability issues as well with aging in place. The association is not a hospital or an assisted living facility, and many managers are called upon to deal with some extremely difficult situations.”

W.B. King is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to The South Florida Cooperator.