FYI: Skoll Foundation Latest News: New Investments and a Special Report from Copenhagen

"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." George Washington Carver What is Social Entrepreneurship? Statement of Faith You can find other "Market with Meaning" but you definitely want to see "Profit with Purpose". I personally "Believe in Kingdom Transformation" because I know there is only ONE "Life for Significant". 社會企業家的事業 my facebook  &  my twitter  &  my tumblr --- 2009年12月17日 星期四，Skoll Foundation <info@skollfoundation.org> 寫道﹕ 寄件人: Skoll Foundation <info@skollfoundation.org> 主題: Skoll Foundation Latest News: New Investments and a Special Report from Copenhagen 收件人: incubator.hou@gmail.com 日期: 2009年12月17日,星期四,上午8:45 Highlights: Special Report from Copenhagen Skoll Foundation Announces New Investments Root Capital Expands Impact with New Funding Subscribe to feed Manage subscription Dear Skoll Newsletter Subscriber, We've posted the following stories to the Skoll Foundation Blog over the last two weeks: Special Report on Copenhagen Skoll is represented at the climate talks in Copenhagen this week by Skoll Foundation CEO Sally Osberg, Larry Brilliant, president of the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund, and Ana Zacapa, a program officer at the Foundation.  We have created a special page on Copenhagen with information on Skoll social entrepreneurs and partners at the event, blog posts on our involvement, and news and social media updates.  You can see that here. Skoll Foundation Announces New Investments The Foundation announced this week a series of new grants and investments. These include a new Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship to Scott Gilmore of Peace Dividend Trust, an organization that focuses on "making peace and humanitarian operations more effective, efficient and equitable so that they deliver cheaper, faster, smarter missions - resulting in a stronger peace and a larger peace dividend." We also announced new support for The Elders, a group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela to support peace building, address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. In addition, we're making an investment in the Middle East Venture Capital Fund (alongside the European Investment Bank and Cisco, among others) to help promote entrepreneurs in the IT sector in the Palestinian Territories. Finally, we're renewing our financial commitment to the Skoll Centre at the Saïd Business School at Oxford University. TEDx: Silicon Valley wraps itself in social entrepreneurship for the holidays TEDxSilicon Valley played to a packed house in Palo Alto last week.  This is a local manifestation of TED Talks. It was a chance to see some great local talent bringing innovative solutions to tough challenges – and wrapping them in the banner of social entrepreneurship.  Picture civil rights pioneer Clay Carson in a mashup with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, who couldn't stop talking about cause-based web platforms like Kiva and Donors Choose. Root Capital Expands Impact via New Funding Root Capital, led by 2005 Skoll social entrepreneur Willy Foote, has received $14 million in new funding from the Gates Foundation. Root focuses on organizations too small for traditional commercial loans and too big for microfinance.  Skoll has worked closely with Root for nearly five years.  In addition to providing two rounds of grant funding to build capacity, the Skoll Foundation was one of the anchors in Root Capital's recently launched $63 million 5-year growth capital campaign designed to achieve self-sufficiency in its lending business. The new Gates funding includes both a $4 million grant to help Root in this effort to move to financially self-sufficient lending, plus a $10 million program related investment, the first ever under the Gates Foundation's Agriculture Development initiative, to scale programs in Africa.  VisionSpring Quantifies the Value of Glasses VisionSpring, led by 2009 Skoll social entrepreneur Jordan Kassalow, has a great new video out about the organization's work.  It not only describes the business model, it also has some pretty powerful data on the economic impact of restoring livelihoods to people whose work requires good near-term vision.  It's also a great testament to the strong impact VisionSpring has had in its relatively short life.  You can see it here. Milking the Rhino for Entrepreneurial Ideas to Protect the Environment As part of the Foundation's "celebrate" work around social entrepreneurs, Skoll has funded through the PBS Social Entrepreneurship Fund film work for Frontline World, NOW, and NewsHour. Also funded under this initiative was a documentary, Milking the Rhino, which focused on innovative ways indigenous people in Africa are working to preserve wildlife and the environment.  In a nice entrepreneurial twist, Penn State has launched an annual Milking the Rhino: Innovative Solutions Showcase, challenging students to develop appropriate, innovative and sustainable solutions to empower indigenous communities to leverage wildlife and natural resources for self-determined development in Africa.You can see the submissions from the first showcase here.  This week: The Power of Partnerships This holiday, give knowledge! Is a "social economy" really possible? 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