Vancouver Social Enterprise Forum: Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship are worth considering, if only to gage the state of social enterprise around the world.

A bit about the awards:

The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship support social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale influence on critical challenges of our time: environmental sustainability, health, tolerance and human rights, institutional responsibility, economic and social equity, and peace and security. These issues are at the heart of the foundation’s vision of empowering people to create a peaceful, prosperous, sustainable world. Skoll social entrepreneurs are innovators who have tested and proved their approach, are poised to replicate or scale up their work to create equilibrium change and engage others with a message that resonates with individuals whose resources are crucial to advancing these solutions. The Skoll Awards are designed for leaders who contribute value to a peer network committed to continuous learning. By telling their stories, they join in the foundation’s ongoing celebration of the power of social entrepreneurs.

The Skoll Awards provide later-stage, or mezzanine, funding, which is generally structured as a $1 million award paid out over three years, subject to payment limitations described below under Budget Guidance. In most cases, the grant is provided for core support to help organizations expand their programs and capacity to deliver long-term, sustainable equilibrium change. The Skoll Awards are not intended for new or early-stage programs or initiatives. Programs submitted for consideration should have a track record of no less than three years. In addition to core support, the Skoll Foundation supports the participation of Award recipients in the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.

Interested? Here are the eligibility criteria:

Be led by a social entrepreneur.

Have implemented innovative programs that demonstrate effective approaches to critical social and environmental challenges with global implications.
Organizations developing local or regional models for replication on a national or international scale should show that the location where the model is being tested is central to the issue in question. Examples are peace and security initiatives in conflict regions, biodiversity solutions in species-rich “hot spots,” educational opportunities in inner cities and disease treatments at the source of potential epidemics.

Be able to describe a clear, long-term path to creating an equilibrium change.

Demonstrate proof of concept with measurable outcomes.

Have a clear, compelling plan for reaching scale.

Demonstrate a track record of at least three years.

Have a clear plan for long-term financial and operational sustainability.

Commit to working with peers and the Skoll Foundation to share learning and communicate success strategies.

A list of exclusions can be found here.

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Interested in learning more about social enterprise? Take a browse through the Vancouver Social Enterprise Book Store (Vancouver | United Kingdom | United States) and see what other social entrepreneurs recommend reading.