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Skoll Foundation: what it is and what it signals

Three different things travel under the Skoll name, and they are not equivalent. The Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship is a large unrestricted award with no open application. Skoll grants are ordinary funding decisions. Attending the Skoll World Forum as a registered delegate is neither. Read the claim before you read the name.

Type: Awards and prizes
Run by: Skoll Foundation
Since: 1999
Headquarters: United States
Official site: https://skoll.org/
Public list: https://skoll.org/community/

What the Skoll Foundation label is

The Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship is the strongest of the three. Skoll makes "4-6 unrestricted grants each year to a select group of social entrepreneurs that demonstrate transformational impact", and each awardee organization receives $2 million in unrestricted funding. Awardees must be legally incorporated, may be nonprofit, for-profit or hybrid, and must work above the community level with an established impact record; individuals, concept-stage ideas and single-municipality work are ineligible.

Skoll grants are separate. The foundation also funds organizations on a rolling basis to advance its strategic priorities, and states that it does not give grants to individuals. A grant records that a funder chose to fund a project or an organization for a period, on its own strategy; it is a funding relationship, not an award.

Skoll World Forum delegates are a third and much larger population. The Forum is Skoll's annual convening in Oxford; delegates register ahead of each edition, and the foundation publishes the delegate list openly so attendees can preview who else is coming. A delegate has taken up a place at a convening, which is a far weaker signal than an award.

Who runs it and since when

"In 1999, Jeff Skoll created the Foundation to build a sustainable world of peace and prosperity for all." It describes its work as catalyzing "transformational social change by investing in, connecting, and championing social entrepreneurs and other social innovators", and its offices are in Washington, DC.

The foundation reports that, as of 31 December 2024, it "has invested more than $1.3 billion worldwide, including Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship and the Skoll Global Threats Fund". The Forum has run since 2004, is held in Oxford in the United Kingdom, and offers free virtual participation alongside the in-person cohort.

How an organization gets it

For the Award there is no open application. Skoll runs "a multi-year sourcing process" and identifies candidates "through direct engagement, referrals, and nominations from our network of partners", assessing leadership, financial health, an established record of impact and whether the issue is at an inflection point. Being unable to apply is itself informative: an awardee was sought out, which is why the label carries weight and why absence from it means little.

Grants follow the foundation's strategic priorities on a rolling basis rather than through a public competition. Forum attendance works differently again: the foundation curates invitations for in-person delegates, delegates register, and the list is published. One name therefore covers a sought-out award, a funder relationship and a conference registration.

What it signals, and what it does not

An award selects an organization at a point in time, on the selectors' criteria. A Skoll Award tells you a well-resourced funder ran a multi-year search, judged the organization's leadership, finances and record, and committed unrestricted money. That is strong evidence about the year it was given. It is not an audit, not renewed, and silent on current finances or delivery; an award from a decade ago describes the organization that existed then.

A grant signals that a funder chose to fund something, which may have been a single project and may have ended. A delegate listing signals attendance at a convening, reached by being invited and registering; it is not a selection on performance. The three sit in a clear order of strength: Awardee, then grantee, then delegate.

How to verify a claim

Skoll publishes one community directory carrying all of these populations, filterable by type: awardee organizations, awardee recipients, grantees, partners, Forum speakers and Forum attendees, with a year filter alongside. Records show a person's name, title and organization. Find the organization, then read the type and the year, because the type is the whole of the claim.

Delegate lists are published per edition, so a delegate claim is checked against the list for that year rather than against the award pages. If a claim says "Skoll" with no qualifier and the record is an attendee entry, describe it as Forum attendance. If nothing appears, ask which programme and year, and whether the relationship was with a predecessor organization or a fiscal host; absent that, hold the claim as unverified.

Size and geography

Skoll Foundation publishes a total of supported 122 social entrepreneurs and 100 organizations on five continents through the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Source.

Our copy of the public list holds 464 organizations across 43 countries, pulled 2026-07-08.

United States 44
India 14
Afghanistan 10
Bangladesh 7
Brazil 7
Indonesia 5
United Kingdom 5
China 4
Pakistan 4
Colombia 3
Israel 3
South Africa 3

Skoll World Forum delegates: 220 organizations across 25 countries, pulled 2026-09-10.

Often held together

Organizations carrying Skoll Foundation in our data most often also hold:

Ashoka Fellows (41 organizations)
Schwab Foundation (15 organizations)
Miller Center (10 organizations)
Ashden Awards (2 organizations)
AIM2Flourish (1 organizations)

In the Tokens for Good directory

None of the organizations researched so far carries this label. Submit one, or contribute research with spare Claude capacity.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Skoll World Forum delegate a Skoll Awardee?

No. A delegate has taken up a place at the Forum in Oxford. An awardee went through a multi-year sourcing process and received unrestricted funding. The directory distinguishes attendees from awardees.

Can an organization apply for the Skoll Award?

No. There is no open application. Skoll identifies candidates through direct engagement, referrals and nominations from its partner network.

What does a Skoll Awardee receive?

$2 million in unrestricted funding. Skoll makes 4-6 such awards a year.

How current is an award claim?

It describes the year it was given. There is no renewal, so check the year in the community directory and assess present finances and delivery separately.

Is a Skoll grantee the same as an awardee?

No. Grants are made on a rolling basis to advance the foundation's strategic priorities. A grant records a funding decision, not selection for the Award.

Sources

Skoll Foundation, home page checked 2026-09-17
Skoll Foundation, About checked 2026-09-17
Skoll Foundation, Skoll Awards checked 2026-09-17
Skoll Foundation, Community directory checked 2026-09-17
Skoll Foundation, Skoll World Forum checked 2026-09-17
Skoll Foundation, 2026 Forum delegate list checked 2026-09-17
Skoll Foundation, Contact checked 2026-09-17

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