The staff of the “Worlds Largest Crowdfunding Festival”, One Spark, is apparently getting smaller. This is according to a report in the Jacksonville (FL) Business Journal. Full time staff is being slashed from 11 down to 3 as part of a re-organizational push to refocus the annual gathering that has quickly become a Jacksonville anchor event. The change saw Meredith O’Malley Johnson, Community and PR Director at One Spark, hand in her resignation.
The most recent festival was held in the Spring of this year and has been described as the most successful to date with over 300,000 participants.
One Spark founder Elton Rivas explained the recent shift in approach stating that during the past two months festival organizers have reviewed and challenged everything including structure and budget results. Rivas stated;
“From this, we have identified a number of key items that are needed in order for the One Spark festival to be sustainable. Unfortunately, some of those changes involve moving to a more variable expense structure rather than maintaining a year-round full time staff. As a leader of the company this is the hardest thing that can happen to your team. Anytime that you lose talented, passionate people, it downright sucks. I have nothing but gratitude and love for the people that have been part of the One Spark team at any point in time. Still, there’s no other way to say it, it just plain stinks when you lose what has become family on a day to day basis.”
Rivas went on to state that change is difficult but they are committed to a “renewed focus” in “helping great ideas turn into successful organizations by connecting with what they need to succeed.”
One Spark had experimented with its first international event in Berlin in a attempt to extend its brand and strategy. Apparently One Spark will return focus to growing Jacksonville and steer away from future international events.