The Berkana Institute connects and supports pioneering, life-affirming leaders around the world who strengthen their communities by working with the wisdom and wealth already present in its people, traditions and environment. We define a leader as anyone who wants to help, who is willing to step forward to create change in their world. And we know that the leaders we need are already here.

The Berkana Institute serves people globally who are giving birth to the new forms, processes and leadership that will restore hope to the future. Since 1992, Berkana has gradually expanded its work to reach pioneering leaders and communities in all types of organizations and in dozens of nations.

The need for new leaders is urgent. We need people who can work together to resolve the pressing issues of health, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, justice, environment, democracy. We need leaders who know how to nourish and rely on the innate creativity, freedom, generosity, and caring of people. We need leaders who are life-affirming rather than life-destroying. Unless we quickly figure out how to nurture and support this new leadership, we can’t hope for peaceful change. We will, instead, be confronted by increasing anarchy and social and ecological meltdowns.

At Berkana, we know that the leaders we need are emerging everywhere, among thousands of people who are stepping forward to create a future of possibility and hope. We do everything we can to support their pioneering efforts.

We are a 501c3 public foundation co-founded by Margaret Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science, A Simpler Way, Turning to One Another, and Finding Our Way. Meg now serves on the board as President Emerita.

Each of our initiatives is based on a coherent, in-depth theory of how life organizes in cooperative, generous, and interdependent systems—work we've developed with hundreds of colleagues over many years of dialogue, think tanks and practical applications in all types of settings. (Please see Resources for articles describing our theory and approaches.)