PALO ALTO, California — On March 5, 2014, the Skoll Foundation announced the seven recipients of this year’s Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
The awards honor social entrepreneurs who are working to bring about social change on a global level by challenging the status quo.
Each of the recipients receives $1.25 million as a three-year investment to be used in their organizations and will also have the privilege of being included in the group of Skoll social entrepreneurs. All of the award recipients will also be guests of honor at the 11th Annual Skoll World Forum in April of 2014. The forum hosts over 1,000 delegates from around the globe.
Jeff Skoll created the Skoll Foundation in 1999 in order to precipitate change on a large scale by bringing together, honoring and being a source of investment for social entrepreneurs. The foundation believes that by recognizing social entrepreneurs, they will be able to help these individuals grow their organization.
Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, said in regard to the awards that “[these]are not lifetime achievement awards. These are bets on the people who will create better futures for millions.”
The 2014 awardees are B Lab, Fundación Capital, Girls Not Brides, Global Witness, Medic Mobile, Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP).
Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan and Andrew Kassoy, a group of friends and colleagues, founded B Lab with the mission to redefine “success” in the business world. The organization hopes to change this definition so that “all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.” By creating a community of over 1,000 certified B Corporations and finding success in passing Benefit Corporation legislation in 20 states, B Lab hopes to have a global reach.
Fundación Capital was founded by Yves Moury to bring financial services to the poor. By providing these services, the poor will be able to save money, increase and grow their assets and work toward a long-term goal of getting out of poverty. The organization has already reached three million people, but hopes to help eleven million more in the next few years. Their ultimate goal is to reach 100 million families over three continents by 2030 and give them the means to make financial decisions and find success.
Mabel van Oranje founded Girls Not Brides with the goal to end child marriage. The organization is a partnership of over 300 civil society organizations that work across 50 countries. Girls Not Brides hopes to create a world without child marriage, which leads to millions of girls being denied rights to health, opportunity and education.
Patrick Alley, Charmian Gooch and Simon Taylor founded Global Witness to end the “resource curse” that comes about when some of the world’s poorest individuals live in the most resource-rich areas. Global Witness is working to uncover the corruption and environmental damage that takes place because of natural resources. By collecting evidence and promoting investigative campaigns, the organization is hoping to find solutions to this problem.
Medic Mobile was created by Josh Nesbit to improve health by using mobile applications to help under-served communities. Community health workers, caregivers and patients use the organization’s applications as a way to help provide health services to everyone. Medic Mobile is present in 20 countries and its services currently help six million people.
Slum Dwellers International organizes individuals currently living in slums to help them make plans for the future, improve living conditions and be recognized by the government. Leader Jockin Arputham’s work has led to the reaction of programs in almost 500 cities, agreements with national governments, and has helped 130,000 families gain land rights.
Finally, WSUP aims to bring water and sanitation services to people living in urban slums. Led by former business manager Sam Parker, WSUP “has turned the traditional charity model on its head by developing commercially-viable models to bring water and sanitation to nearly two million people in urban slums in six countries.”
With support from the Skoll Foundation, one can only anticipate the great work these social entrepreneurship-based organizations will do in the next few years.
Sources: Skoll Foundation, Philanthropy News Digest, Oxford HR
Photo: PSI Impact