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Why do some institutions last for centuries while others collapse within a decade?
It's not luck. It's architecture.
Why Architecture, Not Management
Most institutional failures aren't caused by bad people or poor decisions. They're caused by structural misalignment—capital that operates on different timescales than the missions it serves.
We study why some institutions last for centuries while others collapse within decades. The difference is architecture.
Recent News
Feb 2026
New research area: Governance by Design
IRSA released two new working papers opening a research programme on governance through structural design rather than retrospective oversight. Mode-Bounded Intelligence (MBI) introduces five operating modes that constrain how intelligent systems act—separating exploration from execution, judgment from operations, and system change from routine action. Architectural Assurance (AA) re-locates governance from oversight to enforceable system design, explaining why assurance burden grows non-linearly under oversight-based models.
Feb 2026
New research area: Authority Capacity & Institutional Judgment
IRSA released a comprehensive research program on institutional authority—examining why institutions with formal authority still fail to exercise judgment under pressure. The program includes four explainers, four mechanism notes (Authority Collapse, Threat Thresholds, Authority Triage, Substitution Dynamics), a domain map assessing six institutional types, and a new self-assessment diagnostic.
Feb 2026
Case Study: Temporal Insulation in Central Banking
A deep dive analysis of how central bank architecture demonstrates the structural capacity to decide slowly in a world that rewards speed. Examines the Federal Reserve's insulation stack—political, temporal, fiscal, and procedural layers—and what it teaches about institutional design for sustained authority capacity.
What We've Found
Four questions. Clear answers.
The Core Insight
The Mismatch That Breaks Institutions
Funding cycles are 10–100× shorter than mission cycles. This structural gap is why good organizations fail.
GAP
Funding Cycles
1–7 years
Budget cycles
1 yearGrant cycles
3 yearsElection cycles
4 yearsMarket cycles
5-7 yearsMission Cycles
25–100+ years
Education pipelines
25 yearsClimate adaptation
50 yearsInfrastructure
75 yearsEcosystem restoration
100+ yearsEvery time a funding cycle ends, institutions face potential collapse. Our research addresses this structural fragility.
The Research
Six research trunks. Each with frameworks, explainers, and practical tools.
See How It All Connects
59 papers across 6 trunks, building from foundations to applications.
Key Insights
What our research reveals
Core findings from our work on institutional architecture, capital design, and governance systems.
Mission DriftRead more
Impact funds don't fail spectacularly—they erode gradually through small compromises that seem reasonable in isolation.
SF
Semantic Finance
IRSA Institute
Capital TheoryRead more
Regenerative capital is a fourth class—alongside debt, equity, and grants—designed to compound purpose, not just returns.
RCT
Regenerative Capital Theory
IRSA Institute
Temporal MismatchRead more
Funding cycles are 10–100× shorter than mission cycles. This structural gap is why good organizations fail.
RCA
Regenerative Cycle Architecture
IRSA Institute
Multi-Level Access
Engage at Your Level
Serious research made accessible. Start wherever makes sense.
In-The-Wild Evidence
Organizations That Embody These Principles
We didn't help them. We're studying what made them work.
For Organizations Ready to Try Something Different
We apply these frameworks with partners—testing what works, building proof points together. If standard approaches haven't worked, let's talk.