About the Skoll Foundation

The Skoll Foundation was created by Jeff Skoll in 1999 to pursue his vision of a world where all people, regardless of geography, background or economic status, enjoy and employ the full range of their talents and abilities. Skoll, who was the first employee and first President of eBay, believes that strategic investments in the right people can lead to lasting social change.

The Skoll Foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are proven leaders whose approaches and solutions to social problems are helping to better the lives and circumstances of countless underserved or disadvantaged individuals. By identifying the people and programs already bringing positive changes to communities throughout the world, the Skoll Foundation empowers them to extend their reach, deepen their impact and fundamentally improve society.

Invest

The Skoll Foundation invests in social entrepreneurs through its flagship award program, the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship . These three-year awards support the continuation, replication or extension of programs that have proved successful in addressing a broad array of critical social issues: tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, economic and social equity, institutional responsibility, and peace and security.

Connect

The Skoll Foundation connects social entrepreneurs with key people and resources through a number of academic, business and community channels which serve to advance the work of individual entrepreneurs, as well as the field of social entrepreneurship as a whole. To further academic study and build knowledge of social entrepreneurship, the foundation launched the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in November 2003 at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

As part of its aim to advance the field of social entrepreneurship, the Centre funds five Skoll Scholars who participate in the full Saïd MBA program and supports Skoll Fellows who do research in and teach social entrepreneurship. The Centre also convenes the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual conference that brings together the world’s foremost practitioners and thought leaders in the emerging field of social entrepreneurship.

To foster connections online, the Skoll Foundation launched and built Social Edge, an online community at www.socialedge.org where social entrepreneurs, nonprofit professionals, philanthropists and others in the social sector connect to network, learn, inspire one another and share resources. The site strikes a balance between the visionary and the practical, with spirited discussions, online workshops and access to resources and experts.

Celebrate

The Skoll Foundation celebrates social entrepreneurs through projects such as the PBS Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Fund, which enables filmmakers, documentarians and other journalists to produce works that tell the stories of individual social entrepreneurs and promote large-scale public awareness of social entrepreneurship.

Through such initiatives, the Skoll Foundation is not only tapping the expertise of entrepreneurial men and women to transform social systems but also is celebrating how each of us has the ability to take action and make a difference.

As the foundation’s reach and impact have grown, its structure has evolved to meet the growing needs of those it serves. Today the Skoll Foundation encompasses two separate corporations: a private foundation, The Skoll Foundation, and a public charity whose legal name is The Skoll Fund. The Skoll Fund, created in 1999, is a supporting organization associated with Silicon Valley Community Foundation of San Jose, California. The private foundation was launched in 2002. Each entity is governed by its own board of directors. The two entities share grantmaking, program and administrative resources. Both organizations were founded to support social entrepreneurship, and together they are known as the Skoll Foundation.

For more information, visit the Skoll Foundation's Web site at www.skollfoundation.org.

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