Six One Spark staff members were laid off Monday, as the organization undergoes a restructuring.
Michael Munz, a member of One Spark’s board, said the layoffs — and an unrelated resignation — leave the startup with four employees. CEO Elton Rivas remains, as do three administrative and technical employees.
Munz said the layoffs were the decision of board members, who will remain involved in the restructuring process.
The Downtown crowdfunding festival has grown quickly in its first three years, with attendance jumping from 130,000 the first year to 320,000 this year. Prize money has increased, as have potential capital investment funding and sponsorships.
At the same time, the nonprofit has struggled financially, according to tax documents. One Spark reported deficits of about $200,000 from July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013 and more than $1 million from July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014.
At the end of this year’s crowdfunding festival in April, organizers said there would be discussions about what’s next, which Munz called One Spark 2.0.
He said One Spark leadership’s discussions have included reviewing surveys from a variety of groups, including sponsors, creators and volunteers.
“We’re taking all the data and going through it, like any startup would in its third year,” he said.
Munz said the 2.0 rollout should come in a few weeks. He declined to share details of the discussions.
“I think people are going to be just as excited as they were when we first rolled out the first year,” he said.
Last week, Rivas sent an email to staff members, a few of whom he said were asking about the next steps for One Spark 2.0.
He said he was awaiting feedback from the board. “Until then we’re in a bit of limbo,” Rivas said in the email.
He gave staff members who were not working on critical items the option to work from home or take a few days off “versus spinning our wheels with little confirmation on direction.”
“I know how frustrating that can be for sure and once we get clarity on direction we’ll have a lot more to focus on,” the email said.
“For now the campaign is on hold — until we get that clarity of focus,” he said.
Rivas did not return messages for comment.
Meredith O’Malley Johnson, community and public relations director, resigned last week. She said the split was amicable and that she is pursuing other opportunities.
Johnson is one of two staff members who have been with One Spark from the beginning. The other, Patrick Murphy, was among those let go Monday. The customer service manager declined to comment.
Rivas is one of the co-founders of One Spark, which debuted in April 2013.
He moved over in October 2013 to lead KYN, a business accelerator that grew out of One Spark. KYN shut down last October when Shad Khan’s Stache Investments pulled its funding, saying too little of the more than $1 million it contributed went toward supporting the startups.
Rivas returned full-time to One Spark in December when Joe Sampson, the festival’s executive director and chief operating officer, resigned to pursue other opportunities.
In February, Sampson and Lisa Goodrich formed EventReal, a company to help event organizers develop marketing strategies and find ways to become financially sustainable.
Sampson said Tuesday morning he was proud to have worked alongside and lead the core team.
“We built One Spark from a time when it was still just an idea, and I’ll always appreciate their tireless work and tremendous contributions through our first two years,” Sampson said. “One Spark will miss them, but they’re a hard-working, talented and resilient group, I have no doubt they will go on to do big things.”
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