Built From Your Voice, Focused on the Future
In November 2025, the IEDA Board gathered with one important question in front of them:
Who are we, who do we serve, and how do we best serve them now?
The Board first spent time gaining clarity about IEDA’s identity, role, and place in a changing economic development landscape. Then, we continued the conversation with members during the December Conference, where we gathered ideas, concerns, questions, and hopes for the future. Those conversations sparked our next step…..go across Indiana to hear more from our members.
Through regional listening sessions in the spring, members shared what they value most, where they need more support, and how IEDA can continue growing as the statewide association for Indiana’s economic development professionals.
By April, the Board brought in an outside facilitator to help us set a new direction that was clear, focused, and member-informed. We are now sharing our strategic direction designed to strengthen IEDA for the future with you.
What Members Told Us
At the conference in December, we held an open forum to collect feedback from our members. In the spring, we held 4 listening sessions where we heard from 46 members and collected over 600 responses! During the listening sessions, whether we were in northern or southern Indiana, several themes came through.
Members value IEDA's ability to bring economic development professionals together. Conferences, peer relationships, and access to trusted colleagues are among the most meaningful parts of membership.
Members also value the practical side of IEDA: timely information, legislative updates, professional development, tools and resources, and shared learning that can be applied back home in local communities.
At the same time, members were clear about what they needed more of.
They want us to be a stronger and more proactive voice for the profession. They want timely communication when issues are moving quickly. They want more usable resources, toolkits, talking points, and practical guidance that help them educate boards, elected officials, community partners, and local stakeholders.
Members also expressed the need for stronger connections across regions, more support for emerging professionals, clearer communication about statewide issues, and continued opportunities to learn from one another.
In other words, members were not asking us to become everything to everyone. They were asking us to focus our resources, time, and energy on specific areas that will make the biggest impact on our industry and how they support their local communities.
In summary, here’s what you told us:
- To strengthen the value of membership.
- To speak as a credible collective voice.
- To help economic development professionals do their work with greater confidence, connection, and support.
The Direction: A Connected and Empowered Network
IEDA's vision is a connected and empowered network of economic development professionals who are equipped and unified to drive opportunity in every corner of Indiana. When our members thrive, communities thrive.
That last sentence matters. When our members thrive, communities thrive.
IEDA exists because economic development professionals play a critical role in Indiana's future. You help create pathways to prosperity. You support business growth, community readiness, infrastructure development, workforce alignment, and long-term opportunity.
Your work is becoming more complex, not less. That is why IEDA's mission is focused on empowering the professionals who create pathways to prosperity for every person in Indiana. Our strategic direction gives IEDA a clearer path for doing that work.
Sometimes it felt like we were starting with a blank slate, but that’s when we returned to our mission, vision, values, and our members' voice. Here’s the result of our collective work.
Four Priorities Will Guide the Work Ahead
IEDA's strategic direction includes four key priorities.
- Member Value: IEDA will continue strengthening the programming, resources, and training members actually need and want. This priority is directly connected to what members said throughout the listening process. Members want practical tools. They want timely education. They want resources they can use with local boards, elected officials, community partners, and staff. They want professional development that reflects the realities of economic development work today. The Membership Value Committee will help turn this feedback into action. That means looking closely at what members need now, what emerging professionals need to grow, and what experienced professionals need to stay current and effective.
- Fiscal Sustainability: We are focused on the future. Fiscal Sustainability is about making sure the organization has the financial security and revenue strategy needed to support growth and long-term impact. As IEDA grows its role, strengthens its voice, and expands member value, the organization also needs the resources to deliver on those commitments. The Fiscal Sustainability Committee will focus on the revenue strategy, partnerships, sponsorship opportunities, and financial planning needed to support the next chapter of IEDA's work. For members and sponsors, this is an exciting opportunity. A stronger IEDA creates more value for the profession, more visibility for the field, and more meaningful ways for partners to support economic development across Indiana.
- Organizational Capacity: This priority will aim to make sure IEDA has the structure, the people, support, and clarity needed to execute priorities and adapt as conditions change. This work is about defining the size of the team needed to execute our goals and deliver on our mission. The Organizational Capacity Committee will help ensure IEDA can move from direction to implementation realistically and sustainably.
- Collective Advocacy: We will continue strengthening our role as a proactive, credible voice for Indiana's economic development profession. Members asked for a stronger collective voice. They asked for timely information. They asked for education, interpretation, and context that they can use in their own communities. The Legislative Committee will continue working to strengthen IEDA's collective advocacy by helping the organization listen to members, understand emerging issues, communicate clearly, and represent the realities of economic development professionals across Indiana.
A Strategic Direction Built for Growth
One of the most important outcomes of this process is that IEDA is choosing growth.
Growth in value. Growth in clarity. Growth in capacity. Growth in voice. Growth in service to members.
The April visioning work helped the Board move from discussion to direction. The Board considered what it would take to grow, what resources would be needed, what priorities mattered most, and how IEDA could move forward with focus and discipline.
That work was not easy. It required honest conversation, thoughtful debate, and a willingness to make choices. The Board had to consider what we can realistically do, what we should prioritize, and how to build a stronger future without losing what members already value most.
We are grateful for the hard work of the Board in choosing this direction. Their leadership helped turn member feedback into a focused path forward.
What This Means for Members
For members, IEDA's new strategic direction to serve members means your feedback is being used.
The concerns you raised were heard, and the ideas you shared were taken seriously. You will see continued focus on member resources, professional connections, timely communication, meaningful programming, and a more visible collective voice for the profession.
You will also see committees working behind the scenes to move priorities forward in a thoughtful and disciplined way. This is how strategy becomes action. Will it take us time? Yes! However, we are committed to seeing this new strategic direction through until our goals are achieved.
What This Means for Sponsors and Partners
For sponsors and partners, this strategic direction creates a stronger opportunity to support the people and communities shaping Indiana's future.
IEDA's members are the professionals doing the hard work of economic development every day. They are supporting local communities, helping create opportunity, and working to ensure Indiana remains competitive and prepared for what comes next.
As IEDA grows its member value, strengthens advocacy, builds capacity, and plans for long-term sustainability, sponsors have an opportunity to align with an organization that is focused, energized, and moving forward. You're investing in the profession and Indiana communities.
The Future of IEDA Is Member-Informed and Forward-Focused
It began in November of 2025 with the Board asking important questions about identity and purpose. It continued in December as members shared ideas and concerns at the Conference. It deepened through the spring listening sessions. And it became clearer in April as the Board used what we heard to define how IEDA will serve and where the organization needs to go.
Now, IEDA has a strategic direction that reflects both member voice and Board leadership. We are excited for the future!
Thank you to every member who participated, shared feedback, attended a session, contributed an idea, raised a concern, or helped shape the conversation.
Thank you to the Board for listening carefully, wrestling with the choices, and choosing a direction that positions IEDA for long-term growth and impact.
Together, we are building a stronger, more connected, more empowered network of economic development professionals who are equipped and unified to drive opportunity in every corner of Indiana.
