The Skoll Foundation was created by Jeff Skoll in 1999 to pursue his vision of a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. The mission of the Skoll Foundation is to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve the world’s most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are society’s change agents—creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world for the better. By identifying the people and programs already enacting positive change throughout the world, the Foundation empowers them to extend their reach, deepen their impact, and fundamentally improve society.
The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship:
The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship is the flagship program of the Skoll Foundation. Every year, four to six extraordinary social entrepreneurs are awarded a multi-year grant for their work creating innovative models to spark large-scale change. Their innovation has the potential to reduce economic disparities, increase opportunities for the disadvantaged, promote healthy communities and increase the interpersonal and intercultural understanding that is the foundation for world peace.
The Foundation applies its own resources, skills and assets—augmented by its networks of investors, media and other strategic partners—to accelerate innovations and break down the barriers to social change. Over the past 14 years, the Skoll Awards program has invested in 106 leading organizations around the world.
Position Summary
The Analyst plays a key role in tracking the progress of Skoll Awardees, assessing their impact, and sourcing further opportunities for investment of Foundation resources. The Analyst supports annual reporting of Skoll Awardees and early diligence for new investment proposals. As an essential member of the Program Management team, the Analyst will also provide general project management support to an assigned workstream at the foundation.
Primary Responsibilities
Monitoring Awardee Performance
• Monitor annual progress of select Awardees by synthesizing progress reports and crafting 10-12 page written Profiles on these Awardees.
• Respectfully coordinating inputs from Awardee organizations and communicating the Foundation’s annual analysis and evaluation back to Awardees.
Screening Candidates for the Skoll Awards
· Conduct initial screening and analysis for potential new Skoll Award candidates.
· Assist Principals with research, develop high-quality analyses on candidates and their sectors, and identify and present key questions for future rounds of due diligence.
Conducting investment Analysis
· Collaborate with the Principals to apply the Foundation’s investment philosophy objectively and consistently across all the candidate organizations being considered, while at the same time continually raising the bar in key areas, like assessing impact, year over year.
· Conduct final onsite due diligence. On occasion, there may be opportunities to work with the Principals to meet social entrepreneurs around the world, observe their work in the field, and conduct late-stage evaluation of both new Awardees and Beyond the Awards candidates. Present recommendations to internal stakeholders for final consideration.
Providing Flexible Program Management
- Project plan and manage workflow of assigned Portfolio & Investments team program areas. This includes scheduling, assembling relevant information for reports and meetings, tracking meeting next steps, and generally supporting the work.
- Actively participate in the flexible, lightweight system of Program Management to cross functionally support the Portfolio & Investments Team.
- Maintain appropriate files on Awardees and enter new data on Salesforce as needed.
- Provide basic editing and writing support for Awardee reports and other documents.
- Maintain team norms and processes for using in-house knowledge management tools like Salesforce, Microsoft 360, and Asana.
Ideal Candidate
The Skoll Foundation seeks a team player who gets things done with optimism. The successful candidate must be curious about dynamics of organizational growth, scale and investment and possess the ability to synthesize and communicate findings clearly in written, verbal, and visual formats. Candidates should have a balance of analytical rigor and compassion for the human condition to undertake the Foundation’s mission. Demonstrated experience in the evaluation of business models, financials, and data as well as strong investigative skills and a careful attention to detail are necessary in this role.
High potential candidates will have a pragmatic, flexible work style, with the willingness to jump from research to project management, from supporting a meeting to presenting key findings. The ideal candidate is a nimble generalist with the intellectual capacity and motivation to quickly grasp Skoll’s interconnected focus areas. The Analyst must be resourceful and hands-on, and driven to work in a lean, results-oriented environment with a high level of integrity, humility, and discretion. A collaborative nature, sound judgment, and a good sense of humor are also important characteristics to have.
Minimum Qualifications
Candidates should have a minimum of 4 years of work experience. Experience living and working in the developing world is highly valued. Excellent verbal and written communications skills are imperative. Demonstrated experience researching, collecting, and analyzing information across multiple sectors and industries is a plus. A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience is required. Must be able to quickly learn and consistently utilize software tools like Salesforce, Asana, and MS 360.
Applicants:
The Skoll Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply.
Please send your resume and a cover letter expressing your passion for the mission and your fit for the role to mskarenrea@gmail.com. We will contact qualified applicants. Deadline for submission is August 23rd.
