Columbia Association Works to Help Our Community Reach Full Potential

Shawn MacInnes, president and CEO of the Columbia Association, detailed CA’s role while he was guest speaker at a Columbia-Patuxent Rotary Club meeting recently. CA serves our planned community of over 100,000 people, with 25,000 residential properties and over 1,100 commercial properties. It’s a membership-driven nonprofit that generates revenue through sales and handles high-quality facilities, programs and services.

“We are a quality of life organization,” Shawn said. “We're just helping the community reach its fullest potential. Just like Rotary, we're where community happens, and we're out there to make lives better. It can be very complicated, but it's great work to do on a daily basis.”

He detailed the extensive services and facilities provided by CA, including 500 lifeguards, 171 play areas, 50 lakes and ponds, and various sports and fitness clubs. CA manages 3,600 acres of open space and 119 miles of pathways, ensuring residents can easily access facilities within the community. It has about 2.4 million total visits to its facilities and programs every year.

Shawn talked about CA's governance and the role of the board of directors, which includes representatives from each of the 10 villages in Columbia. CA's organizational structure includes administrative services, community operations, and community programs and services. Progressive use of technology helps support 1,000 team members and management of 1,200 assets across 44 facilities. CA launched new customer relationship software and is starting to leverage AI for business decisions.

Its community operations department deals with open space, logistics for events, capital improvements, and sustainability programs. Financially, 60% of CA’s revenue comes from its annual charge and 40% from memberships. It puts 75% of the budget back into the community through programs, services, open space and capital investments.

“We do a lot that's free and we provide a lot to the community,” Shawn said. “There's great value in that. We’re trying to make people more aware … The average tax bill at CA right now is around $1,200. If you want to break down the numbers, it works out to only $3 a day.”

Shawn said CA’s goals include a new strategic plan and efforts to increase awareness within the community. It wants to engage younger residents and transient populations to ensure long-term success. New signage, improved programming and partnerships with commercial businesses can promote visibility and engagement. It’s important to measure and continuously improve programs and services.

“Some people still think Columbia is new. It's this new, innovative community. Well, it's 58 years old. It's not that new,” Shawn explained. “We’re trying to start to hash that out and come up with a plan for the future to say, what's our next 58 years, and what's that going to look like? That's the big picture.”

Columbia-Patuxent Rotary is the largest and most active of Howard County's seven Rotary clubs. It meets weekly on Friday morning at 7:30 at JAM Eateries.