Social Entrepreneurship Grants

www.agros.org Grant Amount: $100,000 over 20 months to support Agros’ expansion to 50 additional villages through 2006

Founded in 1984, the Agros Foundation helps poor rural families in Central America acquire ownership of agricultural land and attain economic self-sufficiency. Through micro-loans and community development assistance, Agros’ Village Development Model promotes social and economic development among entrepreneurial farmers in rural communities. Agros has helped 22 communities begin to earn title to their land, and it has provided education and economic development assistance to more than 3,000 people in these communities. Five communities have fully paid off loans and now own title to their land. With the Skoll Foundation’s support, Agros plans to assist 50 more villages through mid-2006.

www.baycat.org Grant Amount: $50,000 over one year for consulting

The success of Bill Strickland’s Manchester-Bidwell Corp inspired the creation of the Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology (BAYCAT). The center educates and inspires underserved youth and adults to become productive citizens and improve the quality of life for themselves and their communities though education, arts, culture and enterprise. BAYCAT operates in a section of San Francisco where 60 percent of working-age men are unemployed and the poverty rate is 22 percent, twice the city’s rate. The percentage of students performing at or above proficient levels averages about 10 percent for all grades. Skoll funding will help BAYCAT expand and serve more youths and adults.

www.benetech.org Grant Amount: $200,000 over two years, in support of general operating expenses and development of Benetech's project pipeline.

Benetech uses a high-tech enterprise model to develop processes, tools and technology solutions in the areas of disability, human rights, poverty, education and literacy. Since its founding in 2001, Benetech has launched four projects, including the Martus Project, an open-source technology tool that assists nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide to collect, safeguard and disseminate information on human rights abuses and to securely back up encrypted data on servers. Martus has been deployed by NGOs in more than 10 countries and is expected to break even in 2004.

www.collegesummit.org Grant Amount: $300,000 over two years for developing and systematizing organizational operations to enable scaling.

Founded in 1993, College Summit partners with students, parents, colleges and high schools to promote college enrollment of economically disadvantaged students throughout the United States. Since its inception, College Summit has served nearly 5,000 students in 14 states through its College Summit workshops and Senior Class programs.

www.globalgiving.com Grant Amount: $1,000,000 over two years for general operating support and to expand the organization's capacity to deliver financial resources to social entrepreneurs worldwide.

GlobalGiving is a virtual marketplace for international development that connects donors and social entrepreneurs in an online forum. GlobalGiving enables individuals and corporate donors to identify grassroots social and economic development projects around the world and make donations directly to those organizations through Web-enabled transactions.

www.greengrants.org Grant Amount: $75,000 over one year for operating and capacity-building support

Since 1993, the Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) has helped support grassroots groups working for sustainability and environmental justice around the world. The organization believes that grassroots groups are key to solving intractable problems and halting cycles of poverty, powerlessness and environmental destruction. GGF has made more than 2,000 grants to grassroots groups in 70 countries during the past 10 years, offering donors an efficient mechanism for making international grants and giving organizations in developing countries access to resources that otherwise would be unavailable to them. This grant will support GGF in developing new grant-making models, building the capacity of its advisory boards and enhancing its capacity to track the outcome of its grants. The focus will be on identifying and supporting the social entrepreneurs in its grant portfolio.

www.gfusa.org Grant Amount: $100,000 over 20 months to help launch the Grameen Foundation’s Pakistan Initiative to strengthen Pakistan’s microfinance sector

Since 1997, the Grameen Foundation USA (GF-USA) has been helping to replicate the village-banking model pioneered by Muhammad Yunus nearly 30 years ago in Bangladesh. GF-USA combines the efficacy of microfinance with significant financial resources available in the United States, allowing this successful model to reach millions of poor people around the world. GF-USA also helps its partner institutions use technology efficiently and effectively in order to expand their outreach to the poor. Since 1997, GF-USA has helped raise more than $21 million in new capital for its 56 grassroots microfinance partners worldwide, reaching more than 850,000 families. With its Pakistan Initiative, GF-USA seeks to copy the success it had with its India Initiative, in which GF-USA helped raise more than $1 million dollars for Indian microfinance institutions.

www.manchesterguild.org Grant Amount: $25,000 for consultant assistance with the preliminary phase of replication planning.

