Why Join GRA?
Are you interested in reaching a wider or different audience with your research? Do you have a passion for non-partisan research that informs citizens and decision makers in the community? Does your job enable you to know more about government policies, spending, structures and outcomes than most? Do you work for an agency that isn’t quite so easy to explain in a pat one-liner? If you answered yes to any of these, you are likely to enjoy and benefit from becoming a member of the Governmental Research Association.
Membership in the Governmental Research Association is open to anyone engaged in governmental research in the general interest. Governmental research involves the collection, analysis, and distribution of factual information on governmental activities to citizens and government officials for the improvement of government and the reduction of its cost. GRA members research public policy issues and present the findings of that research in reports and oral presentations. The research tends to be applied research that helps citizens, elected officials, and other public policymakers make better informed policy decisions.
Generally, members of GRA are employed by organizations (usually non-profit) whose course of business involves the study, analysis, and reporting of state, local, or state and local governmental policies. Other GRA members work in academic settings or are employed by state and local governments in settings that allow them to do non-partisan research of public policy issues. A common, but not universal, trait is a non-partisan approach to the public policy research and dissemination of the findings and recommendations.
What does membership bring into your professional life?
Annual Policy Conference
The Association holds an annual conference at which its members meet to discuss professional matters, exchange ideas, and recognize outstanding research efforts. Typical conferences include sessions designed for both the education of members and exchange of ideas on current public policy issues and sessions designed to help the organizations and members do better governmental research.
GRA Awards
At the conference, the Association confers awards for Distinguished Research, Effective Citizen Education, and Policy Achievement. Individual members and governmental research organizations with members in the Association are eligible to enter the awards competition.
GRA Reporter
A monthly email helps members keep in touch between conferences. The emails include news from individual organizations and a newsfeed of reports issued during the past month.
Webinars
GRA offers occasional webinars to help members be better researchers and for member organizations to share research findings on subjects of a broad interest across states.
Networking with Peers
The common thread through the benefits of membership is the value of networking with others engaged in public policy research for the general interest. Each activity and benefit is designed to help members learn from the experience of others, to allow research and policy ideas to germinate across jurisdictions, and to promote excellence in the field of governmental research.
Dues are $200 annually for an individual or $450 for an organization. Membership entitles you receive the following membership benefits without charge:
- newsfeed in GRA Reporter,
- access to webinars and other educational materials,
- qualification to compete for GRA awards,
- registration for our annual conference at a discounted rate,
- and a means of tapping in to the network of individuals engaged in governmental research.
Ways to Join
GRA Membership Form
Need more information? Contact If you have any questions or comments, you can send them to Shawn Teigen at president@graonline.org or Annie McGowan at secretary@graonline.org.