IPAI’s New Core Values, Vision Statement, and Mission Statement Unveiled at State Conference

By Executive Director Josh W. Barnett

In March of 1958, City of Bloomington Township Assessor Leo Haas and Decatur Township Assessor William Brannan organized what they called the “Illinois Workshop” for assessors. It was held on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. It was so successful that it became an annual event and continued to grow to the point that in 1966, their work needed to be formally incorporated into an organization called the Illinois Property Assessment Institute.

When Illinois Property Assessment Institute was formally incorporated in 1966, the Board of Directors formed a mission statement in two parts:

1. To provide educational seminars on property appraisal and assessment administration.
2. To promote improved standards of assessment practice by providing a means of education for assessment personnel on all matters pertaining to property valuation and assessment in the state of Illinois, according to the statutes.

For 57 years, this mission statement has served us well. But, occasionally in the life of an organization it is healthy to assess whether your current mission continues to serve you as well as it always has. Last year we began that reflective process and through it concluded it was time for IPAI to refresh our mission statement.

We quickly realized this was going to involve more than a new mission statement. If we wanted to do this right, we had to start at the beginning with core values, which would lead to a new vision statement, which would then bring us to our renewed mission statement. The process to do this involved our board of directors, staff, instructors, committee members, and key industry leaders. Each one of these groups at one point or another were asked to contribute their thoughts, ideas, and vision for our organization. Working together, we emerged from this process with IPAI’s foundational building blocks in the form of new core values, new vision statement, and renewed mission statement.

We believe our core values are IPAI’s fundamental beliefs and highest priorities that drive behavior. They are words that represent who we are and what we stand for.

Our new vision statement is a written declaration clarifying IPAI’s meaning and purpose. It is aspirational and speaks to our never-ending purpose & journey as an organization.

Once our new core values and vision statement were in place, we turned our attention back to renewing our mission statement. Our mission statement is meant to define IPAI’s focus, our objectives, and how we reach those objectives. It answers the question “How will we live out core values and pursue our vision?”

Thank you to all who were part of the process to rediscover our calling as an organization and put these foundational building blocks in place. Now it is time to do something with them and create a better future for the property assessment industry in Illinois.