Toasts of the Town, Saviors of Society

Social entrepreneurs are everybody's favorite people these days. PBS refers to these innovative society-changers as "the new heroes," describing the way they "act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss in order to improve systems, invent and disseminate new approaches and advance sustainable solutions that create social value."

The Skoll Foundation, founded by eBay's first president, Jeff Skoll, makes it its business to support social entrepreneurs who are trying to solve the world’s most intractable problems. The foundation has just announced the first winner of its 2010 Award for Social Entrepreneurship, according to a foundation press release. The award carries a $765,000 grant, which goes this year to Civic Ventures, an organization that aims to change society by engaging older people to tutor and mentor youth living in poverty. Founder Marc Freedman is now encouraging this older set to take on what he calls "encore careers" to become "a new and growing workforce for social change."

Skoll also announced special investments in Ashoka and ShoreCap II, two other organizations that "promote social entrepreneurship and social innovation." Ashoka will receive a grant of $350,000 to develop better knowledge-sharing abilities and standardized mechanisms to measure the impact of social projects. To support ShoreCap II, a $100-million fund that invests in small banks and microfinance institutions, Skoll will buy up to $2 million of its shares.

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