Mr. Thompson Silungwe has always taken great pride in his work. But now, thanks to a generous grant from the Dewan Foundation, he can do what he loves with greater efficiency and care than ever before. “You ask, ‘what is my favorite part of the job?’”...
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Matt Freund is a founding member of the Associate Board and will attend The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business in the fall. His involvement in Spark Ventures has helped shape the direction he hopes to take his professional career, so we asked Matt...
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At the end of this month the Spark Ventures team will bid farewell to Lucy Jodlowska, our Director of Social Impact Investments. After more than four years of significant contributions to the Spark Ventures mission, Lucy is moving on to explore new opportunities. Lucy has...
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On our Impact Trips to Zambia, the days are packed. But without fail, during each day we spend with our partners at Hope Community School, there is one hour of time where everything gets quite still. If you were to join us for just that...
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For those who have traveled with us to Zambia, the one-on-one reading time spent with students at Hope Community School is always a highlight - an experience we again featured after our most recent trip in July. We’ve seen how successful and how fun reading...
Read MoreWe are thrilled to announce that on the upcoming Nicaragua Women's Leadership Trip our travelers will be joined for a day by Gloria Callejas, Country Director for United Airlines in Nicaragua. Gloria will provide her personal perspective on corporate life in Nicaragua, women and girls...
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On our summer trip to Zambia, a good chunk of time was dedicated to taking a photograph of each and every student at Hope Community School. We told you about this project while we were traveling (excerpt the from this original blog post below) -...
Read MoreSpark Ventures wrapped up its first ever Young Professionals trip to Nicaragua last week and we wanted to chat one last time with our trip participant, Young Professionals of Spark member and blogger, Jessica Dangles. What were some highlights of the trip? I have to say one...
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With Spark Ventures’ first Young Professionals trip to Nicaragua taking place now, we are getting a first-hand look at the experience, through the eyes of Jessica Dangles, who also serves as a member of the Young Professionals of Spark (YPS). Read her first blog post...
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With Spark Ventures’ first Young Professionals trip to Nicaragua taking place in a few short weeks, we sat down with one of our trip participants, Jessica Dangles, who also serves as a member of the Young Professionals of Spark (YPS). What are you looking forward to...
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Joining us at our annual event, Ignite 2015, was a guest of honor - Gricelda Pantoja representing our social impact partner, Las Tías in León, Nicaragua. Gricelda shared her personal perspective on the powerful work she and her dedicated team take on as they serve...
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We are consistently astounded by the incredible community of supporters we have at Spark Ventures. With nearly 200 members of our network gathered together for Ignite 2015 on Friday, October 23rd at The Murphy, we were thrilled to celebrate Spark Ventures' work empowering women and...
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*Updated May 2020. Please note that the most recent information regarding our farm initiative in Nicaragua can be found here. Sometimes Lucy, our Director of Social Impact Investments, spends her days in Nicaragua hiking up trails on our farm where you need a machete to get...
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An open letter to women in the Spark Ventures network: My name is Patti O’Neil and I serve as the board chair for Spark Ventures. If you are taking the time to read this, I'm guessing we both are passionate about Spark Ventures' incredible work. If...
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Spark Ventures Welcomes Tina Erickson The Spark Ventures team couldn’t be more excited to expand - bringing on fundraising expert, Tina Erickson, as our new Vice President of Development. Tina will marshal resources to keep our operations thriving, and expand our impact. We asked her a...
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Without fail, the reading partners program on our trips always stands out as an important highlight for our travelers. This program rewards top students with one-on-one reading time with our volunteers. What started as a way of fostering collaborative learning, has turned into...
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Each of our Impact Travel trips are unique as those who travel with us always have something new and exciting to offer to our partner organization here. This trip, we have two special projects underway. One will improve the connectivity of the teachers and students...
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Greetings from Zambia where our trip has been in full swing since Sunday. All 16 trip participants are already making fast friends. As always, we kicked off our first day with a warm welcome filled with music and exuberant dancing, a bit of which...
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Spark Ventures partners with organizations that prioritize the empowerment of women and girls. Thanks to strategic and financial support provided by Spark Ventures, our social impact partners are on the front lines of empowering girls who otherwise could be left behind. This year, Spark's annual event,...
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