Mission

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit that teaches, coaches and inspires people and organizations to solve pressing problems and change how communities work together. Founded by Rich Harwood in 1988, the Institute partners with some of the world's largest nonprofits and our tools and frameworks have spread to all 50 states in the U.S., across Australia and Canada, and have been used by individuals in more than 40 countries worldwide. The people we teach and coach, called public innovators, are the leaders that move our communities forward. They are an essential ingredient to solving our most vexing challenges. We develop these individuals in a practice we call Turning Outward - using the community, not your conference room, as the reference point for your choices and judgments.