The Lee Institute is a nonprofit organization that serves people, organizations, and the community through leadership development, design and management of collaborative projects, support of community collaboration, and citizen involvement. Founded in 1997 in honor of corporate and civic leader Bill Lee, the organization is built upon his support of civic leadership and collaborative initiatives.

The Lee Institute is part of the Lynnwood Foundation, which is a non-profit organization established in 1996. The Lynnwood Foundation also maintains the Duke Mansion, a historic inn and conference center.

Our Client and Project List Includes:

• Serving as Project Manager for Mecklenburg County’s System of Care, a national best practice model for improving the lives of young people with mental illness and their families.
• The Children’s Alliance, a collaboration of over 40 agencies that serve children in the Charlotte area, is one of The Lee Institute’s projects.
• The Citizens Task Force worked to make recommendations for the improvement of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System.
• The Mecklenburg County School Building Solutions Committee was the collaboration of 35 community members who worked to draft a school capital package in a contentious community environment.
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg African American Agenda (CM3A) worked to launch a large communication tool and weekend-long event in January 2007 for African Americans in the Charlotte region.
• The United Agenda for Children has the task of prioritizing community issues that require attention, based on the input of 1000 citizens of Mecklenburg County.
• The Citizens Health Care Working Group’s Public Forum brought together over one hundred Mecklenburg County citizens to discuss national health care reform.
• The Lee Institute spoke at the Salisbury City Council Planning Retreat on the need for regional collaboration.
• The Lee Institute facilitated two strategic planning retreats for the County Commission of Mecklenburg County and the annual planning meeting for the Lincoln County Commissioners.
• The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department hired The Lee Institute to plan and carry out a set of Study Circles on arbitrary profiling.
• A collaboration of health care providers, large employees, and insurance carriers received The Lee Institute’s assistance in designing a potential collaborative approach to disease management.
• The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte has retained The Lee Institute to facilitate its long range planning efforts.
• The Lee Institute carried out focus groups for Discovery Place on a future vision.