Protecting Illinois Farmers' Way of Life

IL Corn Growers Association is a state-based organization that represents the interests of corn farmers in Illinois by maintaining a high profile on issues in Washington, DC, and Springfield, IL. As a grassroots advocacy group, we strive to engage our members and advocates by sharing news and involvement opportunities that will impact farm families, agribusiness’, and farms overall bottom line. The quickest communication method we use, with the highest response rate is through text messaging farmers in Illinois.

The Call-to-Action Process

When a high priority issue is up for vote, or a docket is opened for comments, IL Corn summarizes the issue giving consideration to how it will impact corn farmers in Illinois. We then share this information in a way that is easy to understand via a link.We draft a narrative that’s applicable to our advocates’ agricultural circumstances, or sometimes, we offer a step-by-step question and answer scenario making it an even more personalized submission that automatically gets submitted to either a docket or your congressman.
 

Only the Most Important Issues

Our text alert platform is only utilized for the highest priority issues. In 2022, IL Corn only sent six calls to action, so when advocates receive a text, they can be sure that they’re only receiving the most vital requests necessary to incite change. Privacy and security is always a priority of IL Corn. We never share personal contact information outside of our organization and we honor all “opt out” requests to the best of our ability.

Best Practices

Computer programs keep track of constituent engagement in a variety of ways. Congressional offices can flag news articles that mention their elected official or specific topics. Keywords are flagged on social media sites. Personal communication (like our calls-to-action) from constituents are organized by topic and position; the bigger the response, the more congressional staff resources are allocated to that topic.