Harness nature’s timeless strategies to drive social change.

This four-week experiential course reveals how biomimicry—a practice that draws on the genius of ecosystems—can inform leadership, partnership building, and resilience planning for lasting, regenerative change.

Biomimicry for Social Innovation believes that today’s complex challenges require more than outdated industrial models—they require practices inspired by the wisdom of nature itself. Biomimicry—the intentional practice of emulating nature’s genius—draws on 3.8 billion years of evolutionary success. While traditionally applied to fields like design and engineering, biomimicry also offers powerful lessons for leaders, teams, and partnerships, helping us work in ways that are more adaptive, resilient, and interconnected.

This course will introduce participants to the deep patterns of the natural world that can transform the “human side” of change-making—including partnership building, leadership, resilience planning, and collective action. Through experiential exercises, facilitated dialogue, and real-world stories with practitioners applying biomimicry to social change, participants will gain distilled lessons and practical tools to embody nature’s genius in their own work, amplifying their impact and advancing a thriving, just, and nature-positive future.

This course runs from January 22 - February 12, 2025, with live classes held on Thursdays from 1:00 - 3:00 pm ET via Zoom. Recordings will be available for registrants who miss a session.

This course will…

• Introduce participants to the field of biomimicry and explore how nature’s wisdom can be applied to human systems.

• Reveal nature's evolutionary insights, showing how these time-tested strategies can inform our leadership and drive social change.

• Equip leaders with practical tools and resources to strengthen decision-making and guide strategic growth through ecological principles.

• Share real-world stories and insights from experts actively using biomimicry to advance social change.

• Inspire participants to integrate nature’s deep lessons into their daily work, fostering a just and nature-positive future.

• Include Field Journal activities which prompt participants to apply concepts from class by engaging in their local ecosystems.

Course Modules

• Session 1: Biomimicry Foundations

• Session 2: Leadership and Collective Action Through Nature’s Lens

• Session 3 : Building Partnerships and Collaborations Inspired by Nature

• Session 4: Resilience Strategies for a Nature Positive Future

Overview

Dates: January 22 - February 12, 2026

Meeting times: Thursdays 1:00-3:00 pm ET

Duration: 4 weeks

Format: Live Online Interactive Sessions

Cost: $349 *

*Register by December 21 for a discounted Winter Solstice price of $249.

** Cost of the course includes a 1-year subscription to Nature Positive Practices.

“If we want to learn how to be adaptable, resilient, and have cooperative, mutually beneficial relationships, the teachers are all around us in the natural world.” – Toby Herzlich, Founder of Biomimicry for Social Innovation

Join us for next year’s Discover Nature’s Genius workshop!

Register now for this year’s Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation workshop, taking place July 12–18, 2026, on a 9,000-acre regenerative ranch nestled in Montana’s Tom Miner Basin — a wild and ecologically rich landscape that borders Yellowstone National Park and teems with iconic wildlife, mountain vistas, and thriving biodiversity.

Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation is a transformational training workshop, designed specifically for social benefit leaders interested in learning how to use nature’s wisdom to create regenerative solutions to challenges they face. Participants spend seven days together, immersing themselves in Montana’s diverse and flourishing ecosystems to learn from nature, for nature - and for people.  

Offered in partnership with Biomimicry 3.8, this program is led by BSI’s Founder Toby Herzlich and B3.8’s Co-Founder, Dayna Baumeister, two internationally esteemed teachers and facilitators. In its eighth iteration, this program continues to evolve to be mind-expanding, results-oriented, inspirational, and practical. We welcome leaders and learners of all kinds – from nonprofits to businesses to government agencies, community organizations, and more. 

Your days will include exploration of unique habitats, learning from a broad range of species as your new mentors, and translating nature’s intelligence into regenerative biomimicry strategies that meet your own organizational and social innovation challenges. You will share this experience with an international group of other changemakers and co-learners, and build connections that you can draw upon to keep growing this work for years to come.

Participating in this course will bring you closer to nature, develop your practice of social biomimicry, expand your network of Nature Positive Leaders, and change how you make change. 

Where is Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation?

This year’s workshop is set in the remote and awe-inspiring Tom Miner Basin, on the edge of Montana’s iconic Yellowstone ecosystem. Nestled within the 9,000-acre B Bar Ranch, the location is a sanctuary of intact biodiversity, where grizzly bears roam, cutthroat trout swim in clear riparian streams, and the calls of birds of prey echo through the mountain air.

The retreat setting invites you to slow down and reconnect, offering space to reflect and engage deeply with nature’s wisdom — lessons in regeneration, balance, and interdependence that are essential for shaping a more resilient and harmonious world.

Who is Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation For? 

This workshop is designed for anyone who is looking to explore the convergence of biomimicry and social innovation, and who is ready to invest in themselves as a Nature Positive Leader. 

Discover Nature’s Genius for Social Innovation is open to professional and university-level participants from all backgrounds, with all levels of experience in biomimicry. Past participants have come from a wide range of fields: nonprofit work, education, public policy, community organizing, faith communities, businesses across all sectors, and more. This cross-pollination of backgrounds, ideas, and experiences will enhance your workshop experience.

Official Sign Up Coming Soon!

More information will be shared soon about how to officially register for the DNG workshop. In the meantime, please register your interest by clicking below.