Human Interaction Research Institute

The Human Interaction Research Institute (HIRI) helps nonprofits, funders and communities handle the challenges of innovation and change, using behavioral science strategies. Founded in 1961, the nonprofit Institute is based in Los Angeles. Its work ranges from research, to technical assistance on systems change, to disseminating innovations or helping others to do so. The emphasis in all these activities is on the "complex human dynamics of change" - how to get people personally committed to change and feel rewarded for their involvement, and how to address people’s fears and resistances about change.

Current priority areas are: (1) "nonprofit capacity building," (2) "community collaborations" and (3) "philanthropy," along with longstanding interests in "dissemination" and "health communication". HIRI’s more than 140 projects range across the fields of health, human services and the arts. Examples include national evaluations of youth violence prevention programs, a national research study of strategies for partnerships in the arts, Capitol Hill hearings for Congressional staff on the needs of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system, and a national environmental scan of foundation-sponsored capacity-building programs for strengthening nonprofit organizations.

Products from these projects are disseminated in both print and electronic formats. The Institute's work is supported by Federal and State agencies, foundations, and the corporate sector.

Under the leadership of President Dr. Thomas Backer and a multi-disciplinary Board of Directors, the Institute's small staff works in a "virtual office" environment supported by electronic communications. Core staff are based in Southern and Northern California, in Upstate New York, and in Washington, DC. Part-time senior staff include distinguished university-based researchers in health communications, mental health and related fields.

The Institute has a tradition of community service, ranging from individual efforts of staff (working with advocacy and support organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness), to coordinating volunteer groups such as the Entertainment Industry Workplace AIDS Task Force, to hosting (with California State University Northridge) both the first Los Angeles conference on AIDS in the workplace (April 1987) and an April 2003 event on nonprofit capacity building.

Projects concerning nonprofit capacity building include ongoing research and maintaining the world’s largest searchable database of foundation capacity-building programs. In Southern California, South Florida, Upstate New York and several other regions, the Institute studies and enhances community-wide infrastructure for capacity building. Projects addressing community collaborations include a recent book, "Evaluating Community Collaborations" (Springer, 2003), and recent national evaluation studies in the youth violence and mental health fields.

Recent projects in philanthropy include foundation-commissioned studies of stakeholder interactions, individual donor perspectives on capacity building (reported in "Stanford Social Innovation Review"), collaboration and internal capacity-building strategies for small foundations, and impact of trusted advisors on donor giving. Current projects are exploring transformational change strategies of large foundations and methods for promoting sustainability of foundation initiatives in communities.

External links

* [http://www.humaninteract.org Official web site]