Skoll Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Skoll Foundation is a social entrepreneurship foundation based in Silicon Valley
, California
, with a mission to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems. It invests in social entrepreneurs through its annual 'Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship' and makes grants to support the ecosystem around social entrepreneurs, including the 'Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship' at Oxford. It connects social entrepreneurs through its online community 'Social Edge', as well as via the annual 'Skoll World Forum' on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford
. It celebrates social entrepreneurs through media projects such as its 'Uncommon Heroes' short films; a four-part 'New Heroes' public television documentary (broadcast in 2004); partnerships with other media outlets, including The Sundance Institute
, NPR, PBS and Public Radio International; and the Skoll Awards ceremony at the Skoll World Forum each spring. It was founded by Jeff Skoll who was the first employee and first president of eBay and makes grants in excess of $40M per year
In November 2003, the Skoll Foundation donated £4.4m to the Saïd Business School
of Oxford University for the creation of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
in order to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide. In addition to delivering an innovative teaching programme, the Skoll Centre has developed a portfolio of research which employs theory but that is also
valuable to practitioners in the field. The Centre acts as a network hub for social entrepreneurship, linking together key actors in the sector and contributing towards creating new and effective partnerships for sustainable social change. It engages in social innovation and aims to have a decisive influence on policy.
Over the course of three days the conference was attended by 85 organisations from India and Europe.
an allowance for living expenses and travel. Skoll Scholars usually have a strong track record in social entrepreneurship and intend to return to work in this sector after their studies. They take all the social entrepreneurship elements of the MBA, which comprise three eightweek modules and two major social business projects designed to positively impact a specific social problem. This amounts to approximately one-third of the whole MBA course content. To be considered for a Skoll scholarship, candidates need to provide evidence of the personal qualities strongly correlated with social entrepreneurship, such as persistence in pursuit of a
social benefit goal; willingness to face failure and start again; a bias towards action rather than reflection; a tendency to explore the environment for opportunities and resources; a willingness to take personal, and sometimes financial, risks; and a habit
of developing a network and exploiting its members. In addition, candidates need to demonstrate how a business education can contribute to the wider development or the local community or community of interest they work with in the social entrepreneurship movement.
In addition, Skoll has made ecosystem grants to The Acumen Fund, Ashoka, The Carter Center, Duke University's Center for the Advanced of Social Entrepreneurship, the Santa Clara College's Global Social Business Incubator, and several other organizations supporting social entrepreneurship.
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, with a mission to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems. It invests in social entrepreneurs through its annual 'Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship' and makes grants to support the ecosystem around social entrepreneurs, including the 'Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship' at Oxford. It connects social entrepreneurs through its online community 'Social Edge', as well as via the annual 'Skoll World Forum' on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. It celebrates social entrepreneurs through media projects such as its 'Uncommon Heroes' short films; a four-part 'New Heroes' public television documentary (broadcast in 2004); partnerships with other media outlets, including The Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
, NPR, PBS and Public Radio International; and the Skoll Awards ceremony at the Skoll World Forum each spring. It was founded by Jeff Skoll who was the first employee and first president of eBay and makes grants in excess of $40M per year
History
The organisation was created in 1999 by Jeff Skoll.In November 2003, the Skoll Foundation donated £4.4m to the Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School is the business school of the University of Oxford in England, located on the north side of Frideswide Square on the former site of Oxford Rewley Road railway station. It is the University's centre of learning for graduate and undergraduate students in business, management...
of Oxford University for the creation of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
Skoll centre for social entrepreneurship
In November 2003, the Skoll Foundation donated £4.4m to the Saïd Business School for the creation of The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in order to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide...
in order to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide. In addition to delivering an innovative teaching programme, the Skoll Centre has developed a portfolio of research which employs theory but that is also
valuable to practitioners in the field. The Centre acts as a network hub for social entrepreneurship, linking together key actors in the sector and contributing towards creating new and effective partnerships for sustainable social change. It engages in social innovation and aims to have a decisive influence on policy.
