Director Community and Field Building

ABOUT SPARK MICROGRANTS

Spark MicroGrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. Spark has worked in 1000+ villages in 6 countries and has pioneered a community-driven development model in sub-Saharan Africa. Spark works with NGO and Government partners to scale the model's adoption and impact on rural communities - on their own terms. Our model combines facilitated community meetings with a small, discretionary grant to catalyze local action and institution building. Read more about our Approach, Impact and Values on our website. 

WHO YOU ARE 

The Director, Community & Field Building will help build the ecosystem needed to move decision-making and capital closer to communities at unprecedented scale.

The role has three interconnected ambitions:

1. Build a cohort of champions who believe in community-driven governance and can influence how public, philanthropic, and multilateral resources are designed and deployed.
2. Raise a $100M fund to support village grants, facilitation, innovation, learning, and the development of excellent community-led systems.
3. Help move $20 billion in public and multilateral financing toward the world’s poorest villages by building the relationships, evidence, partnerships, and field infrastructure needed to make this possible.

This is a highly entrepreneurial role. The Director will help define the field, identify the people and organizations who should be part of it, create compelling opportunities for collaboration and investment, and turn a compelling idea into a growing community of practice.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Build a global community of practice

Identify and connect exceptional organizations, practitioners, researchers, funders, and public leaders working to put power and capital closer to communities.

You will:

• Map the global landscape of community-driven development, participatory governance, locally led development, and related approaches.
• Identify exceptional organizations and individuals who are advancing the field.
• Build relationships and create opportunities for practitioners to learn from one another.
• Develop forums, partnerships, convenings, and other mechanisms for shared learning and collaboration.
• Help practitioners develop shared standards, tools, and approaches for excellent community-led systems.
• Identify emerging ideas, evidence, and innovations that could strengthen the field.
• Help articulate what excellent community-driven development looks like and where the field needs to advance.
  
  

Build a community of champions and capital

Build a core group of philanthropists, public leaders, researchers, institutions, and other influential actors who can fund, champion, and help advance community-driven approaches.

You will:

• Develop a compelling proposition for philanthropy and institutional partners around community-driven development.
• Build and manage relationships with high-level philanthropic, public, multilateral, and research partners.
• Identify opportunities where private capital can help unlock significantly larger pools of public and multilateral financing.
• Create opportunities for funders and partners to learn directly from communities and practitioners.
• Develop strategic partnerships that increase the visibility, credibility, and adoption of community-led approaches.
• Build a network of champions who can advocate for greater community decision-making and resource allocation within their own institutions and networks.
  
  

Build a $100M fund

Lead the development and fundraising strategy for a major fund supporting village grants, facilitation, learning, innovation, and the broader infrastructure required for excellent community-led development.

You will:

• Develop the fund's proposition, strategy, and fundraising narrative.
• Identify and cultivate major philanthropic and institutional funders.
• Build a pipeline of high-value funding opportunities and strategic partnerships.
• Lead or support major donor conversations, proposals, pitches, and partnership negotiations.
• Develop a compelling case for why philanthropic capital can play a catalytic role in unlocking significantly larger public and multilateral financing.
• Work closely with Spark's Growth and leadership teams to convert relationships and opportunities into funding.
• Help shape how the fund can generate learning, evidence, and infrastructure that benefit the broader field.
  
  

Help unlock $20B in public and multilateral financing

Work across Spark and its external network to help create the conditions for governments and multilateral institutions to direct significantly more resources toward community-led systems.

You will:

• Build relationships with senior government, multilateral, philanthropic, and development-finance leaders.
• Identify opportunities to influence large-scale financing mechanisms and programs.
• Connect evidence and lessons from Spark's work to broader policy and financing conversations.
• Work with Spark's Global Programs and Innovation teams to translate field learning into compelling propositions for governments and multilateral institutions.
• Identify strategic partnerships that could accelerate adoption of community-led approaches at national and international scale.
• Help build the narrative, evidence, and coalition necessary to make community-driven financing a mainstream approach.
  
  

Build Spark's field-building capacity

As this work develops, the Director will help determine what Spark itself needs to become to support a growing global field.

You will:

• Develop strategies and priorities for Spark's field-building work.
• Build systems for tracking relationships, opportunities, learning, and impact across the network.
• Develop compelling communications and thought leadership with Spark's leadership and communications teams.
• Represent Spark externally at high-level meetings, conferences, convenings, and with strategic partners.
• Bring insights from the broader field back into Spark's strategy and programs.
• Help build a culture of experimentation, learning, and intellectual generosity around this work
  
  

What You Bring

We are looking for an entrepreneurial relationship-builder who is excited by the opportunity to build something that does not yet fully exist. You may come from philanthropy, international development, government, community organizing, research, public policy, social movements, multilateral institutions, or another field. What matters most is your ability to build relationships, see opportunities, bring people together around a compelling idea, and turn ambition into action.

You bring:

• 10+ years of relevant professional experience, ideally in international development, philanthropy, government, public policy, community development, or another mission-driven field.
• A strong track record of building high-trust relationships with senior leaders across different institutions and sectors.
• Experience developing and executing fundraising, partnership, coalition-building, or field-building strategies.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to make complex ideas compelling to different audiences.
• The ability to develop a big-picture strategy while remaining highly execution-oriented.
• Strong judgment and the ability to navigate ambiguous, politically and institutionally complex environments.
• Intellectual curiosity and an interest in evidence, learning, and developing new approaches.
• The ability to operate credibly with philanthropists, government officials, researchers, practitioners, and community leaders.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to bring together people with different perspectives and incentives.
• Comfort working in a highly entrepreneurial environment where the strategy will evolve as opportunities emerge.
  
  

OTHER INFORMATION

Job Location: Remote, US 

Reporting to: CEO

Start Date: As soon as possible

Salary: This position offers a salary range of approximately $100,000–$160,000, with final compensation based on experience and skills. We provide a comprehensive benefits package, including 100% employer-paid health insurance premiums for employees and 50% coverage for dependents, a 401(k) plan with a 3% employer contribution, generous paid leave, and a professional development stipend, among other benefits.

Probation period: Three months probation period with learning and performance objectives

How to Apply: Follow the link to apply: https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/careers/183 

SAFEGUARDING

Our safeguarding follows a do no harm principle. All Spark staff are expected to respect and uphold the safeguarding procedures and principles to minimize harm to stakeholders, program participants, and the environment, in compliance with the World Bank Environmental and Social Framework and national legislation in the countries where we operate. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER 

Spark Microgrants provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions at Spark are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Spark does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by the law. Spark will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship to daily operations.