He formed the institute to support work “designed to discover and enhance the integral relationships of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of experience which foster human growth, action, and responsible improvement of the human and cosmic condition.”[1] The institute's stated mission is helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.

It supports this mission by working with thought leaders to develop programs and research projects, and issues grants in sectors including faith and spirituality, democracy, education, and organizational culture.

[5] Fetzer provided funding through the 1990s toward Daniel Goleman’s seminal work on emotional intelligence and the establishment of the field of social and emotional learning; for Jon Kabat-Zinn’s pioneering work on mindfulness-based stress reduction at the University of Massachusetts Medical School; and for Parker Palmer’s teacher formation programs now known as the Center for Courage & Renewal.

This longitudinal research project, completed in 2013, studied how intensive meditation training affects the development of positive human qualities, especially those associated with love and compassion, and the psychological and physiological pathways involved.

[10] The Trust is administered by Bruce Fetzer as President and CEO and actively overseen by a Board of Trustees, which is chaired by Lou Leeburg, to set the direction for the scientific legacy of the organization’s founder John E.

A Study of Spirituality in the United States";[12] in 2019, it funded a report from The Evangelical & Religious Liberty Commission by Paul D. Miller titled "Faith and Healthy Democracy”;[13] and in 2018 Fetzer president and CEO Bob Boisture published, “Civic Virtues and the Healing of Partisan Divides.” During this time, the institute also began to shape work related to discovering the “sacredness of reality” by integrating the scientific and spiritual ways of knowing.