PHILANTHROPIC COLLABORATIVE

Cultivating Food Systems Innovations

“Food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth”.

- EAT-Lancet Commission

Ideagarden Institute

Ideagarden Institute is a dynamic 501(c)(3) social venture incubator, established in 2021, that's transforming the way we nurture and develop the next generation of diverse food system innovators and their enterprises. Born from the collaboration of Will Rosenzweig and Greg Steltenpohl, two of California’s most respected sustainable food system pioneers, Ideagarden provides a unique "greenhouse" environment in which emerging entrepreneurs can grow their novel food system ideas from seed to sustainable enterprise. The greenhouse model provides an ecosystem of resources, strategic guidance and catalytic capital to enable entrepreneurs and their initiatives to flourish.

Our Mission

To cultivate the success and enduring impact of mission-driven entrepreneurs emerging from University programs whose food systems innovations will positively transform culture, community, climate, health and social equity.

Unmet Needs

How we grow food is a principal determinant of our personal and planetary health and it directly impacts every aspect of our lives and culture. Changing the food system represents the single most significant lever to combat the climate crisis. Leadership, innovation and appropriate capital is urgently needed to transform the broken parts of the food system that drive global warming, generate inequitable access, deplete biodiversity, generate waste, and exacerbate diet-related diseases. As the birthplace of the farm-to-table movement and innovative policy, the San Francisco Bay Area has the talent, ecosystem and momentum to inspire and guide transformative systems-level change across the global food landscape.

Key Highlights

Early success: Our flagship initiative, Plant Futures, has grown from a UC Berkeley student-led initiative to a movement spanning over 50 colleges and universities nationwide, in just three years. The signature “Plant Futures” course, with a groundbreaking curriculum that exposes students to the challenges affecting the food system and matches them with a professional network to actualize solutions, is now offered at all nine UC campuses. This initiative has received multi-year funding from leading funders and donors working in education, food systems and climate.

Innovative Germination Model

We nurture emerging entrepreneurs/teams with systems changing ideas

and an early prototype that demonstrates traction and potential.

The Ideagarden Greenhouse Offers:

Initial engagements in which the entrepreneur and initiative become a non-profit project of Ideagarden and benefit from operational resources, committed mentoring and a development process that provides financial support (6-18 months) to validate the potential for impact and to define a sustainable operating model (can become a for-profit).
Access to a diverse ecosystem of experienced and passionate mentor-guides who are expert in food systems dynamics, business models, product market fit and fundraising.
Cross-pollination among peers for accelerated learning and synergies between initiatives.
For projects that demonstrate positive growth and exhibit further potential, three to five years of shared services, including: fundraising, communications, and operations support and access to matching grants and funding.

Strategic Selection Process

Our team’s innovation experts identify high-potential ventures focused on systems-level change, measurable impact and sustainable financial models. Many of these ventures will emerge as pre-prototyped projects from UC Berkeley, Stanford and other University entrepreneurship courses, providing an early evaluation into their potential and viability — granting funders access to a highly-curated selection of promising initiatives. Ideagarden board members have strong ties to both institutions and to the instructors and courses where these innovations often take form.

Comprehensive Development Approach

We guide and nurture entrepreneurs and their initiatives through prototype development, business model validation, and necessary preparation for external investment. The “germination process” starts by validating an idea’s potential through a series of experiments using prototypes. A “wisdom council” forms around each entrepreneur and initiative to refine their systems-change strategy and create milestones for accountability. If milestones are met, the entrepreneur receives a seed investment, with the expectation that they would identify other funders or grants who will support their initiative in the future. We have comprehensive back-end tech platforms and operational resources that provide

capital-efficient and scalable approaches to rapidly execute ideas in the real world.

Long-term Vision

We embrace a three to five-year horizon to help ventures achieve critical mass and develop scalable, repeatable models for sustainable success. We seek essential impact capital to overcome the existing funding gap that exists between philanthropy and venture capital for regenerative food and ag initiatives. Our longer-term goal is to raise sufficient capital to provide $250K annually to each of six initiatives for up to five years. (Phase 2)

Engaged Expert Network:

Our expansive community of cultivators is rich in social capital and comprises diverse, experienced professionals united by their expertise in patiently growing both innovators and their ventures.

Active board members include Ed Colloton (Bessemer Venture Partners), Catha Groot (Radicle Impact), Kristin Groos Richmond (Revolution Foods), Fazeela Rashid (Revolution Growth), Sparsha Saha (Harvard University) and Victoria Williams-Ononye (Oatly). Will Rosenzweig serves as initial Executive Director and board Co-Chair.

Current Initiatives & Goal to Fund a Philanthropic Collaborative

Plant Futures: Accelerating the transition to plant-centric food systems
FARMpreneurs: Empowering the next generation of climate-smart farmers to be more profitable, resilient and valuable to their communities
Climate Farm School: Educating sustainability and health professionals about the climate potential of regenerative farming methods

By joining our community that provides grant capital to Ideagarden Institute, you're not just funding individual startups – you are nurturing an ecosystem of innovation and regeneration for our collective future. Our initial target is $3M for the next three years of operations and funding of initiatives, including the hiring of a full-time executive director.

Your Investment & Involvement will:

Catalyze the growth of multiple high-impact ventures in the food and agriculture sector
Contribute to solving some of the most pressing challenges in our society, planet and culture by accelerating the transformation of our food systems
Participate in intergenerational learning and mentorship in the development of the next generations of systems-thinking entrepreneurs Invite you to amazing community gatherings, experiential learning and regenerative hospitality
Solve the funding gap for early-stage food systems innovations emerging either as for-profit or non-profit enterprises or as collectives, cooperatives or other forms of organization
Support the hiring of a full-time executive director for the Institute
Expand our community of values-aligned food systems experts and advocates, enhancing our entrepreneur support ecosystem.

The Ideagarden greenhouse gives funders exposure to a curated, diversified and synergistic portfolio of innovative approaches to positively address climate, health and equity.

Please join us in cultivating seeds of change to nurture the future of food and its leadership. The magnitude of this challenge and its accompanying opportunities require a committed community with vision and action. Your attention, expertise and resources could be invaluable.