Today, thanks, in part, to an organization called Civic Ventures (a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose) many people of traditional retirement age are asking themselves what is next for them. If you broaden the traditional view of “superhero” to include work related to helping people, maybe it’s not such a bad goal! As reported in an earlier post, research from Civic Ventures shows that as many as 9 million people ages 44 to 70 are already in encore careers that combine personal meaning, continued income and social impact. Thatâ€s up from an estimated 8.4 million in 2008. Another 31 million people, ages 44 to 70, are interested in finding encore careers. Together, those currently in encore careers and those interested in encore careers represent 40 percent – or two in five – of all Americans ages 44 to 70.

Earlier this month, I was honored to attend Civic Ventures’ conference: Encore 2011: Shaping the Future of the Encore Movement. We discussed what might be next for people thinking of encore careers and how to help advance a movement where encore careerists would find opportunities in a variety of fields and industries.

Ruth Wooden board chair of Civic Ventures and former president of Public Agenda, where she is now a senior adviser, shared thoughts about the encore movement. These are some of her comments:

The encore movement is way more than an encore career.  Itâ€s a state of mind that says “I am not finished yet.  Iâ€ll live every last minute with joy, hope and a deep spiritual connection to the world.”

The encore movement is people who believe passionately that we can do way better by our country, our communities and our neighbors.

The encore movement is a time in our lives when we can live with less fear of failure and more freedom to serve–with no expectation of any return of any kind.

The encore movement is designed to overcome common enemies–age discrimination, inertia, perpetual childish leisure, and outdated notions of what we can and cannot do.

The encore movement is about new role models and we each get to be one of the first.  Iâ€ve heard the saying “If you are not a beautiful example, then you are likely to be an ugly warning.”

The encore movement is giving me social permission to live older better and Iâ€ll be giving social permission to others to do the same.

The encore movement is about fixing things in our society that are broken.  That makes us just a little bit crazy enough to try something new and different–something small at first but staying everlasting at it.

The encore movement is not about what I should do, but what I feel called to do.

The encore movement is about one cutting edge corporation leading the way, giving corporate permission to others to get on board — or risk losing good younger employees to companies that do offer encore programs to all their employees.

The encore movement is about making commitments, taking action and coming back next year to report on progress.

The encore movement is about transforming employer attitudes, including nonprofit and public sector organizations so they will have to compete in the future to get the best encore talent.

The encore movement is about entrepreneurial investors, backing a big idea for scaling up new transition pathways for boomers — on line and one-to-one.

Do these remarks resonate with you? You donâ€t need to be in the “second half of life” to be thinking about how to create an environment where experienced workers would be able to assume and expect their skills and experiences would be valued in a wide array of work places. Might you be a member of the “Encore Movement?” Are you wondering what is next for you, your friends — or maybe for your parents? Have you thought about how you may want to get involved with work combining, “purpose, passion and a paycheck?” Stay tuned for more information and advice about how to make those goals come true!

photo from frogDNA

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I don’t usually post press releases on this blog, but I thought this information was good enough to share!  I am on my way to San Francisco to attend and report on Civic Ventures’ Purpose Prize awards and conference, so stay tuned for additional information and advice regarding having an encore career, “combining purpose, passion and a paycheck.” (Follow along on Twitter via the hashtag #Encore2011.)

If you’re interested in some help learning how to make a career change — of any type (at any age) — contact me!

SAN FRANCISCO – New research from Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose, shows that as many as 9 million people ages 44 to 70 are already in encore careers that combine personal meaning, continued income and social impact. Thatâ€s up from an estimated 8.4 million in 2008.

Another 31 million people, ages 44 to 70, are interested in finding encore careers. Together, those currently in encore careers and those interested in encore careers represent 40 percent – or two in five – of all Americans ages 44 to 70.

“The survey provides new evidence that what many people want from work changes after midlife,” said Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Civic Ventures and author of The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife. “In the new, encore stage of life between midlife and true old age, many want work that has deeper personal meaning and that connects them to something larger than themselves.”

The new study, Encore Career Choices: Purpose, Passion and a Paycheck in a Tough Economy, was funded by MetLife Foundation and conducted by Penn Schoen Berland.

Survey results do show tempered expectations in light of the current economy – as well as a kind of resilience and an unwillingness to give up on efforts to create a better world for future generations.

A few key statistics:

• Competing visions. Nearly two in three people (64 percent) see the next stage of life as a time to keep working, with nearly equal numbers saying itâ€s a time to use their skills and experiences to help others in paid or volunteer positions (31 percent) versus a time to simply cover expenses and maintain health insurance (33 percent).

• Tough time for a change. Half of Americans between the ages of 44 and 70 (51 percent) say they are very concerned that the state of the economy makes this a difficult time to make a change to an encore career. Still, one in four (27 percent) of those interested in encore careers say they are very likely to make the switch in the next five years.

• Longer working lives. The online portion of the research suggests the impact of encore careers on longer working lives could be dramatic. Those currently in encore careers expect to work to 69.1 years on average and those interested in encore careers expect to work nearly as long, to 68.6 – for both groups, 3 ½ years longer than they thought three years ago.

• Concern about future generations. Contrary to stereotypes about boomers, concern about future generations is high. Nearly three in four respondents (73 percent) expect that children in the U.S. will grow up to be worse off than people are now. Nearly as many (70 percent) say it is very important to them personally to leave the world a better place.

• Intensity of interest. One in four of all respondents (25 percent) rate their interest in encore careers at eight or higher on a 10-point scale in 2011, down from one in three (34 percent) in the 2008 Encore Career Survey, also released by MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures. Yet a majority of those who remain very interested (62 percent) state that their interest has grown in the past three years.

