2024 - 2026 Strategic Plan
Expand, Engage & Lead
ABOUT GRA
WHO WE ARE
Mission:
The Groundwater Resources Association is dedicated to resource management that protects and improves groundwater supply and quality through education and technical leadership.
Vision:
Sustainable Groundwater for All
Values:
The Groundwater Resources Association is dedicated to expanding, diversifying, and leading efforts to protect and improve groundwater resources. By fostering collaboration, providing education, and advocating for sustainable groundwater management, we empower our members to address current and future challenges.
WHAT WE DO
GRA seeks to achieve the vision of sustainable groundwater for all through providing education, technical leadership, and advocacy in the field of groundwater. To achieve this vision, we:
• Work through our eight regional branches, which hold meetings to share technical knowledge, learning and connection, to create a network of groundwater professionals at all stages in careers from students to retirees.
• Lead a variety of technical & policy conferences throughout the year to provide a platform for knowledge transfer and education within the groundwater community.
• Host bimonthly GRA Cast webinars focused around relevant learning topics.
• Provide training and education through classes and workshops lead by leading professors and professionals in the industry.
• Enable a robust groundwater job board to connect job seekers with those seeking to fill groundwater and water resource positions.
• Provide technical review and input, as a resource partner to our affiliates, policy makers, and regulators, sharing expertise to support excellence in groundwater related policies and documents.
• Publish a quarterly industry magazine, HydroVisions, to share content and thought-leadership within the groundwater industry.
• Advocate for policies, legislation and funding that supports our mission and vision of sustainable groundwater for all.
HOW WE DO IT
GRA is a volunteer organization. We are structured with a board elected through our membership and supported by regional branches and committees organized in the following areas:
• Regional Branches: 8 Regions (Sacramento, Northern Sacramento Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, Central Coast, San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, San Diego, Inland Empire)
• Statewide Committees:
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Events, Education & Affiliates
• GRA Cast Subcommittee
• Conference Planning Committees
• Executive
• Awards Task Force
• Nominations Task Force
• Finance
• Legislative Advocacy
• Membership & Communications
• Technical Branches and Committees are led by dedicated member volunteers passionate about water resources and groundwater.
COLLABORATION AND THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
In addition to GRA Branches and Committees, GRA fosters collaboration and thought leadership through our Contemporary Groundwater Issues Council. The Council acts as “think tank” gathering executives and leaders from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to help GRA meet the needs of the state’s water stakeholders in providing opportunities to share experiences with and potential solutions to the state’s most pressing groundwater issues. The Council complements the roles of GRA’s Board of Directors and GRA’s Committees by providing external input from groundwater leaders on key ongoing or future groundwater-related issues, challenges, and opportunities.
AFFILIATES “WE CAN’T DO IT ALL ON OUR OWN”
Since its inception, GRA has enjoyed opportunities for collaborating with a wide range of agencies and organizations having goals and objectives aligned to those valued by GRA. We often partner with affiliates such as the Association of California Water Agencies, the Water Education Foundation, the National Ground Water Association, Arizona Hydrological Society, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Water Research Foundation, the University of California - Groundwater Hydrology Cooperative Extension Program and the California Department of Water Resources to name a few. We value our partners and leveraging through leadership and learning across resources. As you’ll see in our strategic priorities, we are focused on expanding our affiliate connections and evolving with affiliate connections outside of the typical groundwater industry envelope.
STRATEGIC PLAN DEVELOPMENT
WHY DO WE NEED TO PLAN?
We have grown and evolved in our 30 years, the pace of change accelerating dramatically in recent years with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) legislation adoption in 2014 and the rapid technology acceleration with challenge of PFAS. Additionally, new and innovative member models enabling more membership through corporations across the globe and virtual platform tools have enabled rapid growth outside of the state of California. To adapt to this accelerated change over the last few years, we moved from an inward focus on organizational changes to a growth-based focus. Since 2018 we have shifted to fewer and more impactful events, adopting the concept of a large annual “groundwater congress” in lieu of our prior, smaller annual meeting. The Western Groundwater Congress (WGC) model sought to quadruple annual meeting size by creating an anchored, multi-track event with a competitive abstract process, paired with annual meeting functions, awards, and unique networking platforms across the better portion of a week. The WGC is in its 7th year in 2024 – and has been an incredibly successful endeavor. The WGC has attracted around 400 attendees from over 15 countries, and sponsorship has shifted from around 10 exhibitors and sponsors historically to close to 60 exhibitors and sponsors in the last WGCs. As you’ll see in our Strategic Plan, we are continuing to evolve our event model to repeat the success seen with reorganizing under fewer, larger events.
