August 23, 2007

Skoll Foundation Implements Changes To Social Entrepreneurship Awards Program

PALO ALTO, Calif. – August 23, 2007 – The Skoll Foundation announced new guidelines today for its Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship program. Under the new guidelines, applicants may apply year-round for Skoll Awards, which generally amount to $1 million over three years. The Awards program supports social entrepreneurs around the world who pioneer innovative and systemic approaches for meeting the needs of the marginalized, the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised – populations that lack the financial means or political clout to achieve lasting benefit on their own.

“The individuals in whom the Skoll Foundation invests embody the characteristics of innovative and successful social entrepreneurs: inspiration, creativity, courage, and fortitude,” said Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. “We think the changes we’ve made to our Awards program will allow us to sustain a portfolio of social entrepreneurs who are having the greatest impact on issues that are at the heart of the foundation’s mission.” Those issues address six critical challenges: tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity.

The foundation’s grants are later-stage or “mezzanine” funding for social entrepreneurs who have demonstrated through a proven model that their innovation can successfully achieve equilibrium change by fundamentally transforming the lives of populations mired in poverty. The ultimate example of equilibrium change would be to eliminate a problem by solving its root cause or to create global impact by driving universal adoption of a new innovation by those who address the same issue.

In addition to the shift to a year-round application process, the foundation has also added an Eligibility Quiz to its online application process, which is designed to help applicants assess their competitiveness and prepare an application that is likely to be a strong match to the selection criteria. The new Awards guidelines are posted on the foundation’s Web site at http://www.skollfoundation.org/skollawards/index.asp.

To learn more about the Skoll Foundation and the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, visit http://www.skollfoundation.org.

About the Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation advances systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs—individuals dedicated to pioneering new solutions that result in lasting improvements to complex social problems. It invests in social entrepreneurs through the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. It connects them through Social Edge, an online community at www.socialedge.org and via the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University. It celebrates social entrepreneurs through such projects as the PBS Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Fund, which promotes large-scale public awareness of social entrepreneurship. For more information, visit www.skollfoundation.org.