User:EJosephson/Spark Ventures

Spark Ventures is a non-profit, charitable organization focused on forming partnerships around the world in order to serve vulnerable children. Their mission is to create healthy communities for children living in poverty by improving nutrition and education. Spark Ventures does this by partnering with local organizations and their leaders, raising awareness and financial support, and using their resources to provide leadership training as well as fund capital projects in order for their partners to become self-sustainable. Spark Ventures operates a child sponsorship program, Transformation trips to visit their partners, and volunteer programs. The organization hosts an annual fall event to raise support and awareness in Chicago, IL.

History
Spark Ventures began when co-founders Dan Marcus (an investment advisor), Rich Johnson (Director of campus ministries for North Park University), and Scott Barbeau (a professional musician) traveled to Ndola, Zambia. They visited an orphanage and a community school, known as Hope Ministries, run by a local pastor and his wife. They were motivated to find a way to strengthen Hope Ministries in their work with the children of the community and help them with the necessary training to run a successful business. The official partnership between Spark Ventures and Hope Ministries began in 2007.

Team
Spark Ventures is based in Chicago, Illinois. In 2010, The Board of Directors announced Rich Johnson as the Chief Executive Officer. There are eleven members of the Board of Directors, currently chaired by Tasha Seitz, and nine members of the Junior Board.

Partner
Spark Ventures is currently partnering with Hope Ministries in Ndola, Zambia. Together they run an orphanage and a school in the neighborhood of Twapia. The orphanage houses twenty children, most of whom have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. Hope Community School is attended by more than three hundred students between the ages of four and sixteen. Spark Ventures funded the construction of a new seven-room schoolhouse, completed in late 2009. In 2007 they began a meal program to provide a source of nutrition for children who attend the school. Spark Ventures provided the lead investment of $100,000 for a poultry farm in Lusaka, Zambia, which opened in May 2011. The farm is run by Hope Ministries to provide revenue for the Hope Ministries school and orphanage. .