Irene Pritzker became a founding member, President and Chief Executive Officer of the IDP Foundation, Inc. in 2008. The IDP Foundation (IDPF) is dedicated to the development of innovative and sustainable solutions to complex global issues. Irene believes a combination of smart philanthropy and investment solutions can be galvanized to conquer the world’s greatest challenges.
Exemplifying this is the IDP Rising Schools Program, developed through a unique partnership with Ghanaian financial institution Sinapi Aba to improve educational infrastructure in existing low-fee private schools. This partnership has reached almost 600 schools and nearly 140,000 students and is rapidly expanding. IDPF also lists the Ghanaian Ministry of Education among its partners.In addition, Irene works with wealth advisors to ensure that the endowment of IDPF is invested with as much social impact as possible and employs rigorous screenings of all portfolio holdings. In that way, IDPF is aligning its philanthropic activities with investments, establishing greater sustainability and movement away from aid.