Support for the Purpose Summit Berlin June 2-3, 2018. The focus of the work contributes toward our democracy initiative and public engagement, helping to advance the movement-building strategy by expanding this conversation to international audiences. Besides receiving a standard sponsorship package, the Institute, and our top priorities in spiritual development and democracy will have a strong presence through highlighted activities in relation to interconnectedness and spiritual development and democracy and global purpose.

A collaboration with Faraday Institute, to engage Dr. Chris Oldfield in a fellowship that would contribute toward our interests and efforts in the New Narrative stream of work. The most recent design of the New Narrative Epistemology and Ontology Initiative will likely require a flexible model that requires extensive content generation, analysis, and synthesis for which an academic fellowship is most suitable.

This project initiates the beginning of a collaborative undertaking between the Fetzer Institute and the Learning for Wellbeing Foundation. After a preliminary survey of existing literature and expertise around the inner resources of children that help them to thrive (core capacities), subsequent steps will be worked out between the two organizations in collaboration with UNICEF after carefully assessing results. The project will include expert meetings of international scholars and practitioners, a literature review, and publication of papers.

Support for a collaboration between the Fetzer Institute and Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) to develop a robust and comprehensive research and evaluation plan that will help in highlighting the need for supporting the inner transformation of educational leaders. As one of the key projects under our Education Strategy, this collaboration will create rubrics for individual and organizational inner and outer transformation, which will contribute to the deepening of the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) field.

A partnership with Essential Partners (EP) that will integrate a spiritually grounded methodology into the organization’s bridging efforts. The project will allow EP’s national network of highly trained and skilled volunteer bridge-builders—known as EP’s Community of Practice— to craft unified narratives and frameworks for healing divides through the dynamism of Intergroup Photovoice as facilitated by Roman Williams.

A collaboration with BridgeUSA (BUSA), an emerging organization within the healing divides ecosystem focused on healthy campus culture and solution-oriented politics. This partnership will fill a critical gap in the Institute’s democracy efforts and empower an emerging group of young leaders. Integrating spiritual practices into their program methodology will also serve as an important lever for spiritual transformation at a critical stage of BUSA’s growth.

A collaboration opportunity with BioLogos and the Center for Christogenesis (formerly Omega Center) and the Dialogue Institute to explore key issues in science and religion/spirituality through podcast dialogues. Supporting our movement building strategies in the Faith and Spirituality program area, emerging science area, as well as piloting content and distribution for the Shared Sacred Story initiative, the produced episodes will feature non-expert voices in dialogue with theologians, scientists, spiritual leaders, and cultural creatives.

Support to focus on catalyzing love as a creative, spiritual force in the renewal of civic life. We expect that this project will lift a spiritually enriching vision of democracy through elevating Christian thought leaders of color in a public conversation series on “Faith, Creativity, and Civic Flourishing.”

The Depolarization Challenge will leverage a crowdsourcing approach and run large-scale tournament-style online experiments to identify innovative solutions for addressing partisan animosity. As such, the project offers the Institute a unique opportunity to collaborate with the Stanford Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS) and integrate a spiritually grounded perspective/s into this effort.

Support for partners needing assistance due to financial hardship through the COVID-19 pandemic.