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our partners and our competitors.
We even heard from our
nonmembers—those who had
joined and left IRA, and even those
who had never been a part of the
organization.
WE CAST A WIDE NET to gather
your feedback, including:
� E-mailing 80,000 members and
nonmembers a survey to gather
impressions of IRA
� Conducting a Twitter survey
of 300 attendees at the 2014
Annual Conference
� Reviewing survey feedback
conducted by McKinley Advisors
� Analyzing multiple years of
post-conference data collected
annually
More importantly,
we listened.
We knew we wanted rounded,
balanced input from a broad
representation of those most
dedicated to our mission and
purpose—members who would
work along with us to take on this
monumental task of establishing a
renewed brand for IRA. In April of
last year, we reached out to 20 IRA
members, representing past and
current board members and past
presidents, council leaders, staff,
and at-large, longtime members.
This volunteer group was dubbed
ILA’s Brand Ambassadors and, over
six months, in an intensive process
guided by consultants from
Ideon, they devoted hundreds of
hours to responding to questions,
poring over data, and analyzing
responses.
WE SOLICITED YOUR INPUT
everywhere we went: every
conference, workshop, and casual
conversation. And you gave us your
opinions, both positive and negative.
WE LEARNED—a lot—including
that IRA was viewed by members
as a sales organization. We were
pitching you to buy in every e-mail
and touchpoint, when what you
really wanted from us was support
to fulfill your purpose of teaching
literacy well so your students can
achieve. We needed to lead the
cause to transform lives through
literacy.
The time to do that is now, and not
a minute later.
WE’VE EXPLORED IDEAS and
we will launch experimental
programs. We’ve designated
goals, restructured staff, and
aligned resources. We examined
every penny spent and found
ways to generate greater cost
efficiencies. We are in lockstep
with our financial advisors, who
have worked alongside us to
lay out a conservative plan that
ensures smart use of our funds for
future growth, and it’s working: We
posted a surplus last year.
At the same time, we are
responding to your needs. We
moved the conference to July so
more teachers can attend. We’re
experimenting with new formats
for professional development and
learning. Oh, and we’re (finally)
redesigning the website to make it
more user-friendly.
We’re also working with our
network—affiliates, councils,
provincials—to build their capacity
to serve their members. We’re
looking for new ways to strengthen
all we do and everyone who is
connected to us by ensuring we
are creating pathways for more
members to access leadership
opportunities, by structuring our