Skoll Foundation

Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship
Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I apply for a Skoll Award?
2. What does Skoll look for in a grantee?
3. What if I have previously applied for a Skoll Award?
4. When will the winners of the 2013 Skoll Awards be announced?
5. How does the Skoll Foundation define a social entrepreneur?
6. The guidelines state the Skoll Foundation will not support new or early-stage business plans or ideas. Can you provide clarity about that requirement?
7. Does the Skoll Foundation only fund nonprofit organizations, or do they also fund for-profit social enterprises?
8. What is the typical budget size of Skoll awardees?

1. How do I apply for a Skoll Award?

The Skoll Foundation is currently in the process of streamlining our sourcing process for the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. Our goal is to save organizations’ valuable time, while continuing to identify the most highly aligned social entrepreneurs.

Going forward:

• 2014 Skoll Awardees will be selected from an existing pool of candidates that are currently under review. Therefore, no additional applications for the 2014 Awards will be accepted.
• For the 2015 Skoll Awards and beyond, the process will be nomination-based; details about that process will be announced in June 2013.
  

2. What does Skoll look for in a grantee?

• Impact potential: Organization’s innovation is positioned to directly affect policy, behavior and/or infrastructure/system(s) on a large scale and can show evidence of significant impact already achieved.
• Inflection: Organization has a proven approach that has already been implemented with success and is now ready to apply the approach on a much larger scale.
• Innovation: Organization has an approach that fundamentally disrupts the status quo to solve social and/or environmental problems.
• Focus Area: Organization works on a focus area that is identified by the Skoll Foundation as one of world’s most pressing problems.
• Skoll leverage: Organization will benefit from engaging with Skoll Foundation beyond a purely funding relationship, such as collaboration with our network of entrepreneurs or access to media opportunities.
• Social entrepreneur: Organization is led by a visionary social entrepreneur.
• Sustainability: Organization has a clear, compelling plan for expanding impact and achieving long-term financial and operational sustainability.

Skoll Award recipients typically exhibit many of the following characteristics:

• Led by a visionary, effective social entrepreneur serving as a spokesperson for their issue
• Strong leadership team and board
• Clear mission and implementation model
• Unwavering focus on mission
• Well-established, strong partnerships
• Commitment to systems, including those for measurement and learning
• Diversified and mission-aligned funding sources

3. What if I have previously applied for a Skoll Award?

You are eligible once every application cycle, even if you have previously applied and not received the Award.

4. When will the winners of the 2013 Skoll Awards be announced?

The 2013 Skoll Award winners were announced in December 2012, and will be formally recognized at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in April 2013. The Skoll Foundation expects to announce the 2014 Skoll Award winners late in 2013

5. How does the Skoll Foundation define a social entrepreneur?

Society’s change agents; creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and change our world for the better.

6. The guidelines state the Skoll Foundation will not support new or early-stage business plans or ideas. Can you provide clarity about that requirement?

Skoll funds only organizations that have already demonstrated impact, with proven innovations that can be scaled to catalyze large-scale change.

7. Does the Skoll Foundation only fund nonprofit organizations, or do they also fund for-profit social enterprises?

Skoll funds only nonprofit organizations.

8. What is the typical budget size of Skoll awardees?

While the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship do not have an absolute budget threshold for eligibility, we have found that organizations with annual revenues below US$2.5 million that have activities primarily in developed countries and below US$1 million that have activities primarily in developing countries tend to be at a disadvantage in the selection process. The selection process prioritizes organizations based on readiness to expand impact significantly and/or scale up solutions and favors organizations within these budget thresholds.