Summary
Organization name
International Development Enterprises (iDE)
other names
iDE
1981
Tax id (EIN)
23-2220051
Category
Food, Agriculture & Nutrition
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
1031 33rd St. #270Denver, CO 80205
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Overview
“Change, not charity.”
This simple phrase captures the essence of iDE’s approach to ending poverty. Around the world, we power low-income entrepreneurs and communities to confront challenges and build resilience to climate change. For 40 years, iDE has reached more than 40 million people through programs and initiatives that drive sustainable, community-wide change.
Using human-centered design, we create products, services, and market ecosystems that solve everyday problems in local communities. By leveraging the power of entrepreneurship, we help people lift themselves out of poverty.
Your investment in iDE creates a chain reaction—helping people increase their income, improve their families’ health and well-being, and thrive on their own terms. Support from donors and foundations fuels our ability to identify what works and scale it for lasting impact.
Recently, iDE announced a bold new impact strategy: to power 1 million women entrepreneurs to foster prosperity in their communities to transform the lives of 100 million people.
Our focus on women stems from rigorous evidence showing that women are force multipliers in ending poverty. While we continue to engage men—who remain vital to our mission—our intentional effort to empower women entrepreneurs recognizes that when women have access to resources and decision-making power, entire communities benefit. Women invest in their children’s health and education, deliver products and services with social good, and ensure homes have food, water, and energy.
Though iDE’s impact is global, we are proud to call Colorado home. Our Denver headquarters drives innovation and coordination across all our programs—work made possible by essential core funding.
Core funding strengthens iDE’s ability to grow and test new business models, expand into new sectors, and reach new regions. None of this would be possible without funders who understand the importance of building organizational strength as the foundation for global impact.
As a nonprofit, iDE relies on the generosity of socially conscious donors and companies. We are proud to partner with organizations such as Queen City Collective Coffee, The Toro Company, and Audley Travel, whose values align with our mission.
On behalf of all of us at iDE—thank you for your partnership and belief in lasting change. Millions of households around the world feel your impact every day.
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Testimonials
Handouts will never end poverty. iDE supports the rural poor in their fight against poverty by helping them learn to earn sustainable incomes. Supporting these entrepreneurs is not charity—it is an investment in their future. Supporting iDE ensures that we can continue to provide the rural poor with the tools they need to succeed. And it works. iDE has helped over 40 million people so far, and its work is just beginning.
On behalf of the entire iDE Board, I encourage you to support iDE. iDE strives for a 10-fold return on investment so that every $1 you give becomes at least $10 in increased incomes for those working to improve their standard of living.
Bob Hill, Board Chair
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"I am thanking iDE very much, especially for women. Women have seen that now we are not relying on our husbands. We do our own projects to assist our husbands to make our families to look better and to eat better and to grow better. And even have a house." - Veronica Sianchenga, Zambian farmer - worked with iDE since 2008.
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"Poverty has weighted on us for so long. Now that iDE is here, we will overcome it." - Bekelech Wubeto - Marketing Agent for irrigation technologies in Ethiopia - worked with iDE since 2010.
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"From the time iDE programs came into being I have been transformed into a modern farmer. I am able at least to send all my eight children to school, at least with some food on the table everyday." Moses Kaleba - Zambian farmer - worked with iDE since 2009.
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"We have joy in our hearts, because we have built our assets." Mukeye Leman - Ethiopian farmer from a women's economic group - worked with iDE since 2012.
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"Being an FBA [Farm Business Advisor] is stressful as there are so many problems to deal with. But I am willing to help my community. And with the commission that iDE is helping establish from retailers I can gain a good income in the future." Davies Mwanamoonga - Zambian Farm Business Advisor - Worked with iDE since 2009.
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Mission
iDE confronts the challenge of global poverty by catalyzing the power of local markets that serve poor women and men around the world, enabling them to access clean water, increase production, create wealth, and improve their quality of life.
Background Statement
Background Statement
When iDE founder Paul Polak first visited Ethiopia in the 1980s, Somalis were being driven across the border by conflict in their home country. He noticed the refugees were struggling as they carried wood, water, and food with rudimentary carts pulled by donkeys.
Practical and innovative, Paul used abandoned car parts and displaced blacksmiths to modify the carts, making them much more efficient. The improved carts were then sold by the blacksmiths to other refugees on credit, with payments made from income generated by hauling goods with the carts. Five hundred carts were sold, producing more than $1 million in net income for cart owners over three years. For over 40 years, iDE has been working with entrepreneurs like the Somali refugees, coming up with market-based fixes to enduring challenges.
We believe the market offers the best way to incentivize people and find sustainable solutions that can be passed down through generations. Our in-country staff begin by listening to every stakeholder, working their way around barriers and through bottlenecks to build local economies and value chains that deliver goods and services to “last mile” rural and remote areas. These geographically-defined “resilient market ecosystems’’ add three-dimensional layers of opportunity, touching people’s lives as they access clean water in their home, plant improved crops in their fields, and buy affordable goods in the market.
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Organization Data
Denver, CO 80205