The institute, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization, was originally founded as O'Connor House to oversee saving and preserving O'Connor's historic 1958 adobe family home, which was slated for demolition. The house in Paradise Valley, Arizona, was painstakingly dismantled brick by brick and successfully reassembled in a new location in Tempe's Papago Park near the Arizona Historical Society in 2009. The O'Connor Institute conserves the house. In 2015, Justice O'Connor and the organization's Board of Directors authorized the renaming from O'Connor House to the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute to better represent the broader spectrum of programs and emphasis on civil discourse, civic engagement and civics education. In 2019, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Sandra Day O'Connor House.
The O'Connor Institute Annual History Dinner presents educational dinners highlighting historic figures, with a notable speaker. Past dinners have showcased Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.
Camp O'Connor
Conceived in 2014 by O'Connor, the goal of Camp O'Connor is to "educate, inspire and encourage the next generation of citizens…to develop a deeper understanding of our democracy". The O'Connor Institute delivers this five-day "democracy boot camp" for middle school students each summer in Phoenix. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Camp O'Connor 2020 was postponed to 2021.
Camp O'Connor Civics Challenge
In 2020, the O'Connor Institute launched the Camp O'Connor Civics Challenge, a national competition for 6th - 9th grade students. For the Challenge, "Students will...choose one civics topic from a list of options, receive instructions, and then produce a creative video on that topic, three minutes or less in length. Winners will be awarded Apple products." The Civics Challenge launched together with the Institute's online education initiative known as O'Connor U.
Digital Library and Resource Center
The Sandra Day O’Connor Digital Library "showcases Justice O’Connor’s historic accomplishments across her decades of work in public service" and "catalogs the life and work of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court." According to the Institute, the launch of the Digital Library has meant that, "For the first time, Justice O’Connor’s body of work across her decades in public service is available in an easily accessible, searchable format." The Library is the "world's most comprehensive online collection of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's life and work.
The institute hosts debates about various policies featuring speakers from all sides of each issue. Past topics have included independent expenditures, anonymous campaign finance contributions, so-called "dark money", legalization of recreational marijuana, and water and drought in the American Southwest.
The O'Connor Institute's monthly podcast features interviews with guests in public service or academia whose work intersects with the Institute's focus on civil discourse, civics education, and civic engagement. Guests have included Governor of VermontPhil Scott, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, and former President of LatviaVaira Vike-Freiberga.
