Ed Skloot is a consultant and advisor on social sector leadership and on doing philanthropy with increasingly high impact. He’s been at it for nearly five decades. He wrote the first article ever published in the Harvard Business Review  on the subject of nonprofit organizations (“Should Not-for-Profits Go into Business?” in January, 1983), the first book on social entrepreneurship ( The Nonprofit Entrepreneur, 1988 )  and has contributed to the development of numerous key approaches in the sector, such as scaling up. 

For nine years, starting in 1980, Ed created and ran a consulting firm to boost the results achieved by nonprofits and to help them earn income. In 1989 he became the founding CEO of the Surdna Foundation (assets now $1.3+ billion). Surdna focused on environmental issues, community and economic development, youth organizing, the arts and grubstaking various nonprofit start-ups. After 18 years at Surdna, Skloot retired to set up the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society at Duke University, straddling the public policy and business schools, as a Professor of the Practice of Public Policy. Earlier in his career he served in senior posts in the governments of NYState and NYCity. 

Over many years, Ed has contributed to numerous social sector organization boards and special projects of groups like Independent Sector. He now serves on the boards of Repair the World, a national service organization working in 20 cities, and co-chairs the Advancement Council of Burke Neurological Institute in White Plains, NY. He does  individual and organizational coaching, too.