About

Who We Are

The IDEA Promise Foundation was established to ensure the promise of college becomes the reality of a degree.

Every day at IDEA Public Schools, a promise is made in classrooms across the network: that every student will have the opportunity to graduate from college and live a life of empowered choice.

For more than 26 years, IDEA has prepared students to get to college through academic excellence, high expectations, and unwavering belief in their potential. The IDEA Promise Foundation builds on that promise by helping unlock the resources and support students need to get through college and earn their degrees.

Because getting to college is only the beginning. Students can arrive on a college campus prepared to succeed and still face financial barriers and unexpected challenges that stand between them and a degree. We believe that a student’s ability to finish college should not depend on whether they can overcome those barriers alone.

As the philanthropic home of IDEA Public Schools, we connect donors with meaningful ways to help close the gap between college opportunity and college completion. Through scholarships, strategic initiatives, endowed funds, and philanthropic partnerships, we unlock opportunities and help scholars remove barriers, persist, and ultimately graduate.

IDEA Public Schools student celebrating a college acceptance milestone.

Our Purpose & Approach

IDEA Public Schools student supported through the IDEA Promise Foundation mission.
Our Vision
We envision a future where every IDEA student has the resources, support, and opportunity not only to attend college but also to complete their degree and build a life of empowered choice.

The IDEA Promise Foundation advances IDEA Public Schools’ mission by growing philanthropic investment in students, campuses, and strategic initiatives that strengthen educational outcomes.

Our work includes:

  • College scholarships that help students persist to and through graduation.

  • Endowed funds that create permanent opportunities for future generations.

  • Strategic initiatives that strengthen students, educators, and campuses.

  • Signature fundraising and stewardship experiences, including the Key Gala and College Signing Day VIP events.

  • Give Me 5 – IDEA’s best-in-class employee giving program.

  • Philanthropic and community partnerships that expand IDEA’s impact

IDEA students are ambitious, resilient, and eager for college. In fact, many are the first in their families to pursue higher education.

But admission alone does not guarantee completion.

Financial barriers, unexpected emergencies, and limited support systems can interrupt even the most promising futures.

The Foundation exists to bridge that gap—helping students persist through college, earn their degrees, and return to their communities as leaders, professionals, and changemakers.

Every gift entrusted to the IDEA Promise Foundation is stewarded with integrity, accountability, and purpose.

We are committed to responsible financial management, transparent reporting, and measurable outcomes so our supporters can clearly see the impact of their investment.

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Erich Hollister serving as Treasurer of the IDEA Promise Foundation Board of Directors.

Erich Holmsten - Treasurer

Erich Holmsten brings more than 20 years of finance experience to IDEA and its operations as a large publicly and privately funded nonprofit.

Based in Fort Worth, where he also chairs the Tarrant County IDEA Regional Board, Erich is the Founder and the Managing Partner of E Capital in Fort Worth. Before his current role, he was a Vice President in Corporate Finance with Merrill Lynch in New York and an Associate with Morgan Stanley.

Erich is active in a variety of boards and organizations. He is a board member of Performing Arts Fort Worth. Previously, he was a member of the University of Texas 1883 Council and a Partner for the Next Generation Fellows at Robert S. Strauss Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

Erich and his wife, Gloria, have three daughters. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his M.B.A from Rice University.

Ed Rivera serving as Vice Chair and Secretary of the IDEA Promise Foundation Board of Directors.

Ed Rivera - Vice-Chair & Secretary

Ed Rivera grew up in Brownsville, Texas, and can relate to the experiences of IDEA’s students in the Valley based on his experience attending schools in Brownsville ISD.

Ed worked for more than 40 years in the petrochemical and consumer product industries. He has experience leading global business initiatives in 29 countries, including Russia, China, South Korea, and throughout Western Europe and South America. Back in his home region, Ed is an active civic leader in the Rio Grande Valley. He served as the President of the Economic Development Corporation of Laguna Vista, Texas, where he supported the growth of small businesses. He also served as a Trustee for Texas Southmost College and has served on multiple government and nonprofit boards, including the Laguna Vista Planning and Zoning Board, the Foundation Board at the University of Texas RGV, Hooked for Life, Brownsville International Airport, the Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts, and the American Marine Institute. Ed earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Houston and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Collin Sewell, Board Chair of the IDEA Promise Foundation Board of Directors.

Collin Sewell - Board Chair

Collin Sewell is a son, husband, father, leader, and entrepreneur. His responsibilities span from serving his family to leading a team of over 500. Collin finds his roots in two hardware store families in the late 1800s and early 1900s. On his mother’s side, the Meacham family left their hardware store in Fort Worth, Texas for the newly released Oklahoma territory. In Western Oklahoma, they laid their claim to their own homestead during the Oklahoma Land Run. On his father’s side, Edward Franklin Sewell started selling Ford Model Ts from his hardware store in 1911. As the Great Depression took its toll in 1929, E.F. loaded up his family and headed west for a new start. That new start landed them in Crane, Texas, just south of Odessa. In 1935, The Sewell family began their next chapter of the car business in Odessa, Texas. Brothers Woody and Carl Sewell purchased Sewell Ford in 1935. Four generations and over one hundred years later, Collin Sewell is now the Proprietor of The Sewell Family of Companies, which includes:
  • Sewell Ford
  • Sewell BMW of the Permian Basin
  • Sewell Cadillac of the Permian Basin
  • Sewell Buick GMC of Midland
  • Sewell Chevrolet Buick GMC of Andrews
  • Sewell Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM of Andrews
  • Press Café
  • The Parks Legado Town Center
Collin’s leadership in his family’s automotive dealerships and his people-focused efforts consistently promote living a life in service to others. Collin currently serves as a member for:
  • The Education Partnership of the Permian Basin
  • Opportunity Odessa
  • EQUIP Global Leadership
  • The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation
  • Chair of IDEA Public Schools
His past service includes:
  • Two-term President of The National Dealer Council for Ford Motor Company
  • Two-term President of The Education Foundation of Odessa
  • Member of Growing Leaders founded by Dr. Tim
  • Member of The Lincoln National Dealer Council