The Community Accelerator is a program to equip impactful communities with the training, mentorship and funds to grow. It is an evolution of their Fellowship program, which in 2019 supported 115 participating leaders worldwide. Together, those leaders reported that their projects impacted over 1.9 million lives through online community support, the use of helpful resources, and other activities made possible by the program. In their discussions with community leaders over the last few years, they have learned that many of them are looking for support and guidance in how to grow their communities. So, they want to take a holistic approach to supporting these communities. In addition to building the tools and educational resources that they need, the Facebook team is also building programmatic ways to provide training, support and funding to enable great communities to make an even greater positive impact in the world.
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A committee of Facebook employees and external experts will be selecting participants through a process consisting of a written application, video submission and interviews. The committee will be looking at the community’s impact and trajectory, the leadership team and the community’s needs and goals. The selection committee will look for communities that would benefit most from the unique programming offered and have the capacity to engage fully in the program. This includes:
- Established Community: An existing community (either online or offline) who has an engaged member base and has existed for over one year.
- Social Impact: A desire to create social impact that betters people’s lives through their community.
- Appetite to Grow: The community leaders know that growing their community through Facebook’s family of apps is their next challenge and are willing and excited to scale.
- Capacity: A team that has the capacity to scale their community using Facebook’s family of apps and can manage the growth and work that comes with it.
- Leadership: The leader(s) of the community have leadership experience, including managing teams and projects.
- Business Model / Income Strategy: The community has a business model or is close to having a business model to cover their costs, even if it isn’t recurring revenue.
- Commitment: A team that is committed to engage fully in each stage of the program.
Benefits
Facebook will work with GlobalGiving to fund participants’ approved growth plans. Up to $3 million total will be awarded to program participants. Selected participants will each receive up to $30k to execute their growth plans during the 6-month program and could be eligible to receive part of the $500K additional funding available at the end of the program to further grow their communities and impact. Besides these, the participants can also acquire the following,
- Growth Focused Training
- Mentorship & Partnerships
- Funding to Grow
Eligibilities
This program is open to communities with leaders who are 18 years of age or older and reside in the following countries: Brazil, United States, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt. Communities must have existed for over one year (either online or offline), and must have a minimum size of 5,000 members if primarily online.
The program will be conducted in English or Portuguese (if applying from Brazil).
Eligible Regions: Brazil, United States, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt.Application Process
Apply through the given website.
Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.
Application Deadline: May 1, 2020
Application ClosedOfficial link
