Philanthropy Tank

Tank Talk

September 2024 Issue

A Message From Our Leadership

Philanthropy Tank turns 10! 

Cheers to kicking off our Anniversary season!

We could not have reached this significant milestone without you – our leadership, volunteers, partners, donors, coaches, mentors, and tremendous nonprofit community. And of course, we celebrate our inspiring student CHANGEmakers who have created change and continue to make impactful change in our community through their solution-driven programs.

It is our mission to empower the next generation of nonprofit leaders and grow the future of philanthropy.  We began this journey by identifying and equipping students with the resources to kick-start their own programs. Now, we have evolved our organization to meet students where they live and go to school through a cooperative partnership with the School District of Palm Beach County that has enabled the formation of Philanthropy Tank Clubs. Philanthropy Tank is reaching more teens and introducing them to key issues in our local neighborhoods while connecting them to future volunteer and immersive opportunities, thus developing a new culture of philanthropy.

Our future includes the creation of partnerships that lead to internships and career pathways. Through this effort, we are contributing to the future pipeline of qualified individuals who will join the nonprofit sector as professionals, future board members, and informed funders.

So, we invite you to the party! If you have already been a participant, we thank you and appreciate your continued support!  If you are new to our organization, pull up a seat at our table and join us for the celebration. There are plenty of ways to get involved and invest in Empowering CHANGEmakers.

Annual partner and sponsor information is available by visiting our website, www.philanthropytank.org.



Amy R. Brand, MNM, CFRE 

Chief Executive Officer

Evan C. Deoul

Board President & Founder

SAVE THE DATE

MARCH 13, 2025

KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

ANNIVERSARY FINALS EVENT CELEBRATION

Join us as we celebrate 10 years of impacting Palm Beach County through the development of our future leaders of philanthropy. Come watch our student finalists present to Philanthropist Investors (PIs) to secure funding and mentorship for their compelling social impact programs!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

SPOTLIGHT

Welcome New Board Member Tom Vining

Philanthropy Tank welcomes Tom Vining to our Board of Directors. Tom has been an active supporter of our mission serving in various roles that have included Chair of the Outreach Committee, member of the Palm Beach County Leadership Council, and two years serving as a Philanthropist Investor to our student programs, Drop the Vape, Hooks with Heart, and Hearing for a Change.

Tom was President for Otis Elevator Americas and served as a member of United Technologies’ Executive Leadership Group. He also served as Board President for the National Elevator Industry, Inc. Tom, his wife Candace, and daughters reside in Palm Beach Gardens

We thank Tom for his continued support as he joins current Board members, Julie Brandt, Karen Conway, Evan Deoul, Michael Kohner, and Vicki Pugh.

COMPANY HIGHLIGHT

School District of Palm Beach County Renews Partnership

We are thrilled to announce that for a second consecutive year, the School District of Palm Beach County has approved a cooperative partnership agreement with Philanthropy Tank (PT). The collaboration, approved by the School Board over the summer, continues to establish PT clubs in high schools across the county, creating a unique platform for students to address pressing community issues.

Since initiating the agreement, clubs have been started at Dreyfoos High School of the Arts and Suncoast High School, with six other pending school clubs in progress. We thank the Department of Choice and Career Options for their support in this impactful endeavor.

"Our collaboration with The School Board of Palm Beach County marks a significant milestone for Philanthropy Tank,” said PT’s Chief Executive Officer Amy Brand. “This partnership is a testament to our commitment to reaching more students and empowering the next generation of CHANGEmakers.”  

CHANGEMAKERS HIGHLIGHTS



CHANGEmaker Erica Frishberg is a 2024

Bank of America Student Leader

By: Lila Goldin,

Student Marketing Intern, Philanthropy Tank

Erica Frishberg, CHANGEmaker and founder of Hearing for a Change, was sitting in the car with friends on the way to Home Depot in April when her phone pinged with an email. When she opened the message, she jumped in her seat with such elation that her head hit the ceiling of the car. The email read:

“Dear Erica, you have been selected as one of our 2024 Bank of America Student Leaders, one of our company’s most distinguished community programs. Congratulations! This year, we received more than 7,000 applications and 315 students were selected for this prestigious honor.” Her head still stinging and her friends utterly confused as to what was going on, Erica frantically texted her mom. She had just been accepted into a life-changing summer program.

“I literally jumped up and all my friends thought I was crazy,” Frishberg said. “(In that moment), I definitely had mixed feelings of excitement but also nervousness. Overall, I was proud of myself.”

The Bank of America Student Leaders program is an eight-week paid internship where students work for nonprofits in their area. At the end of their internship, all of the students attend a Student Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, surrounded by like-minded teenagers. “They want kids that are going to make a difference,” Frishberg said. “When I sat in the room with the 315 kids (in DC), they asked us who has a non-profit, and there were so many students that raised their hand.” Frishberg recounts that her experience with Philanthropy Tank helped her feel confident at the Student Leaders Summit, although surrounded by other impressive teens. She also said that her training with public speaking through CHANGEmaker workshops ensured she was ready for presentations at the Summit. “By having Philanthropy Tank, I was able to tell everyone, ‘Hey, I’m here. I’m Erica Frishberg, and I’m not going to be someone that’s sitting in the corner.’ If I didn’t have Philanthropy Tank, I feel, then I’d probably sit more in the corner, because I’d be thinking, ‘Maybe I’m not that special?’”.

Frishberg’s Philanthropy Tank program, “Hearing for a Change,” helps struggling readers develop their literacy skills through listening to and discussing audiobooks. Frishberg says she always knew she “wanted to go into education and help kids.” The Bank of America program gave her a chance to see how great of an impact she can have in the community. Now that the summer has come to a close, that does not mean Frishberg is done with her community service. As she writes college essays and starts senior year, Frishberg will keep working on expanding “Hearing for a Change” and making a difference in young readers' lives.

My New York Times Summer Academy Experience

By: Lila Goldin,

Student Marketing Intern, Philanthropy Tank

Between writing about other CHANGEmakers’ summer experiences, I had one of my own. At the end of July, I spent two weeks in New York City as a part of The School of the New York Times Summer Academy. The Academy offers a variety of different courses relating to journalism, and I chose to take “Free Speech and Free Press Rights Today,” a class focused on contemporary free speech issues and the Supreme Court cases that shaped them.

At school, I am the president of a club called “New Voices,” which is an offshoot of the national grassroots movement run through the Student Press Law Center. New Voices advocates for state legislation that protects student journalists from censorship. Because of New Voices, I am familiar with the First Amendment and freedom of the press. I chose this course because I wanted to learn more about the topic in order to bolster my efforts at home.

Sharing the Arts, my Philanthropy Tank program, has grown my love of teaching others about communications and the arts, but as that love has grown, so has my appreciation for learning communications. I enjoyed the classroom lecture aspect as well as the field trips into the city to tour the New York Times building or to have a Q&A with a New York assemblyperson. I feel very lucky to have interned for Philanthropy Tank and been a part of an experience like NYT Summer Academy all in one summer.

CALLING ALL CHANGEmakers!

Join us for our next application workshops.

September 21st at 10AM

October 5th at 10AM

October 9th at 4:30PM

Thank you to our Sponsors!

To support our student programs and youth leadership opportunities, click here:

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