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Community & Events Manager
The Funding Network
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Run events that feel more like an opening night than an Outlook invite? Love the buzz of a good bump-in and the calm of a colour-coded run sheet? This is your moment.
Why us?
Help us drive impact in:
The opportunity:
Why you might love this opp:
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.
Why you might love this opportunity
💚 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.
Key criteria:
🎬 Producer Energy: You've held the whole picture on community events end-to-end - planned for what was coming, made it look effortless. Whether it was live fundraising events, a festival stage, national conferences, or a touring production, you've been the person the whole room relied on.
🧭 Ahead of the Detail: You carry the mental load of an event - the AV cue that has to land on time, the run sheet that shifts twenty minutes before doors open, the VIP who walks in to find someone already waiting to help lead them to their table. Nothing falls through the cracks.
🔌 Tech-Savvy: You're comfortable with event registration platforms, CRM systems and AV setup. You can troubleshoot in real time, and also know when it's easier to direct someone else to do it. The specific platforms (Salesforce, Humanitix, Raisely) are learnable - the underlying ease with tech is what matters.
🤝 High-Trust Relationship Builder: You can handle a nervous presenter and a corporate partner in the same evening. People trust you to hold things, and you know how to read a room - when to step in, when to step back, when to quietly sort whatever the moment actually needs.
🎉 Community Viber: You love running live events and bringing people together - wherever you go, you've usually found yourself at the centre of the action, creating the moment the energy shifts in a room.
🌱 Purpose-Led: You’ve consistently found yourself in the room with people and orgs building something worth building. Whether NFP, social enterprise, or adjacent, you've put your skills close to community and impact.
How to apply:
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.
Interested?
1. Create a profile (or complete yours if you already have one) on Ripple Opportunities.
2. Submit an application by clicking on the job listing and 'Apply'. Please submit your resume and a cover letter in PDF that briefly outlines what's motivating you to apply for the role and how your experience could be applied in this context.
Your written application (max 1,000 words) should include:
- What's motivating you to apply for this role?
- A brief overview of your experience and how it aligns with the role.
- A specific experience you've had that's directly related to this role (e.g. a live community experience or event you produced end-to-end - ideally one where something didn't go to plan or you had to manage the unexpected). What was the objective, what strategy and tactics did you implement, what results did you achieve and what did you learn from this?
- Let us know your ideal hours, salary expectations, availability (including start date or time away), and anything else that helps us understand your fit.
To apply, please submit your application via Ripple Opportunities (www.rippleopportunities.com). Questions? Please contact hey@rippleopportunities.com.
Oh look! A legend is here reading some fine print! At Ripple our mission is to democratise access to purpose-driven opportunities. As a small team that curates hundreds of opportunities each week we do our best to share all the key information and juicy details. We often link out to the original listing and can't guarantee all details are included on our page, or the full accuracy as application windows and role descriptions may be changed by companies with short notice. If you're unsure of any details or closing dates, it's best to reach out to the organisation directly.