What is a Community Association?
Community Associations are where neighbours work cooperatively to make their neighbourhood a better, more inclusive place to live. The members of your Community Association want you to feel safe and love where you live. Their volunteers are dedicated to making your community a great place to live, work and play. The association may consist of homeowners and renters, who live in a certain neighbourhood. Community associations are volunteer-based, grass-roots organizations that can incorporate as a registered society under the province.
What does a Community Associations do?
They respond to residents' needs, supporting them to strengthen connections and work towards common goals, as well as:
- advocate for the community with a unified voice
- plan social events, kids' activities, community clean-ups and beautification programs, and safety initiatives
- monitor development and provide input
- raise funds for parks, amenities, infrastructure
- provide information to residents through a newsletter, website or social media page
How to establish a Community Association
- Identify the purpose of your community association. Please consider the needs and interests of your community by gathering input from potential members and residents.
- Recruit members and build support by hosting meetings or events to build awareness and support for the association.
- Develop bylaws: Bylaws must outline the structure, governance, and operations of the association.
- Incorporate your community association as a non-profit association. To do this, the association must file documents with the Alberta Corporate Registry and pay the applicable fees. Incorporation is not mandatory, but it provides the association with legal status and limits the personal liability of its members. A non-profit association with the Alberta government provides tax benefits and may increase the association's eligibility for funding and grants.
- Establish financial management practices. Develop a system for managing the association's finances, including policies and procedures, budgeting and maintaining accurate records.
- Begin operations: Once the association is established, start planning and implementing activities and initiatives to achieve the association's goals.
Additional Supports Available
Check out workshops available to help build the capacity of your organization or community association, visit: www.cochrane.ca/ProgramGuide.
Service Alberta has information on how to register a society: https://www.alberta.ca/incorporate-a-society.aspx.
Cochrane Community Associations
We recognize that the Community Associations are quite often the face of their neighbourhood. If a Community Association exists in your neighbourhood and you are interested in joining, use the contact information below and feel free to connect with other Community Associations to see what they're doing.