Literacy Today January/February 2015

Welcome to interactive presentation, created with Publuu. Enjoy the reading!

E FUTURE

THEE

FUTTUR

LITEERA

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

Made with Publuu - flipbook maker