Manchester Bidwell Corp is a Pittsburgh-based job training, education and community development corporation that works with welfare mothers, individuals affected by the decline of the steel industry and "at-risk" public school students, positioning them to take advantage of educational and job opportunities in the technology and service industries, by providing after-school programs for youth and vocational training for adults.

www.nesst.org Grant Amount: $125,000 over 20 months for operating and capacity-building support

The Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-Sustainability Team (NESsT) was established in 1997 to help civil society organizations develop alternative financing mechanisms, primarily in emerging democracies in eastern and central Europe and Latin America. NESsT is widely recognized as a leader in the field of nonprofit enterprise and sustainability. The organization has helped 750 social change organizations apply entrepreneurial approaches to create a sustained base of financial support. NESsT has pursued its mission through traditional approaches such as training and peer learning, and innovations such as a nonprofit venture capital fund and its own enterprises. NESsT will use Skoll funds for operating and capacity-building support.

www.roomtoread.org Grant Amount: $200,000 over 20 months to develop infrastructure and capacity for expansion

Founded in 1998, Room to Read educates children in countries that lack resources and infrastructure. Room to Read partners with communities, local governments and NGOs to support community-owned and operated educational infrastructure that is built by the communities themselves. Working in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and India, Room to Read has constructed 70 schools, established 1,000 libraries, donated more than 380,000 new children’s books, established 22 computer and 9 language rooms, and funded more than 500 scholarships for girls. Overall, it has benefited 300,000 children. Room to Read will use Skoll Foundation support to further develop the organization’s infrastructure and its capacity for expansion.

www.seedfoundation.com Grant Amount: $200,000 over 20 months to develop a plan to open a second school in September 2006

In 1998, the Schools for Educational Evolution and Development (SEED) Foundation created the SEED School, the nation’s first urban boarding school, in Washington, D.C. In the 2003-2004 academic year, this school was at full capacity, with 305 students on its own campus. The school’s four-year graduation rate was 97 percent, compared to the District of Columbia’s Public School graduation rate of 63 percent. Every member of SEED’s first graduating class was admitted to college in the fall of 2004. Skoll Foundation funds will support SEED’s replication strategy by identifying a community for a second school.

www.trickleup.org Grant Amount: $150,000 over two years to support expansion in Mali and to improve the organization's dissemination of best practices and newly adopted impact assessment methodologies.

Trickle Up's mission is to help the lowest-income people worldwide take the first step up out of poverty, by providing seed capital and business training essential to the launch of a microenterprise. Trickle Up provides support to eligible individuals in the form of small grants, business training and other support services.

Skoll Social Sector Grants

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Council on Foundations
www.cof.org
$14,670 for 2004 membership

Foundation Center
www.fdncenter.org
$10,000 in multiple grants

The Foundation Incubator
www.foundationincubator.org
$25,000 for merger exploration and development of business model

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
www.geofunders.org
$5,000 for 2004 membership

Groundspring.org
www.groundspring.org
$200,000 for general operating support

Independent Sector
www.independentsector.org
$7,182 for 2003-04 membership

Johns Hopkins University
www.jhu.edu
$400,000 for CiviNet

Management Center
$700 for Conversations in Social Enterprise Series

Philanthropic Research, Inc.
www.guidestar.org
$250,000 for general operating support

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
www.hewlett.org
$90,000 for Blended Value Map

Women & Philanthropy, Inc.
www.womenphil.org
$25,000 for annual meeting and membership

World Affairs Council of Northern California
www.wacsf.org
$75,000 for Global Philanthropy Forum

Skoll Awards for Innovation in Silicon Valley

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American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley
http://www.alfsv.org/
Grant Amount: $150,000 to help ALF strengthen its Fellows program and measure the organization's larger impact on the Silicon Valley community

Businesses United in Investing, Learning and Development
http://www.build.org/
Grant Amount: $125,000 to support the organization's expansion and explore partnerships with Oakland's Aspire Public Schools

Community School of Music and Arts
http://www.arts4all.org/
Grant Amount: $150,000 providing general support to CSMA for launching new programs and initiatives at its new facility, expanding its reach and numbers served, and strengthening opportunities for music and arts experiences throughout the community

Lenders for Community Development
http://www.l4cd.com/
Grant Amount: $170,000 to expand existing programming and to build the organization's capacity

People Acting in Community Together
http://www.pactsj.org
Grant Amount: $134,000 to help build the organization's capacity, as well as further a community-led effort to create more first-class public schools for all local children.

Project Cornerstone (Young Men’s Christian Association Santa Clara Valley)
http://www.projectcornerstone.org
Grant Amount: $98,000 to further integrate the developmental assets approach into policies and operations of partner schools and organizations during 2004

San Jose Conservation Corps
http://www.sjcccharterschool.org
Grant Amount: $150,000 to expand and enhance existing programs, as well as build a new technology-focused program for students