Research at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
The Skoll Centre’s research ranges across three main topic areas identified by practitioners as of key importance: governance; resources; impact. In each area, a variety of scholarly work is being undertaken. This is disseminated in both applied working paper formats and in peer-reviewed academic books and journals.International Forum on Social Entrepreneurship
In the last week of May 2007, the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/skoll/, based at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, and the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship at Zhejiang University in China, jointly organised an International Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. The International Forum on Social Entrepreneurship represents a first step in building ongoing links between Asian and western social entrepreneurship. "This Forum provided a venue for leading academics, policy-makers, and social entrepreneurs in China and other Asian countries to report on their work, share knowledge about best practices, and focus a research agenda,". "This Forum provided a venue for leading academics, policymakers, and social entrepreneurs in China and other Asian countries to report on their work, share knowledge about best practices, and focus a research agenda." Dr Alex Nicholls.International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship in India
The conference was organised by UnLtd India in conjunction with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and NMIMS in 2006. The main objective of the conference was to promote and accelerate the development of social entrepreneurship in India. They achieved this by:- Celebrating social entrepreneurship as a tool for social change
- Highlighting the developments in the field of social entrepreneurship in India and globally
- Providing practical skills and knowledge that can be employed in the field
- Creating links between social entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in India and internationally.
Over the course of three days the conference was attended by 85 organisations from India and Europe.
Skoll Scholarships
Each year, the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship awards five full scholarships to individuals working in the field who wish to enter the one-year full-time MBA programme. Each scholarship covers all the fees for the course, as well as providingan allowance for living expenses and travel. Skoll Scholars usually have a strong track record in social entrepreneurship and intend to return to work in this sector after their studies. They take all the social entrepreneurship elements of the MBA, which comprise three eightweek modules and two major social business projects designed to positively impact a specific social problem. This amounts to approximately one-third of the whole MBA course content. To be considered for a Skoll scholarship, candidates need to provide evidence of the personal qualities strongly correlated with social entrepreneurship, such as persistence in pursuit of a
social benefit goal; willingness to face failure and start again; a bias towards action rather than reflection; a tendency to explore the environment for opportunities and resources; a willingness to take personal, and sometimes financial, risks; and a habit
of developing a network and exploiting its members. In addition, candidates need to demonstrate how a business education can contribute to the wider development or the local community or community of interest they work with in the social entrepreneurship movement.
Award winners
Through mid-2009, the Skoll Foundation had named 59 social entrepreneur organizations from around the world as recipients of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. These are:- Afghan Institute of Learning
- AflatounAflatounAflatoun is a non-governmental organization focusing on educating children about their rights and responsibilities and managing financial resources through social and financial education. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Aflatoun currently works in 80 countries who are implementing the...
(formerly Child Savings International)http://www.aflatoun.org/ - Amazon Conservation TeamAmazon Conservation TeamThe Amazon Conservation Team is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with indigenous people of tropical America in conserving the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest as well as the culture and land of its indigenous people....
http://www.amazonteam.org/ - American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE)
- APOPO
- Arzu Inc.
- Barefoot College
- Benetech
- BioRegional Development Group
- Camfed International
- Ceres
- CIDA City Schools
- Citizen Schools
- Ciudad Saludable
- Civic Ventures
- College Summit
- Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI)
- Digital Divide Data
- EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East
- Escuela Nueva Foundation
- Free the Children
- Friends International
- Friends of the Mothers
- Fundacion Gaia Amazonas
- Fundación ParaguayaFundación ParaguayaFundación Paraguaya is a leading edge self-sufficient social enterprise founded in Paraguay in 1985 that seeks to develop innovative solutions to poverty and unemployment, and proactively disseminate them throughout the world....
http://www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py/index.php?c=208&i=2 - Global Footprint Network
- Gram Vikas
- Half the Sky Foundation
- Health Care Without Harm
- INJAZ al-Arab
- IDE-India
- Inst. For Development Studies and Practices (IDSP Pakistan)
- Institute for One World Health
- International Bridges to Justice
- International Center for Transitional Justice
- Kashf Foundation
- KickStart
- Kiva
- Manchester Bidwell Corporation
- Marine Stewardship Council
- Partners in Health
- Peaceworks Foundation
- Population and Community Development Association (PDA)
- Renascer Child Health
- Riders for Health
- Room to Read
- Root Capital (formerly Ecologic)
- Roots of Peace
- Rugmark
- Search for Common Ground
- Sonidos de la Terra
- Teach for All
- TransFair
- Verite
- VillageReachVillageReachVillageReach is a non-profit organization working in the area of medical logistics, specifically the last mile delivery of vaccines to remote rural areas in developing countries. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, in the United States, and its main operations are in Mozambique, Africa...
- VisionSpring
- Visayan Forum Foundation
- WaterPartners International
- Witness
- YouthBuild
In addition, Skoll has made ecosystem grants to The Acumen Fund, Ashoka, The Carter Center, Duke University's Center for the Advanced of Social Entrepreneurship, the Santa Clara College's Global Social Business Incubator, and several other organizations supporting social entrepreneurship.