Economia
Skoll foundation offers 1 million dollar for the best social entrepreneurs.
Till 4th November 2008 social entrepreneurs can apply for the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (SASE) provided by the Skoll foundation. It's designed for social entrepreneurs that have proved successful in addressing a broad array of social issues
di Rita Meloni
The Skoll Foundations offers a prize of one million U.S. dollars which it claims it will pay out over three years for social entrepreneurship of 11 organizations working around the world in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, and economic and social equity. These issues are at the heart of the foundation’s vision of empowering people to create a peaceful, prosperous, sustainable world.
Headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley, the Skoll Foundation was created in 1999 by Jeff Skoll, the first employee and first president of eBay.
The Skoll Foundation aims at connecting 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.
In November 2003 the Skoll Foundation has decide to launch the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the prestigious Saïd Business School of the Oxford University. The Centre also funds 5 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.
As Jeff Skoll said “Many of the problems of our modern world, ranging from disease to drugs to crime to terrorism, derive from the inequalities between the rich and the poor . . . be they rich nation versus poor nation or rich community versus poor community. It is in the best interests of the well-off to help empower those who are not as well-off to improve their lives.“
As part ofFoundation’s core activity is its annual Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (SASE), that supports social entrepreneurship around the world by investing in new ideas that could benefit communities.
The Skoll Awards provide a $1 million award paid out over three years, supporting 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,
- peace and security.
The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship application process is highly competitive.In the 2007 award cycle, 350 organizations submitted initial applications, of which approximately 25 were selected for detailed Due Diligence and 10 were ultimately chosen for Awards. Before investing significant time in preparing an application, it’s possible to complete the Eligibility Quiz, which allows the organization to determine if it has the characteristics of a successful applicant.
Applications are accepted and reviewed on a year-round basis, with successful applicants receiving initial funding instalments shortly after decisions are made. The deadline for applying is November 4, 2008 and . Awards will be presented publicly at a ceremony at the Skoll World Forum, which occurs at the end of every March in Oxford, England.
To find out more about the winner of the past edition of the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship click here
