Highland Institute

Built on the foundation laid by Highland City Club in Boulder, Colorado, Highland Institute for the Advancement of Humanity (“Institute”) strives to advance and improve the lives of others by channeling the technical, intellectual, and financial resources available to it and its membership. The Institute aspires to be a modern-day American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin.

Boulder is considered the Athens of the West for housing two universities, thirty-four national labs, and ready access to an international airport. Coupled with a thriving technology sector, Boulder is ideally situated to gather, envision, design, and build various elements of humanity’s next evolutionary cycle.

Such drives the spirit of the Institute’s embrace of big ideas. Evolution is marked by a history of fits and starts, with the most profound leaps often manifesting during the more challenging times. Think of Egypt 3500 years ago, Athens 2400 years ago, and Philadelphia 250 years ago, where the seeds of the American Revolution were planted.

The work of the Institute is carried out by a select group of members who, having achieved their own lot in life, strive to apply their talents, time, and/or financial resources for the benefit of others. The group’s collective power is the driving force behind the Institute’s mission to advance humanity, in the spirit captured by the words of Rabbi Hillel two millennia ago, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”