Announcements

Announcements are how the board talks to the community. The pool’s closing for repair, the annual meeting is next month, the trash schedule changed for July 4. This article covers the announcement system end-to-end.

Where to send announcements

Announcements in the admin sidebar (mobile: “Announce”)

You’ll see a composer with options for:

• Title — short, descriptive
• Body — the actual message; supports basic formatting
• Channels — where to send it (see below)
• Audience — who receives it
• Schedule — send now or later

The three channels

Channel	Speed	Reaches	Best for
In-app	Instant	Anyone who logs in	Routine community news, anything in the portal already
Email	A few minutes	Every resident with an email on file	Important news that needs eyeballs; events; financial reminders
Push notification	Instant	Residents with the mobile app installed	Urgent / time-sensitive only

You can pick any combination. Most announcements use in-app + email. Reserve push for actual urgency.

Channel guidance

Use all three for: emergencies (water shutoff, evacuation, damage), critical deadlines (last day to pay before late fees).

In-app + email for: scheduled events, board updates, policy changes, financial summaries.

In-app only for: minor updates, reminders, low-stakes information (“pool reopens Monday after maintenance”).

Email only for: long-form communication that requires reading time (annual report, fiscal year summary). The in-app feed is for quick scanning; long emails belong in inbox.

Push only is rarely right. If it’s worth a push, it’s worth an email too.

Audience targeting

By default, announcements go to all residents. You can narrow to a few audience types:

• All residents — community-wide
• Properties with overdue dues — for late-payment outreach
• Properties with no payments on file — for residents who haven’t set up online payment
• Custom list — specific recipients

Use targeted announcements when the message doesn’t apply to everyone. Sending “Your dues are overdue” to the whole community insults the residents who paid on time.

What residents see

In the portal, announcements appear in the Community Feed — newest first, with title, body, posted-by, and date.

Email announcements look like a standard email with the HOA’s name in the from field, the announcement title as the subject, and the body in the email content. Replies go to the HOA’s contact email.

Push announcements appear as standard mobile notifications with the title; tapping opens the full announcement in the app.

Pinning announcements

To keep an announcement at the top of the feed:

1. Open the announcement
2. Click Pin to top

Pinned announcements stay above non-pinned ones until you unpin. Use sparingly — too many pins and nothing stands out.

Deleting / editing

After sending:

• Edit — you can update the in-app version, but emails already sent are out the door
• Delete — removes from the in-app feed; emails already sent stay in inboxes

If you sent an announcement with a major error (wrong date, wrong dollar amount), don’t just delete and re-send. Send a corrective announcement: “Correction: the meeting is at 7 PM, not 6 PM as previously announced.” Residents respect transparency more than silent corrections.

Frequency — how often is too often?

A practical rhythm for most communities:

• Weekly — feels excessive unless your community is highly active. Residents start ignoring.
• 2-3 per month — sweet spot. Routine updates without fatigue.
• Monthly — minimum to stay relevant. Less and residents forget the system exists.

Monitor open rates if you have email engagement metrics on. If open rates drop below 30%, you’re sending too often or your subject lines are stale.

Common situations

”We had an emergency and need to reach everyone now”

Use all available channels at once. Title with URGENT: prefix. Don’t bury the lead — first sentence should be the actionable info (“Water will be shut off from 2-4 PM today”).

”Some residents are complaining about getting too many announcements”

Direct them to Profile → Notification preferences in their account. They can opt out of email, opt out of push, etc. (They can’t opt out of in-app — that’s where it lives.)

”Should we use HomeHerald announcements or our existing email blast tool?”

Use HomeHerald. Reasons:

• Targeting (by property, status, role) isn’t possible from a generic blast tool
• Tracking — open rates, click rates, deliverability — is built in
• Templates carry HOA branding consistently
• Residents see the same announcement in-portal, so non-readers still encounter it

Most communities can decommission their old tool entirely after a few months on HomeHerald.

”We want a newsletter, not just a one-off announcement”

The Admin Digest automation generates scheduled summaries on a quarterly / semi-annual / annual basis. See Admin Digest. For ad-hoc newsletters, use the announcement system with a template.

Where to go next

• Unified email inbox — for inbound resident emails
• Physical Mail — for residents you can’t reach digitally
• Admin Digest — automated periodic summaries
• Publishing to the public board — for sharing resolved requests, separate from announcements