Dear ILR Members,

re: ILR Office Building and ILR Opportunities

In 2001, the ILR purchased a 9,000 square foot commercial building; The ILR offices utilize about 1/3 the space and the remaining area contains three commercial suites that are rented out to local businesses. The building has doubled in value and has allowed the ILR to function rent free for the past 11 years. In 2005, we continued to diversify the ILR by starting member services and expanding our on-line access and usability. The level of service the ILR offers it members rivals those of traditional livestock registries and our database access is unparalleled.

Unfortunately, as we have expanded the services available to our members and developed all of the components of a Breed Association, we have seen a decline in our national economy that has led to a decrease in registrations and transfers. We announced in October that we took out a loan against the equity in the ILR commercial building to complete our website upgrade and finish programming projects. During our year-end review, the ILR Board reviewed the trend of declining revenues and the impact that has on our cash flow. The ILR assets are invested in the building and the services we have developed, and those physical assets are not readily accessible. The ILR Board that has decided to sell the ILR Building, and it will be listed with a real estate agency on March  23, 2012. Moneys from the sale of the building will be used to pay off the equity loan, will provide working capital for the ILR to continue to provide the high level of members services and to potentially reinvest in a smaller, single use unit.

Granted, the purchase of the building was a good investment that has generated revenue far exceeding the investment and saved paying rent for the ILR office, and those advantages will be lost. Although this loss of rental revenue is regrettable, the alternative solution to our decrease in cash flow would be to cut member services, and we decided this was not an option we wanted to pursue. We feel that providing member services is important to growth of the llama industry, and we need to make this sacrifice of the building to continue to provide the high level of service you have come to expect.  

We will continue our efforts to promote llamas and educating new llama owners in hopes of bringing new owners and expanding the llama community, and as the ILR expands the exposure of llamas to the non-llama owning public, and as ILR members increase the visibility of llamas and promote this industry, we are anticipating an increase in traffic on the ILR website. There are many features on the ILR website that can be viewed by ANYONE viewing the website: 

Ø      llamaOOgle Photo Ads that are linked to the database to show the animal picture, pedigree and offspring, and UAP/SD points

Ø      llamaOOgle Herd Sire Photo Listings to promote your great stud – also linked to database

Ø      Pot of Gold Gelding Futurity for Youth Photo Ad and program sponsorship

Ø      Classified ads

Ø      Farm, Ranch and Services Locator – anyone viewing the ILR site can select a category and search by state or nationally for a provider in their area.

Ø      ILR Show Division – anyone can view show results including animal photos and UAP/SD points

Only ILR members can purchase these Marketing and Advertising options, but ANYONE can view them. You are provided with one free Photo Ad and one free Locator category with your paid ILR membership. We encourage each member to purchase an additional Photo Ad, nominate a Pot of Gold Gelding or purchase additional Farm, Ranch and Service Locator Listings to increase your exposure as we expand outside the llama owning public. We also encourage you to consider a gift ILR membership to a new owner or sponsor a 4H/FFA Youth, or pay the transfer fee for buyers. These membership gifts will give the new owners access to the services and promotions of the ILR.

The investment in these ILR services promote your farm and support your organization, the ILR – remember, the advertising dollars you spend on these ILR services will DIRECTLY benefit the llama community by sustaining the services available to all llama owners through the ILR.

Your ILR Board of Directors,

Karen Baum - Pres., Mary Jo Miller - VP, Kathi McKinney - Treasurer, Kristy Brown - Secretary, Bill Safreed - Member at Large

Remember - Alone we struggle; TOGETHER we thrive!!!