Facebook has announced, on Tuesday, May 4th 2021, the next phase of its Community Accelerator Program. The program, which is geared towards helping Facebook group admins, or organisations with a presence in Facebook groups, will help them grow their leadership skills, and to make better use of Facebook’s tools to maximize community impact.
“We’re committing up to $7.5 million USD in funding to help communities expand their positive impact on the world”, Facebook said in the announcement.
During the eight month program, the Social Media giant is promising that all the participants will receive training, mentorship and funds to invest in an initiative that extends their community’s positive impact.
“Through the program, each community will receive up to $50,000 to help fund work that advances the goals of their community groups. A subset of communities will be eligible to receive part of $1 million USD in additional funding”, the announcer further explained on the website.
As part of Community Accelerator program, the participants will:
1). STRENGTHEN THEIR COMMUNITY
Selected community leaders will spend five months learning from experts, coaches and a customized curriculum so they can organize and strengthen their community to work better together. Lessons include community identity foundations, leading action-oriented communities and sustainability. Participants will also receive early access to new Facebook products aimed at helping communities better manage and activate their members.
2). PLAN THEIR INITIATIVE
Participants will identify an important initiative that will create a positive impact on the broader world and develop a plan to mobilize their community around their goal. Initiatives will be shared with an audience of potential partners, mentors and a panel of judges for the chance to be awarded additional funding and receive public recognition.
3). EXECUTE
They will then spend the remaining three months executing their initiatives. They will collaborate with advocates and leaders in the community space and work with the Facebook team to bring their ideas to life.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Facebook said that the program is open to communities that have a presence in Facebook Groups with leaders who are 18 years of age or older. These leaders must be residing in the following countries: Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, United States, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco & India.
Communities must have existed for over one year and must have a minimum size of 1,000 members.
The program will be conducted in Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico & Argentina), German (Germany, Switzerland & Austria) and English for all the other markets.
The application will be open from May 4 – 31, 2021.
The Community Accelerator is part of our Facebook Community Leadership Program, a global initiative that invests in people building communities. Communities using Facebook groups who have the time and energy to invest in this program are encouraged to learn more and apply here.
You can find out more about the 2020 Community Accelerator cohort and those who received additional funding here.
