A Case Study on Cultivating Sacred-Centered Community
The Fetzer Institute is a private foundation with a spiritual mission. It is not a religiously affiliated organization, and its employees embrace a wide range of religious traditions, spiritual practices, and worldviews. Fetzer’s weekly gathering of its sacred-centered community models the organization’s mission of helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.
Fetzer fulfills its mission by nurturing a movement for a more loving, interconnected, and flourishing world. It does so by supporting sacred-centered organizations and by living the change it wants to see in the world.
Fetzer’s Community of Freedom Gathering (COFG) — the weekly organization-wide convening and dedicated time for soul work in service of self, institutional, and societal transformation — is the cornerstone for how Fetzer staff embody and stay grounded in the organization’s mission and vision.
This case study tells the story of the COFG, focusing on the most recent chapter of the Institute’s more than 60-year commitment to the inner and outer work of spirituality and community.
The case study was developed for leaders for whom the Sacred is real and who care deeply about cultivating loving community in the workplace and in the world. It is for changemakers who are curious about what an inclusive, spiritually grounded community in the workplace could look like in practice, what it can make possible, and some of the twists and turns they might encounter in fostering such a community within their own organizations.
Fetzer Staff
Think of the stories, reflections, and data points that follow as an invitation to experiment and learn alongside the Fetzer Institute. We see ourselves as a learning laboratory for exploring and enacting our conviction that individual and communal relationships to the Sacred will lead to shared flourishing. By sharing what we are learning and doing with others committed to spiritually grounded organizational life, we hope to spur others to act so that together we can help build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.
This case study should not be treated as a playbook. Like all organizations, Fetzer has a unique history, set of circumstances, and organizational DNA that together inform how we have tended to our sacred-centered community and culture. Your situation will, no doubt, require a different design. By making our experience visible, we hope to help you imagine what might be possible within your own context.
These insights, learnings, and offerings were developed through a participatory process with the members of Fetzer’s sacred-centered community. With the support of an external researcher, we collected the following data in fall 2025:
In early 2026, we held all-staff conversations to collaboratively discuss and digest the findings, as well as sense-making dialogues with leaders and advisors to Fetzer’s sacred-centered community. These extensive inputs were then used to create the resulting case study.
The final report was developed by Diana Scearce working in close collaboration with Fetzer Institute leaders Shakiyla Smith-Sengu, Sarah Roelofs, Nathan Moore, Michelle Scheidt, Anne Cullen Puente, and Roberto Lara Aranda.
We are grateful for the engagement and guidance from Fetzer staff, board members, and external partners including Alicia Forde, Angie Thurston, Rich Havard, Deepa Patel, Thomas Lagrand, and Cherie Harder.
Navigate the case study’s core inquiries, history, and findings through the table of contents below.
Access the complete PDF case study and the executive summary below.
Architecting Sacred Community in the Workplace
The Fetzer Institute’s sacred-centered community has grown out of a deep and long-term organizational commitment to spiritual growth. Our sacred-centered community is made possible by intentional design for individual, small group, and full community engagement; dedicated stewards and resources; and supportive, organizational conditions, including an aligned organizational purpose and mission and leadership committed to living the work.
While both Fetzer’s unique circumstances and the level of Fetzer’s investment may be difficult for others to replicate, the Institute’s journey can offer lessons and starting points for leaders who want to cultivate soulwork or sacred-centered culture in their organizations.
The following sections include principles, practices, and structures that undergird Fetzer’s sacred-centered community.
We hope these resources help animate your imagination about what is possible within your organization and inspire you to act. Together we can build a field of spiritually-rooted organizations that are creating the spiritual foundation for a loving world.