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Meet a Millennial Philanthropist: Monica Donoghue

Monica O’Donoghue is the kind of person who exudes passion. It’s in the tone of her voice. It’s in the words she uses when she talks about what she does and what she loves. And it’s also in the story of her life. Monica grew up in the Philadelphia area, attending high school at Merion…

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Meet a Millennial Philanthropist: Bria Spivey

MLK Day of Service is one of the most impactful days of the year in Philly. Citizens volunteer to help refurb schools by painting them, refurbing them, and making small projects like bookshelves. According to their website, MLK day of Service in Philly has completed over 1,800 projects, with over 145,000 volunteers, and 500,000 service…

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Spotlight On: The Center for Grieving Children

From my very first interaction with the Center for Grieving Children, I could tell this was a special place. I had the opportunity to talk to Malia Neal the new Director of Development & Communications at the Center and Jack Small, their Development & Communications Associate last week to learn more about what the Center…

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Nicholas Thompson

Meet a Millennial Philanthropist: Nick Thompson

You don’t have to be from Philly to be making a difference in this city – Nick Thompson proves that. After graduating from Binghamton University in 2013, he moved to Philly and has been a force for good ever since. He came to Philadelphia to earn his Masters of Public Health at Drexel University. He…

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Meet a Millennial Philanthropist: Joshua Schwartz

By day, Joshua Schwartz is a project manager for TargetX, a higher education technology company; by night (at least some of them), he’s an adjunct professor at two different colleges. It probably won’t surprise you to hear that Joshua is passionate about education: “I am a huge believer in education and life-long learning,” he says….

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Interview with The Attic Youth Center

On a Monday evening, I walked into The Attic Youth Center – and into a bustle of about 30 chatting teens, grabbing dinner and then sitting down to catch up with each other. There was a spirit of home and family here that exists throughout the Attic, which works to create “opportunities for LGBTQ youth…

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Meet a Millennial Philanthropist: Casey McGuigan

This month we sat down with Casey McGuigan, a corporate accountant for Advanced Depositions and Trial Technologies. Casey is a Philly girl through and through — she was born and grew up in northeast Philadelphia, went to Drexel for college, and now lives in South Philadelphia. When she’s not working, Casey can most often be…

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Interview with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture

Among the houses of West Philadelphia is a green, blooming garden, the namesake of the West Philly based arts non-profit Al-Bustan (“the garden” in Arabic) Seeds of Culture that presents and teaches Arab culture through the arts and language. It serves as a meeting place, a grove to brainstorm, and part of the home of…

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The Spruce Foundation Receives the Please Touch Museum’s First-Ever Young Philanthropy Award

On November 2 representatives from the Spruce Foundation’s Board of Directors attended The Please Touch Museum’s Imagination Ball, where Spruce was presented with the museum’s first-ever Young Philanthropy Award. The award was created by the Please Touch Museum to recognize “local organizations and individuals for their exceptional commitment to empowering the next generation of philanthropists.”…

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Meet a Millennial Philanthropist: Lily Applebaum

Philadelphia is full of young people finding creative and gratifying ways to give back to their communities. Spruce is proud to use this little corner of our newsletter to highlight some of the best and busiest young philanthropists in the city! We were lucky enough to sit down with Lily Applebaum, a 27-year-old who works…

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