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ABOUT US

EARLY BEGINNINGS

IDEAS For Us (IDEAS) began when a group of passionate university students made the choice to stop talking about environmental issues and begin the very difficult work of solving them. Founded in June of 2008 at the University of Central Florida (UCF), IDEAS began as a student-led organization called I.D.E.A.S. – an acronym that stood for Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions. With a major focus on action, I.D.E.A.S soon gained recognition by fellow students for their tenacity and dedication to solving environmental issues on campus.

 

In time, on and off-campus media recognized the student group for their impact and the concept organically spread around the United States. In 2011, IDEAS For Us officially became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and their work received the Champions of Change award from President Barack Obama. In 2012, IDEAS began the lengthy process of becoming an official NGO of the United Nations and from 2013 – 2016 they held consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In 2016, that status was upgraded and IDEAS now holds special consultative status and is a recognized observer organization of UNFCCC.

ABOUT IDEAS FOR US

IDEAS For Us (IDEAS) is a 501(c)(3) grassroots environmental non-profit organization and accredited NGO of the United Nations. IDEAS creates global environmental solutions through local action related to energy, water, food, waste, and ecology.

 

Our mission is to develop ideas, fund action, and also scale solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

 

Our vision is to contribute to a future where humanity thrives in harmony with nature and also in peace with one another.

OUR FOCUS

Our focus is to develop, fund, & also scale environmental solutions within the 5 Pillars of Sustainability: energy, water, food, waste, and ecology. IDEAS is active in both developed and developing nations. Every project and program we launch shares the aim to help people, heal the planet, and grow prosperity at the community level through the education, engagement, and empowerment of those we serve. 


Since 2008, we have taken action in 30 countries and engaged thousands of volunteers worldwide. Our projects aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) created by the United Nations to advance sustainability worldwide.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ACTION

OUR STAFF

Clayton Louis Ferrara

Chief Executive Officer

Caroline Chomanics

Chief Operations Officer & Fleet Farming Program Director

Kristin Anderson

Chief Branch Officer

Alex Luna

Director of Ecosystem Services

Kellie Antonowicz

Director of Education

Dawson Amico

Fleet Farming
Farm Manager
Orlando, FL

Sam Somers

Landscape Manager & Plant Nursery Manager

Jonathan Ortiz

Landscape Manager

Danae Redington

Fleet Farming
Farm Manager
Sebastian, FL

Simone Daniels

IDEAS Orlando
Branch Manager

Sabrina Diniz

IDEAS UCF
Branch Manager

INTERNATIONAL LEADERS

Joaquin Chila Frontanilla

IDEAS For Us Bolivia

Daniel Mastaki & Eliode Bakole

IDEAS For Us Democratic Republic of Congo

Emmanuel Marfo

IDEAS For Us Ghana

Aaria Harania

IDEAS For Us Kenya

Francois Kamano

IDEAS For Us Guinea

Stephen B. Lavalah

IDEAS For Us Liberia

Pradish Poudel & Prabesh" Poudel

IDEAS For Us Nepal

Muhammad Ajlal

IDEAS For Us Pakistan

Richard Manishmwe

IDEAS For Us Rwanda

Simone Daniels

IDEAS For Us Orlando

Sabrina Dinz

IDEAS For Us UCF

Sinamakosa Isaac, Masereka Adidas, & Padyy Maniuka

IDEAS For Us Uganda

IREX FELLOWS

Stephen B. Lavalah

(Liberia, 2013)
Executive Director Y.E.S.

Evodius Rutta

(Tanzania, 2014)
Executive Director of T.A.Y.E.N.

Tika Ram "Santosh" Poudel

(Nepal, 2015)
CEO / Founder at Waste Service Pvt. Ltd

Marcos Woortmann

(Brazil, 2016)
City Administrator of Lago Norte, Brasilia, Brazil

John Bosco Gakumba

(Rwanda, 2016) National Project Coordinator at Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda

Huong Dang

(Vietnam, 2017)

Alina Blaga-Smith

(Romania, 2017) WunderKraft Bucharest

Dipesh Gurung

(Nepal, 2017) 
DZI Foundation

Francois Kamano

(Guinea, 2018)

irex fellow

Joaquin Chila-Frontanilla

(Bolivia, 2022)
Emerging Environmental Project Manager, Educator, and Youth Leader at Aguatuya Foundation

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chris Castro

Founder | Chief of Staff, Office of State & Community Energy Programs, U.S. Department of Energy

Jeff Benavides

President | Former Chief Sustainability and Resilience Officer, Orange County Florida Government

Patrick O. Odoyo

Board Member | Former Director of Social Innovation, Rollins College

Reginald Burroughs III

Board Member | Founder, Black Bee Honey | External Affairs Manager, City of Orlando

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Kylan McNemar

Treasurer | Accountant, BKHM

John R. Seydel

Board Member | Director of Sustainability, City of Atlanta

Steve Goldman

Board Member | Inventor of disk caching and RAID | Philanthropist

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ADVISORY BOARD

Dan Abelow

Ernest Calderon

Justin Farrow

Jason Flitton

Dave Green

Christian Green

Ben Hemmings

Jim Hobart

Kyle Johnson

Ginger Kane

Bob Kovacevich

Stephen Lavalah

Rupert Meghnot

Scott Richards

Daniel Schreiber J.D.

Jen Szaro

Ishaan Vadhera

Kari Williams

Hannah Featherstone Wooten

AY Young

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