Founded by Ian Somerhalder, an American actor and model, the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, or the IS Foundation, aims to empower and educate while collaborating with people and projects that impact the planet and its inhabitants positively. Mainly, the IS Foundation views the environment as made up of interconnected organisms. Thus, living things are not differentiated. Animals, trees, humans are all the same and interdependent on one another, facing the same problems with the environment.

The IS Foundation works with other organizations to distribute funds and resources for global conservation, develop and deploy green energy technology, create awareness about various issues, promote mobility by tapping young people from all over the world, and support and create sustainable strategies to foster “no-kill shelters”.

Upcoming areas of focus for the IS Foundation include: extinction, deforestation and reforestation, conservation, biodiversity, green technology, local biofuels, green disaster relief, public participation in legislation, cruelty to animals, sterilization to combat animal overpopulation, and assistive therapy for animals.