One of the mantras in foundation communications circles these days is that if you want people to know about your work, mission, or your grantees, nothing succeeds better than telling it in story form.
The Skoll Foundation has taken that approach to heart in a series of four downloadable videos (also available on dvd) that tell the stories of four "uncommon heroes," each of whom is attempting to change the world "through innovations that bring hope to people were previously living lives of despair."
"We want people to know what a social entrepreneur is—the kind of individuals our foundation supports," says Terry Nagel, Communications Officer of the Skoll Foundation. "Social entrepreneurs are amazing individuals who use entrepreneurial skills to tackle huge problems in society. But when you use words to describe what that means, people's eyes sometimes glaze over."
So, instead, in each of the seven-minute videos you meet people like Victoria Hale, founder of a nonprofit company that brings medicines to market that traditional pharmaceutical companies choose not to fund, even though these drugs can treat and cure diseases that afflict millions of people around the world.
In the video, Hale, like the other "uncommon heroes" featured in the Skoll series, tells about the work her organization is accomplishing in on-camera interviews as well as in voice-overs showing the people who are benefiting from the life-saving drugs her company is developing, testing and making available.
The other social entrepreneurs featured are:
• Amitabha Sadangi, CEO of International Development Enterprises-India, which makes low-cost irrigation tools that allow subsistence and cash farmers to vastly improve their crop yields and lift themselves out of poverty.
• Ann Cotton, founder of Campaign for Female Education, an organization that helps transform the lives of girls in Africa through education, health and business training programs.
• Martin Burt of Fundacion Paraguaya, who took over a bankrupt agricultural high school in Paraguay and is transforming it into a self-sufficient productive enterprise that helps 120 young people each year learn agricultural skills as well as how to run a self-sustaining business.
In addition to featuring the videos on the foundation's website, where they can be downloaded or viewed online, Skoll makes a dvd containing all four available free of charge to people who request copies. The foundation also supplies dvds to the featured organizations to help them attract additional support for their work.
To learn more, contact Terry Nagel at
tnagel@skollfoundation.org
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