After extensive and deeply noetic deliberation, we’ve made the strategic decision to sell our EarthRise campus in Petaluma, California to The Hoffman Institute, the non-profit organization that had been renting our campus since the pandemic began in 2020. While their purchase offer was unexpected, clarity emerged quickly as we took stock of how dramatically our world had changed during the past two years. Ultimately, pressures resulting from global COVID restrictions provided the impetus for IONS to reassess how to best fulfill our purpose — at the same moment that we’re preparing to celebrate our 50th anniversary (1973 – 2023) and set forth a powerful new vision for our next 50 years.
The choice of The Hoffman Institute as the new steward is remarkably aligned with the mission and legacy of IONS. As providers of the Hoffman Process, which is a world-renowned personal transformation program, the Hoffman Institute will ensure that the land we held sacred for 21 years remains in service to raising consciousness — just as they will ensure that the land continues to be held sacred. Nowhere is their alignment with our legacy more obvious than in the fact that IONS founder and Apollo 14 Captain Edgar Mitchell, himself a graduate of the Hoffman Process, proposed in 2000 that The Hoffman Institute join IONS at EarthRise, foreshadowing the current unfolding.
IONS Next Chapter
Our agreement with The Hoffman Institute allows IONS to maintain administrative offices on campus until the end of 2022, giving us a valuable runway for discerning the optimal structure for our growing presence in the world — both physically (headquarters and hub-quarters) and virtually (enhanced online engagement and educational offerings). Many possibilities are already emerging, and we welcome your input.
The ability to establish a strong foundation for long-term financial sustainability was paramount in reaching our decision. Most of the proceeds generated by the sale of campus will be held in reserve, with a substantial portion seeding our first large-scale endowment to secure the noetic sciences for generations to come. Importantly, while the endowment will generate a modest income to supplement our annual operational requirements, the financial support of our donors will remain essential to our ability to advance our mission. In this potent moment, we’re filled with humility and appreciation for the generosity of our IONS community — past, present, and future.
Gratitude
Please join us in acknowledging the visionaries who secured the land for IONS in the first place, as well as all those who helped realize its potential through the years. Thanks to the IONS Staff and Board for their skill, care, and commitment — it took a village, and by prioritizing collective noetic practices we even gave voice to the land and opened to guidance beyond space and time. We’ll forever hold EarthRise in our hearts — for being a locus of revelation and fellowship for our board members, IONS Life Directors, partners and donors; for providing a profoundly inspiring home and living laboratory for our scientists and entire staff team; for holding and amplifying the transformations of an estimated 100,000 retreatants; for nurturing deep friendships and collaborations; for bestowing its abundant blessings on the Hoffman Institute as they make a home there.
While we’ll no longer be together on the Petaluma campus, we remain passionately committed to the magic of convening while expanding scientific exploration and personal discovery to new places and virtual spaces around the country and world. Thank you for being such an essential part of our EarthRise story.
