Found, establish, institute, organize are comparable when meaning to set going or to bring into existence something (as a business, a colony, or an institution).
Found implies nothing more than a taking of the first steps or measures to bring into existence something that requires building up. Just what these steps and measures are vary in usage; thus, a person who provides the funds for a new educational institution may be said to have founded it, and those who first devised the project and won his support may also be said to have founded it, as may also those who took the next steps (such as the choice of a site, the erection of buildings on that site, and the selection of the staff).
Establish (see also SET ) is often employed in the sense of found; however, it may imply not only the laying of the foundations but also a bringing into enduring existence; thus, Brook Farm was founded (not established, because its existence was short) by George Ripley and others as an experiment in communistic living; Vassar College was not established until some years after the date of its founding.
Institute stresses an origination or an introduction; like found, it implies the taking of the first steps and like establish, the actual bringing into existence, but it differs from both words in its far wider range of application and in being referable to things (as a method, a study, or an investigation) which do not have a continuous life or a permanent existence.
Organize (see also ORDER 1 ) may imply founding, but it usually implies the taking of the steps whereby an organization (as a business, an institution, or a government) is set up so that it functions properly, with its departments clearly distinguished and governed by a responsible head and with a supervisory staff responsible for the working of the whole.