Many Lake Associations publish Directory books for their Members on a regular schedule. The Directories not only include names and lake addresses of property owners but also include information on Association programs and listings of Officers, Directors, committee chairs, etc. They often have sections for lake stewardship best practices, lake safety and aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention. In many cases advertisers are solicited to offset Directory creation and production costs.
www.lakeadmin.org has researched Lake Association Directories starting in 2016. At that time a comprehensive review of existing Directories was done to get an overview of what was commonly included in Directories and what was thought to be of interest to readers. In recent years many opportunities were found and relationships established to obtain demographic data on lake property owners from county files. It was discovered that from many counties property owner name and address listings and ability to show property locations on maps were available. This relieves the Lake Associations from the necessity to construct and maintain these data files for Directories. Based on this research, experience and resource availability a new, innovative system was created to create Enhanced Lake Association Directories.
Enhanced Directories can be compiled cafeteria-style. Lake Associations can select the appropriate and desired content. For example, some Directories will include documents like Bylaws or Articles of Incorporation. Others can include legislative references, etc. See the Ultimate Directory post in www.lakeadmin.org for examples of possible Directory sections.
Directories can be designed to accommodate virtually any budget constraints. Inclusion of existing materials and property owner demographic data is relatively economically accommodated. The development of original content requires additional development time and cost. A unique and innovative optional component of this new system is the Coop Advertiser Solicitation Program. It is possible to relieve Lake Associations of the burden of having to sell ads to finance their Directories. Contact lakehelp2@gmail.com for more information.
www.lakeadmin.org has completed many projects with several printers in the local region and can shop for the best printer, for the best job, for the lowest price.
In the spring of 2020 the system was used to create Lake Association Directories for two local Associations. The Associations are relatively larger than most. One project was for 900 books and the other for 800 books. The system accommodated custom formats and used supplied Member data from the Associations. For reference contacts and more information on these projects contact lakehelp2@gmail.com
www.lakeadmin.org is ready and willing to assist any Lake Association in the design and production of an Enhanced Lake Association Directory. Contact lakehelp2@gmail.com for a comprehensive no-obligation consultation.
John Kruse