Additionally, in 2018, GRA consolidated the structure of various committees to improve efficiency and reduce volunteer strain. This change combined both the Membership and Communications committee to realize the benefit of collaboration across platforms. The Events Committee also joined forces with the Education Committee and the Affiliates Committee to leverage networks and brainstorming; along with bringing the GRA Cast committee under the mantle of EEA. Further changes included shifting committees such as Nominations and Awards to act as task forces, in conjunction with informing the Executive Committee and Board. A Blue-Ribbon Task Force comprised of select GRA Board Members was utilized to implement the structural changes in 2019.
This year saw a surge in enthusiasm from volunteers and a record number of applications for Director positions. We were thrilled to onboard six new Directors in January of 2024, bringing an even broader variety of talents and expertise to Boardroom. Our thriving Board is unabashedly leading the necessary change for GRA to remain the dominant groundwater association in the Western United States.
STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
GRA completed a phased Strategic Planning Process to assess individual concerns of leadership and to benefit from a collaborative and interactive discussion that enabled a deep dive into each Strategic Priority.
GRA’S GUIDING PRINCIPLES – “WHERE WE WANT TO GO”
Embarking on our strategic planning process in April and May provided unique insights on the challenges we face as an organization, and how we can seek to overcome those challenges to translate them to opportunities. Through interviews and our strategic planning workshop pre-work, we developed Guiding Principles to provide direction and focus for GRA, along with helping maintain strategic coherence in our initiative development. Guiding Principles were used to align efforts and decisions within the workshop subgroups, ensuring that everyone in the planning workshop is working towards a common purpose.
These are the Guiding Principles, our “North Star” statements, used in our strategic planning and in conversation with the leadership team:
• We want our reputation to be “helpful, reliable, thought leaders” – an organization that others (government, NGOs, tech) can approach for practical, thoughtful, and technically sound insights into groundwater challenges. GRA seeks out and can help facilitate connections and opportunities with and for the groundwater industry.
• We want GRA to serve as a knowledge hub for groundwater professionals – an invaluable resource to all members and the community at large:
• We foster a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and open communication amongst groundwater professionals.
• We serve as a leader for technical excellence and provide cutting-edge guidance on groundwater challenges.
• We want to be the go-to for continuing education and leveling up professional skills throughout people’s careers.
• We strive for openness and inclusivity in all that we do. Groundwater for all is core to our mission. GRA seeks to build a community that connects groundwater professionals with the rest of the world helping us all grow and learn from each other.
• We want our organization to be intentional and data-driven, essentially “being thoughtful”, our strategic initiatives will be guided by good data and member input. We are intentional with our actions having clear purpose and direction before making significant changes.
• This input on challenges, views on near and long-term success outlook, and opportunities for growth highlighted the importance of effective strategic planning for the sustainability of GRA’s future.
FRAMING FOR OUR STRATEGIC PLAN
Once Guiding Principles were in place we identified challenges and/or opportunities that we wanted to address in the next 3-5 years. For challenges, we asked ourselves, what do we think are the root causes? What evidence do we see that indicates a problem?
For opportunities, we asked ourselves, what do we want to get out of the opportunity? What are potential challenges/roadblocks?
CHALLENGE #1: MEMBERSHIP GROWTH
Ten years into SGMA and with groundwater on the main stage for much of the western water industry, GRA has not seen the expected growth of our membership.
Our Hypothesis:
• It’s not clear to the water industry what GRA’s role is in the market. Our identity and value proposition are not well articulated and this creates drag on our external influence and relevance.
• GRA’s marketing and outreach efforts may not be as effective as we thought and external investment could be a pathway to create meaningful impact on increasing membership and engagement.
CHALLENGE #2: FOSTERING INNOVATION AND REMAINING A LEADING RESOURCE
GRA is a well-known technical leader in groundwater and has an opportunity to foster dialogue that drives technical innovation.
Our Hypothesis:
• Groundwater’s most daunting challenges cannot be solved using traditional technical approaches alone. Our reputation as a technical leader is not synonymous with innovation which hurts long-term membership growth.
• Our industry is experiencing an ever-increasing labor shortage where in some cases technical experts are leaving to explore career opportunities in more innovative industries (i.e. technology). Fostering technical innovation focused dialogue and content may help retain/attract more individuals to groundwater.
OPPORTUNITY: OUR EVENTS, EDUCATION AND AFFILIATES COMMITTEE CAN DRIVE GRA’S RESPONSIVENESS TO INDUSTRY NEEDS
The Groundwater sector is constantly evolving and GRA wants to lead in innovation and continuously provide relevant content that is of value to members. GRA wants to be on the leading edge of building relationships and bringing new ideas to the water industry.
Our Hypothesis:
• GRA currently provides the most value to members and the industry through our annual events. Events are also a critical source of revenue (membership fees + events = the majority of our revenue). We see events as a critical part of growing our sphere of influence.
• Event planning as is (five annual events) requires much effort from volunteers, we lose money on some events and others are sparsely attended.
