Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that bets early on exceptional people making the world better. We knit talent into networks, bet on the most promising ideas through diverse forms of competition and support, and equip people to scale through partners and modern tools. To realize this vision, Schmidt Futures uses a broad set of tools — including gifts, grants, investments, and startup activity — for charitable, educational, and commercial efforts with a public purpose. Our initiative brings together the efforts of various charitable and non-charitable entities to improve our potential impact by making diverse types of capital available to the efforts we support.
About Rise
Rise finds promising young people and provides opportunity for life as they work to serve others.
The program starts at ages 15-17 and encourages a lifetime of service and learning by providing support that includes need-based scholarships, mentorship, networking, access to career development opportunities, and the potential for additional funding as Rise Global Winners work toward solving humanity’s most pressing problems.
By identifying emerging talent in all disciplines, we can support people and their ideas as they work on solutions we can’t even imagine today. Using technical platforms and other tools, Rise invites network members with common interests to connect, collaborate, and make service commitments to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Our global network includes applicants, winners, teachers, partners, and other organizations who wish to support them in serving others.
If one person alone can change the world, imagine what a network of exceptional people can do together throughout their lives. That is the vision of Rise.
The program provides the following benefits to Rise Global Winners:
- Residential summit: One fully-funded residential summit with other Rise Global Winners from their cohort—to be held in a rotating location globally.
- Higher education scholarships: A four-year, post-secondary scholarship at any accredited university, including tuition and a living stipend, based on need and where not already covered by financial aid.
- Funding for ideas on a competitive basis: Opportunity to apply for funding for innovative ideas—ranging, for example, from seed money to start a social enterprise to grants for a non-profit. Funds will be designated for these purposes in a total pooled amount of at least $5m/year of the program and will be available competitively to winners and finalists.
- Network matching: Access to a network of other Global Winners, community members, and partner organizations, as well as career development programming, delivered primarily through technology (via our matching platform).
- Starter technology packages: such as laptops or tablets, to be determined each year based on budget and individual needs.
- Mentorship and career services: Mentorship to provide personal, academic, or professional guidance, and specialized career services for internships and jobs.
In addition, the program may provide additional benefits and services to Winners and other members depending on need and funding. These may include the opportunity to apply for scholarships for a graduate degree; access to partner opportunities (e.g., a database providing links to community members so they can apply to other scholarship programs); and additional convening, whether virtual or in person, for network members to work on areas of common interest (e.g., AI).
The Role:
- As Rise enters its third year of selection and prepares to support 300 Rise Global Winners and the larger Rise Global Community, the Director, Network and Community Building will oversee the function of building a robust network around the Winners. Reporting to the Executive Director of the Rise program, the Director will lead teams responsible for in-person and online convenings, service opportunities, digital community management and CRM, and career services and mentoring, beginning with the Rise Residential Summit and inclusive of lifelong learning.
Key Responsibilities
- Initiate, secure, and develop strategic partnerships with leading universities, research institutions, centers of innovation, and subject-matter experts to source speakers and to co-design in-person and virtual learning experiences and service opportunities
- Monitor the planning and delivery of multiple large-scale, consistently best-in-class, community-driven, and action-oriented convenings from start to finish to advance Rise’s objectives.
- In collaboration with colleagues at Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, design and launch a suite of digital tools and resources to connect Rise Global Winners to themselves and others in the larger networks and to foster new collaborations.
- Identify and establish a network of networks that can source mentors for Rise Global Winners, while at the same time, ensuring that older cohorts of Rise Global Winners mentor younger cohorts.
- Ensure that Rise Global Winners have access to a robust set of resources that support their professional growth, including career guidance, internships, fellowships, and job listings.
- Implement policies, processes, and reporting that are in compliance with the Rise Program Joint Committee preferences and support the needs of the initiative, including guidelines from the Data Science/Research and Impact team.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Drive to work in high-impact philanthropic ventures.
- Commitment to building robust relationships to further programmatic goals.
- Experience using event-management platforms and/or project management software.
- Proficiency in digital community platforms.
- Experience building relationships across global cultures.
- Demonstrated teamwork ability and a record of impact in high-intensity, team-based environments.
- Values-based, collaborative working style with a demonstrated commitment to the highest standards of ethics and confidentiality.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Exceptional operational and program management skills.
Suggested Background
- Have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from an accredited institution.
- Have experience overseeing in-personal or virtual community and/or events management.
- Have experience managing teams and managing programs.
- Comfort with regular international travel for several weeks per year.
- Be based at the Schmidt Futures offices in New York and be able to travel within the U.S. and internationally regularly as needed, following company policy and permitting circumstances.
At Schmidt Futures we are committed to fair, transparent pay and we strive to provide competitive, market-informed compensation. The target base salary range for this role is $220,000 to $260,000. Compensation for the successful candidate will be informed by the candidate’s particular combination of knowledge, skills, competencies and experience.
Futures Action Network, LLC, which operates Schmidt Futures, is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws or prohibited by Company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.
