Community & Events Manager - The Funding Network - Melbourne / Sydney

The Funding Network (TFN) is a purpose-led non-profit that runs live collective giving events - they do more than raise hands and dollars - they spark momentum. They bring bold grassroots ideas into rooms full of people ready to back them, creating the kind of energy that funds game-changing work, unlocks powerful networks, and fuels long-term impact well beyond the night itself. It’s fast-paced, high-trust, and all in service of a more generous, inclusive Australia.

Ripple Opportunities is working with The Funding Network (TFN) to help them find their next Community & Events Manager. Could it be you?

Why you might love this opp:

• Changing who gets backed: TFN puts grassroots changemakers on stage, in front of a room that came ready to back them. Stories land. Hands go up. Tens of thousands of dollars move directly to community-embedded organisations. But the real impact travels further. In that room, changemakers meet people ready to open doors, share networks, offer expertise and keep backing the work long after the night ends - turning one powerful evening into new possibilities for what comes next.
• Impact in action: Since 2013, TFN has brought 26,000+ people into the room, delivered more than 200 events and helped move $32 million towards 630+ grassroots and social change programs. What happens next is the real story. Alumni including Consent Labs, Ocean Mind, Studio A and Confit Pathways are now changing conversations, communities and entire sectors - and they’re not the exception: 70% of TFN-backed organisations have grown from small to medium or large. AMP Foundation, Macquarie, Atlassian and Accenture are among the organisations betting on the model - because some of Australia’s freshest ideas are already taking shape in communities across the country.
• In a nutshell: You'll be the person who takes TFN's biggest nights from a date in the calendar to a room humming with energy. Across six to eight Flagship events a year - each running on a refined 12-week production cycle - plus the Powered by TFN calendar, you'll hold the whole production: venues, AV, run sheets, pledge capture, presenters, MCs, partners and suppliers. When the calendar heats up, you'll coordinate the team around what needs to happen next. The model is tried and tested. Your job is to pick it up, take control and make the experience feel effortless. 
• Your week: You're working across a few events at once - one wrapping up, another picking up pace, a third barely on the radar. Some days it's logistics: venues confirmed, AV locked, run sheets taking shape. Other days it's the human side: the MC walks in to a drink because you'd clocked they're coming straight from another job; the presenter walks off stage ten centimetres taller because someone was calm and clear in their corner. On event days, you know where everyone is, what they need, and how to steady the room if the Wi-Fi drops. The team moves like they've rehearsed for weeks. Then it's debriefs, data, surveys - and the next big night takes shape. 
• Your style: You're a producer in the truest sense - someone who finds real joy in a briefing pack that answers the question before it's asked, and in knowing exactly who'll need a cup of tea, a confidence boost, or one last detail before they step into the room. When the pace lifts, that's when you come alive - moving between the team, the talent and the run sheet, calm enough that everyone else thinks, yes, we've absolutely got this. 
• Inside TFN: It’s a compact, close-knit team where everyone has a line of sight across the work - and a good idea can gather momentum fast, wherever it comes from. Someone spots a better way, another person builds on it, and before long it’s part of how the team works. You’ll be trusted to move things forward, bring a point of view and pitch in with people who are quick to solve, generous with ideas and deeply invested in what the team is building together.
• What you bring: Your route here could run through corporate launches, agency production, fundraising events, festivals, theatre, touring, or something harder to put in a neat box. What matters is that you've felt the clock speed up, made the calls under pressure, and taken a live event all the way from first brief to final pack-down. 
• The detail: Full-time or 0.8 FTE, based in Naarm/Melbourne or Eora/Sydney - hybrid, with Wednesdays and Thursdays together in the office. Salary $85,000-$90,000 pro-rata + super + NFP salary packaging, with some flexibility if you're bringing deeper experience and capability. Some evenings and interstate travel involved for events, balanced with breathing room built in for school holidays. Full permanent work rights in Australia required.

What's involved:

The balance of work will shift over time but to start:

60% Event Production & Delivery

You’re the person with the whole chessboard in view. You'll run six to eight Flagships a year, each on a 12-week production cycle - venues, AV, suppliers, run sheets, pledge capture, MC briefs. Timelines tightening, suppliers circling, pledges flying - you've already clocked it, called it, and lined up what happens next. 

20% Partner & Stakeholder Experience

You'll take a partner's big ideas, fixed budget and vision, and shape them into an event that fits TFN's model without losing what makes it theirs - then brief the MC, prep the presenters, make sure every VIP feels looked after. The nervous first-timer who walks away supported, the partner who feels genuinely seen - you're the reason people come back to TFN year after year. 

20% Systems & Operations Management

You'll keep Salesforce and event platforms current, tighten the playbooks, and turn every debrief into something useful - so the next production starts cleaner, moves faster, and carries fewer surprises. 

Next steps:

If any of the above resonated with you but you don’t tick every box:

You should throw your hat in the ring, whatever those years of experience look like in your personal impact journey. We’d love to hear from you!

We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis and may close the listing if a perfect match is found, so we encourage you to apply early.

Submit an application via clicking 'Apply Now'. Please check the listing on the Ripple Opportunities website for the full and latest up-to-date information.

Questions? Please contact hey@rippleopportunities.com using the subject line: Community & Events Manager - The Funding Network - Melbourne / Sydney enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Ripple Opportunities works with the country's leading social impact businesses to match them with the next gen of impact operators and creators. www.rippleopportunities.com.

Or not this role, but you're passionate about building a purpose driven career that's aligned to your passions and values, and supports positive change in your community?

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