Skoll Foundation

CEO Sally Osberg just posted the opening video that played at the Skoll World Forum on her Huffington Post blog, where it’s featured on the front page of the Huffington Post.

She just added her own introduction to the video, saying:

“Anniversaries are always a time to reflect. But for the 10^th anniversary of the Skoll World Forum, we thought that the opportunity was really to look forward. So we asked friends, folks who’d been part of the Forum community for many years, to join us in imagining what the future might be.”

In the video, you’ll  hear the insights of Arianna Huffington, Skoll Awardee Premal Shah, new energy entrepreneur Elon Musk, Creative Commons chief executive Joi Ito, Skoll Awardee Afghan Institute of Learning Founder Sakena Yacoobi, collective intelligence strategist Shaifali Puri, neuroscientist Sarah Caddick, theoretical physicist Geoffrey West, and science prodigy Tanishq Abraham.

Watch: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sally-osberg/dare-to-imagine_b_3178886.html

We’re thrilled to be in Oxford at the tenth Skoll World Forum. In just three hours (at 5 p.m. BST), you can watch our opening plenary livestreaming here: http://skollworldforum.org/forum-2013/live/

If you’re in the area and want to attend one of our plenaries or awards ceremony, tickets are here ($45 each): http://forumplenaries.ticketleap.com

A Flikr stream of photos from the Forum are here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44608864@N08/

To learn more about this year’s Forum: http://skollworldforum.org/forum-2013/2013-programme/

Our staff is gearing up for the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England next week — some of us are already in Oxford, others are leaving very soon.

Each year, nearly 1,000 of the world’s most influential social entrepreneurs, key thought leaders and strategic partners gather at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford to exchange ideas, solutions and information. What’s in store this year? Kofi Annan will speak at the closing plenary on Friday, Annie Lennox and Muhammad Yunus will receive special awards, we’re launching a book in partnership with HarperOne, we’re giving the Skoll Award to six new awardees, and much more.

If you’re not attending the entire Forum, you can purchase tickets for $45 each to the plenaries and awards ceremony here: http://forumplenaries.ticketleap.com

Or watch our live stream from your computer starting April 10: http://skollworldforum.org/forum-2013/live/

To learn more about this year’s Forum: http://skollworldforum.org/forum-2013/2013-programme/

The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is the premier international platform for advancing entrepreneurial approaches and solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Our mission is to accelerate the impact of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs by uniting them with essential partners in a collaborative pursuit of learning, leverage and large-scale social change.

Co-produced by the Skoll Foundation and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, the Forum shines a spotlight on best practices, new innovations and connecting leaders to one another to further global social progress. Forum delegates represent nearly 65 countries and participate in a range of interactive events in inspiring Oxford locations. We provide a unique platform for delegates to openly share, collaborate, innovate and ultimately, advance social entrepreneurship.

May 15, 2012 – Palo Alto – The Skoll Foundation today announced the merging of Social Edge and Skoll World Forum into a new year-round platform, Skoll World Forum Online:

In the last decade the Social Edge Community and its social entrepreneurs have together built a rich and trusted online community dedicated to changing business as usual. Their discussions around promising solutions, barriers to change, scale, metrics, and more, have contributed indelible value to the evolving social sector.

The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, a program of the Skoll Foundation, has evolved too. It is now the premiere international platform for social entrepreneurship; we just convened our 9th annual event. And we couldn’t be prouder that both Social Edge and the Forum continue to attract the best and the brightest thinkers and doers committed to global social change.
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Lots happening in the world of Brazil and deforestation news:

1) Deforestation Film highlighted in local Para news
Para state news in Brazil highlighted the deforestation film shown at the Skoll World Forum (you can watch it below!), and the participation of the Governor of Para and Mayor of Paragominas.

2)  Brazil can eliminate deforestation by 2020, says governor of giant Amazon state

The governor of Para says Brazil can eliminate deforestation by 2020. He shares his vision of Para eliminating deforestation through its green municipalities program. He notes, “There is widespread support in Pará for curbing deforestation. The zero net deforestation goal for 2020 is not an idea from outside; it’s a demand from society. Most are in favor of reducing deforestation. Some groups want to continue deforesting, but they are the minority.”