• Event planning is transitioned year to year Systems and processes to reduce the burden of event planning and make transitions easier
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 2024-2026
The key result of GRA’s Strategic Planning Process was the creation of Strategic Priorities to guide the organization in near-term (one year) and long-term planning (within three years). The collective aim of the priorities is to expand upon the successes of GRA’s past planning efforts and to capitalize on identified opportunities for growth. The planning process brought to light elements of GRA which resonate strongly with members: networking, technical prowess, connection, advocacy and visibility. These elements, or guiding principles, are woven into the basis of the Strategic Priorities outlined below.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY #1: EXPAND & ENGAGE MEMBERSHIP
The overarching goal for Strategic Priority #1 will be to diversify and increase engagement with members and the community at large. In order to achieve this goal, we will develop and initiate effective and strategic marketing and communications for the organization that are structured, and flexible to be reactive to member needs and the evolving industry.
ACTION 1A: Develop a scope of services, specific goals and budget & have approved by the Board.
• Stakeholder: Marketing Selection Task Force (New)
• Accountable: GRA President and M+C Committee
• Deadline: Q1 2025
• Check-In: Monthly at Committee Meetings and Board Meetings
• Success: All our marketing and communication needs are identified, the budget is finalized and the scope of services has been refined with accountability of items assigned to volunteers, staff (AMC) and the Marketing Firm.
ACTION 1B: Identify marketing firms/select one through RFP
• Stakeholder: Marketing Selection Task Force
• Accountable: GRA President and M+C Committee
• Deadline: Q2 2025
• Check-In: Monthly at Committee Meetings and Board Meetings
• Success: Marketing firm selected and contracted executed.
ACTION 1C: Develop & Implement Marketing Plan
• Stakeholder: Selected Marketing Firm
• Accountable: M+C Committee and AMC
• Deadline: Q3 2025
• Check-In: Monthly at Committee Meetings and Board Meetings
• Success: 50% increase in views on HydroVisions, 50% increase on digital engagement (social media –impressions, comments, likes followers, etc.) Depending on the timeline of the Strategic Marketing Plan, a huge increase of followers, engagements and to increase membership by 75% is success.
ACTION 1D: Measure, check and adjust marketing plan if needed to increase effectiveness
• Stakeholder: Selected Marketing Firm
• Accountable: M+C Committee and Marina Deligiannis
• Deadline: Ongoing – quarterly at a minimum
• Check-in: Quarterly and Board Meetings
• Success: 75% increase in membership revenue by 2027
STRATEGIC PRIORITY #2: CONTINUE TO LEAD IN GROUNDWATER
The overarching goal for Strategic Priority #2 will be to expand GRA’s sphere of influence by fostering innovation, advocacy and growing membership meaningfully creating “pull” into the association. In order to achieve this goal we will do the following.
ACTION 2A: Identify and strategically approach organizations and companies to increase our affiliates and partnerships.
• Stakeholder: EEA Committee
• Accountable: EEA Committee
• Deadline: Implementation by Q2 2025
• Check-In: Monthly EEA Meetings and Board Meetings
• Success: A 50% increase in affiliates and partnerships that provide measurable value to members.
ACTION 2B: Evaluate GRA’s portfolio of events and educational offerings and make recommendations for how to increase value to members and better align our volunteer efforts and offerings with strategic goals. Readily execute recommendations as the Board sees fit.
• Stakeholder: All Committees
• Accountable: EEA Committee and Super Motivated Volunteers (SMV)
• Deadline: Reduce events in 2025 to make more time available to volunteers to complete the proposed evaluation. Final report summarizing the findings of the evaluation and recommendations for action presented to the Board of Directors by the May 2025 Board meeting. Implementation planning for through 2025 with the intent to have full implementation of Board-approved recommendations in 2026.
• Success: Great event attendance, engagement, and notoriety. Lower workload impact on volunteers and staff. An increase of membership, affiliates/ partners, sponsors, and diverse industries getting involved.
These two Strategic Priorities will serve as the north-star, or “Brunton”, for GRA’s leadership over the course of the next three years. For this Strategic Plan, we have honed down to the “vital few” initiatives and put a hold on other strategic concepts such as movement towards the hiring of an Executive Director that will be beneficial to pursue in the future with a stronger membership and expanded leadership. We also continue to work through regular association activities and tasks that align with these priorities and build for a strong future.
IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN AND SUSTAINING THE FUTURE
The GRA President and Vice President will drive implementation of the plan along with stakeholders identified for each action within the Strategic Priorities. Addressing the Strategic Priorities identified in this plan over the next three years will enable the continued drive towards supporting the vision of sustainable groundwater for all. This plan will be used to guide strategic discussions at the Board level of GRA – and act as a roadmap for work throughout the year to be executed by GRA Committees. The GRA Board will review progress on strategic priorities and actions at its regular Board meetings to confirm activities are focused and driving towards achievement of goals.