IGS was founded in 2008 by its President and CEO, Philip Gilpin, Jr.

After earning his degree in Physics and Mathematics from Boston College, Philip headed to Los Angeles where he gained years of valuable business experience working as a financial and legal analyst at one of the entertainment industry’s most prestigious studios, Home Box Office (HBO).

Then in 2008, with nearly a decade of scientific and entertainment business experience beneath him, Philip saw a problem that he knew how to solve: saving people from natural disasters. From his years of scientific studies, he knew that the materials needed to protect against devastation from natural disasters existed, but sadly, they were sitting in warehouses and in laboratories, out of the financial reach of most people. “Knowing that homes, schools and lives could have been saved but weren’t is what created IGS. I remember the fear that a hurricane can bring,” says Philip.

After Hurricanes Katrina, Ike and Rita, parts of the US Gulf coast and the Caribbean were left in ruins. Knowing that this kind of disaster would be repeated every year, IGS’s vision was born: ultimate freedom from the fear and destruction of natural disasters by using the best technologies we have available to us today.

What differentiates IGS from other organizations is that its purpose is to protect instead of just relieve.

“All it would have taken to protect one of those homes was a little bit of effort,” says Philip.

With a relevant mission and revitalized purpose, Philip worked with his friend, and non-profit attorney Philip Jordan to hammer out the details and officially launch IGS in November 2008. In order to run the company, Gilpin left his corporate HBO job, emptied his savings and began fundraising while simultaneously building IGS's legal, social marketing and networking foundations. The next objective was to build a team of capable, energetic and skilled people to launch the charity.

“The key to forming the company was having an undeniable purpose supported by an undeniable team of people,” says Gilpin.

By January 2009, IGS had an executive team of nonprofit scholars, nonprofit attorneys, event specialists and scientific minds. The common thread? Everyone was under 30 years old.

"We are built young so we can grow fast. We're going to be around for a long time."

Then, on January 29th, 2009, IGS held its inaugural fundraiser in Los Angeles. The enormous success of that event launched IGS into a viable company with a solid following and a strong capability of carrying out its mission.

Throughout 2009, IGS kept growing. Facebook, twitter and other social networking sites gathered together over 5,000 supporters in over 18 countries. In March 2009, IGS joined forces with the Rainmaker Network, a network of over 5,000 graduates from colleges and universities around America.

Soon after, IGS expanded into San Francisco, San Diego and Boston with a national campaign launch of IGS Campus and the IGS Award in 2010.

“We know the storms are coming. We know how to protect ourselves against them. IGS is how we are going to do it. Next year at least one less house will fall because of our efforts. This is real and practical. This can, and will be done.”