ISI's mission is carried out through the year-round collaboration of self-organizing research teams and a series of conferences or "conversations" where scholars and practitioners engage in dialogue about their inquiries and present their findings to others.

The objectives of ISI include the following:

• To foster individual and collective research in the application of the systems and design sciences.
• To design and develop models, approaches and methods applicable to the analysis, design, development and management of educational and other human activity systems.
• To design and develop resources and programs for systems and design learning.
• To organize and support conferences that provide opportunities for professional development in systems and design applications.
• To develop knowledge bases in support of the objectives above.
• To develop and publish learning resources, conference proceedings and monographs that are relevant to the work of the institute.
• To provide resources and assistance to communities engaged in the design of their systems of learning and human development.

ISI is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization. Contributions are welcome and they are tax-deductible to the extent permitted under law.

Each year at the Asilomar Conversation, annual contributions are collected from attendees. These contributions, which designates each contributor as an ISI Fellow, pays, among other things, for this Web site and other organizational expenses.

In addition to news about ISI, Fellows receive the quarterly newsletter from the International Federation for Systems Research. We invite those of you who appreciate these resources to make a contribution and become an ISI Fellow for the coming year. We also hope that you will be able to attend the upcoming Asilomar Conversation.

A standard contribution of $50 has been established. For students and others who are financially constrained, a $30 contribution is suggested.