The article mentioned the Skoll World Forum, too: “The Green Municipalities Program and the Government of Pará were represented to the international community by Governor Simao Jatene and cited as an example of sustainable development to be replicated around the world during the the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England.” Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0405-swf_jatene_interview.html

3) Uncontacted Tribe Found

Aerial surveys of a remote area of rainforest along the Colombia-Brazil border have produced the first photographic evidence of an uncontacted tribe, according to Amazon Conservation Team.

Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0419-uncontacted_tribes_colombia_photos.html

Social entrepreneurship is more market-driven, measurement-oriented, and corporate-friendly than ever before, writes Jason Saul, a consultant who attended the Skoll World Forum. In his latest, thoughtful piece in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Saul gives examples of social entrepreneurs such as Skoll Awardees Kiva, Riders for Health, Roots of Peace, Peace Dividend Trust (now “Building Markets”) and Water for People. An excerpt:

“Measurement is no longer optional. Measurement had its big coming out party at Skoll this year as the foundation announced its first attempt at portfolio-level measurement. The language and references this year were different too. In past years, there was always talk of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘accountability,’ but this year, I heard more about ‘returns,’ ‘moving the needle,’ and measuring ‘value.’ …I had a fascinating conversation with Andrea Coleman of Riders for Health who found the Skoll Foundation’s focus on outcomes liberating from the regime of randomized control trials imposed by other funders.”

Read the rest: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/flux_to_flex_takeaways_from_the_2012_skoll_world_forum

(Above, a group of social entrepreneurs gather at the “connect and collaborate” sessions on the last day of the Forum).

With the Skoll World Forum (SWF) coming up next week, it’s always nice to read about how the 900-person conference has impacted people’s lives. The newest edition of Stanford Social Innovation Review talks about the growth social enterprises in China. A turning point was when, in 2006, a group from China went to SWF for the first time:

“In March 2006, Lv Zhao and his colleagues went to the Skoll World Forum at Oxford University, marking the first time a group from the nonprofit community in mainland China attended the conference. Lv was then deputy director of the China NPO Network, one of the first professional training providers for Chinese nonprofit organizations, and founder of the Non-Profit Incubator, the first venture philanthropy investor in China. read more

A panel of three microfinance experts discussed Large Scale Change in Action: Microfinance in the Balance at the 2011 Skoll World Forum opening plenary.

We are living in a “backlash of over-promise,” said Alvaro Rodriguez (Compartamos Banco). Moderator, Jonathan Lewis (Microcredit Enterprises) pointed out the elephant in the room: do you have to trade off profit for social impact? The answer from Roshaneh Zafar (Kashf Foundation) was “it’s not about numbers but about lives.”

Watch live coverage from day two of the 2011 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.

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Forum 2011 – LIVE VIDEO

The theme for the 2011 Forum is “Large Scale Change – ecosystems, networks and collaborative action.” Social issues have become more global, complex and interrelated than ever before, requiring knowledge, networks and solutions to address. While social innovators continue to drive progress, change at scale requires a shift from disparate players and solutions to an ecosystem approach that removes barriers and engages the full spectrum of actors required for sustainable change.

The Skoll World Forum 2011 featured rich multimedia coverage. Simulcasts of speakers and complete sessions.

All videos are available in the archive.

The theme this year is “Large Scale Change – ecosystems, networks and collaborative action.”

Fortune Magazine’s latest issue includes a feature on Jeff asking, “How did this unassuming Canadian billionaire become a philanthropic superhero?” The article describes Jeff’s background and goes into depth on his work at Participant Media; how he “backs heady causes and finances serious films” and how his entry and success in Hollywood has taken Hollywood heavyweights, including Robert Redford, by surprise.

“Skoll’s films aren’t typical Hollywood fare: They tackle weighty subjects such as eco-Armageddon, petro-terrorism, education reform, and women’s rights. In short they tend to reflect Skoll’s progressive, and ultimately optimistic, worldview that shining a light on the world’s problems will inspire people to band together to bring about change on a large scale.” read more