Associate Director, Discovery & Insight, The Audacious Project

Job Description

ABOUT THE AUDACIOUS PROJECT

The Audacious Project is a collaborative funding initiative and project of TED that is unlocking social impact on a grand scale. By inviting the world’s changemakers to dream bigger than ever before, the Audacious Project surfaces ideas with the potential to affect millions of lives and impact entire systems. We support selected applicants in shaping their ideas into actionable, multi-year proposals. We then convene a community of donors who collectively contribute large-scale funding directly to individual organizations.

Now in its fifth year, the Audacious Project has catalyzed nearly $3 billion for 38 organizations engaged in a wide range of social impact efforts around the world. Beyond mobilizing capital, our design is dynamic and responsive to the needs of projects once they receive transformative funding. To that end, we have set out to build our capacity to help projects achieve their goals for both impact and sustainability.

POSITION OVERVIEW

This role is part of the Discovery & Insight team of “idea catalysts” for The Audacious Project. This growing team is responsible for building and nurturing the pipeline of future Audacious projects and curating a multi-year, diverse, global pool of inspiring ideas and leaders.

This role will use a variety of methods to identify breakthrough ideas and ideate with social change leaders to shape compelling, credible projects for philanthropic consideration annually. Our model is unique and growing. We are looking for a builder, someone excited to design and bring rigor to building new networks, processes and approaches to sourcing and diligence, that hold our mission and values central, who enjoys the challenge of building something that doesn’t exist. The role will be part of building something that doesn’t exist anywhere else, in service of our mission. This role will bring rigor to the process of identifying some of the most compelling and innovative ideas and social entrepreneurs in the world who are ready for Audacious-level funding and support.

Based remotely or in New York, NY (USA), with travel to New York, San Francisco, CA (USA), and outside the US.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This person will work closely with the Director of Discovery & Insight and other sourcing lead to:

• Build and manage a multi-year pipeline of inspiring social impact ideas and entrepreneurs. Tracking new trends in impact, leveraging diverse relationships, landscaping and conducting deep sector analysis to stay at the forefront of social change to build a rich set of potential Audacious ideas
• Lead investigation and diligence (i.e., business, equity and impact diligence) on funding opportunities, and support their comprehensive review and selection to curate a compelling cohort. Construct persuasive, fact-based funding documentation for internal and external audiences
• Engage internal and external partners in our work, building relationships and acting as an ambassador of the Audacious community, overseeing partnerships with other collaborative platforms and advisors, working closely with Portfolio Impact and other Audacious teams to transition from selection to proposal development and funding
• Collaborate with the D&I lead in broader strategy and experimentation, to evolve our work in service of Audacious mission and values, while maintaining a great culture and team dynamic

QUALIFICATIONS / SKILLS

This position is open to those who have completed a minimum of bachelor’s level training; have experience cultivating, evaluating, and funding social impact ideas; enjoy working in a startup or “scrappy” context; have worked internationally, supporting marginalized voices around the world; and are champions of new ideas and upsetting the status quo.

We are especially interested in candidates who have worked in minority-serving institutions and who have a demonstrated commitment to equity.

Specific qualifications:

• Deep passion for Audacious’ mission and approach to social change
• High tolerance for ambiguity and ability to own and drive work with limited day-to-day guidance and structure; ability to thrive in a dynamic environment
• 7+ years work experience, across the following:
  • Funding, investing or grant-making – deep experience sourcing, building pipeline, diligencing, and funding organizations and/or projects for social and/or environmental impact; able to evaluate both financial and impact potential of ideas and organizations based around the world [Required]
  • Global experience and networks — experience working in lower middle income and emerging markets (across Africa, Latin America, Asia, etc) [Required]
  • Social impact — working for a social enterprise, innovative non-profit, grassroots or community development organization, or climate initiative
  • Research, landscaping – experience with investigating and landscaping potential areas for funding, especially nascent spaces with limited research reports and information available
  • Writing & communications – able to articulate findings and analyses in a clear, compelling and concise way, whether in long-form memos and analysis, oral presentations, or in decks; experience with fact-based persuasive writing or journalism a plus
  • Influence and relationship management – experience building and managing diverse networks; able to fluidly switch between – and build trust and buy-in within – funder and grantee relationships, in service of mission, values, and the impact groups we ultimately serve
  • Experience sourcing and funding climate or science initiatives a plus
• Curiosity, sense of humor, caring about team culture, working together, and also challenging each other to shake up viewpoints, biases, mindsets
• High sense of personal responsibility and integrity; deep commitment to equity
• Fluency in various formats, with different tools and information management systems (e.g. Airtable, Google Suite, Salesforce)
• BA/BS, and possibly a relevant graduate degree