• A choice for all income groups. There is little difference in economic circumstances between those who are interested in encore careers and those who are not. Both groups have median incomes of $45,000 to $59,999 per year. About half of both groups report household assets of less than $150,000, and roughly one-third in both groups say their assets do not exceed $50,000.

• Hours in encores. Those in encore careers now perform an estimated 16.7 billion hours of labor each year in education, health care, government and nonprofit organizations.

“We are beginning to see the years beyond midlife – the encore stage of life – as a time for new, purposeful work that would improve the quality of life for people of all ages and in communities across the country,” said Dennis White, President and CEO of MetLife Foundation.

“The tens of millions who are interested in encore careers want some level of financial security and the opportunity to work for the greater good,” said Freedman. “As a society, we need to do more to help them achieve both goals. When we do, we will tap into a huge new source of talent to help solve our greatest social problems.”

Last week, Intel announced it would do its part to help thousands of its retirees prepare for encore careers. The company said it will offer all U.S. employees who are eligible to retire the chance to apply for Encore Fellowships – paid, part-time, yearlong assignments working at local nonprofits. (For more information, go to www.encore.org/fellowships.)

For the full Encore Careers Choices research report, go to www.encore.org/research.

How the research was conducted

The research for this report consists of a nationally representative telephone survey of 930 Americans ages 44 to 70 and a follow-up online survey of 1,408 Americans ages 44 to 70 in or expressing interest in encore careers.

Encore Career Choices: Purpose, Passion and a Paycheck in a Tough Economy is the second in a series of three Civic Ventures reports funded by MetLife Foundation and based on research conducted by Penn Schoen Berland from June to October 2011.

The first report, Encore Entrepreneurs: Creating Jobs, Meeting Needs, based on an online survey of 400 potential entrepreneurs ages 44 to 70, was released on November 8, 2011. The third report, which will focus on transitions to encore careers, will be published in 2012.

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For suggestions about how Baby Boomers can change careers, follow this link!

photo borrowed from http://www.encore.org/

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Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide  social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn more about this winner below!

Edward Mazria (pictured), 70, Architecture 2030, Santa Fe, NM

An award-winning architect in Santa Fe, Mazria had a 40-year record of innovation and advocacy in sustainable building. But even he was surprised when in 2002 his analysis of U.S. government data revealed that the building sector consumes approximately half of all energy production and causes about half of all greenhouse gas emissions each year. In 2003, Mazria founded Architecture 2030 to change those practices. The group issued the 2030 Challenge – a set of benchmarks for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment (buildings, homes and other man-made structures) to “carbon neutral” by 2030. The American Institute of Architects, U.S. Conference of Mayors, U.S. Green Building Council and National Governors Association immediately adopted the challenge. Legislation followed. Mazria will soon release the 2030 Palette, a global set of comprehensive guiding principles, which will be translated into multiple languages for application internationally.

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide  social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn about this winner below!

Wanjiru Kamau (pictured), 69, African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation, Washington, D.C.

When Kamau, a former Penn State University administrator and adjunct professor, met survivors from the Rwandan genocide, she saw that some were illiterate and bewildered by modern city life. Seeing them took her back to her own childhood in rural Kenya, growing up without running water or electricity, and carrying loads on her back that left her permanently scarred. An expert in mental health and intercultural communication, she had the credentials to help. So in 2000 she decided to quit her job, withdraw $10,000 from her retirement account and move to Washington, D.C., home to many African immigrants, to start the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation. The organization has since provided services – including mentoring, tutoring, assistance with human trafficking and domestic violence cases, and mental health care – to more than 6,000 immigrants from 45 countries.

Read about prize winner Nancy Sanford Hughs

Read about prize winner Randal Charlton

Read about prize winner Jenny Bowen

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn about this winner below!

Nancy Sanford Hughes (pictured), 68, StoveTeam International, Eugene, OR

Hughes, a stay-at-home mom, was at a loss after her husband’s death in 2001. Yearning for adventure and purpose, she volunteered to cook for a medical mission in Guatemala. As she worked, thousands of people came for treatment – as many as 80 percent of them injured by open fires in unventilated homes. Entire families suffered chronic coughs, respiratory infections and horrific burns. According to the World Health Organization, smoke exposure from traditional cookstoves and open fires causes more than 2 million premature deaths annually – twice as many as malaria. Hughes was intent on finding a way to prevent those injuries. Since 2008, Hughes’ organization, StoveTeam International, has manufactured and sold the affordable, fuel-efficient Ecocina stove. Portable, smokeless, cool to the touch and needing just a few pieces of kindling to cook a meal, the stove has replaced the open cooking fire in more than 15,000 homes across Central America, reaching more than 90,000 people.

Read about prize winner Randal Charlton

Read about prize winner Jenny Bowen

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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It’s a question Purpose Prize winner Randal Charlton of Detroit asked himself at one point in his career. His story is really inspirational, as he’s experienced many ups and downs personally, but has been working to help create jobs and opportunities in Detroit.

Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide  social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn about this winner below!

Randal Charlton (pictured), 71, TechTown, Detroit

In his lifetime, Charlton has bought and sold 14 companies, worked as a journalist, tended dairy cows for a Saudi sheik, started a jazz club and consulted for a world bank. For four years, he served as executive director of TechTown, a business incubator aiming to recruit local entrepreneurs to revitalize Detroit’s economy. Charlton transformed TechTown from a nearly empty industrial building with few resources into a thriving hub, currently supporting 250 companies. More than 2,200 entrepreneurs have received training at TechTown, which has helped clients raise $14 million. On November 1, Charlton will transition from leading TechTown to focusing his expertise on BOOM! The New Economy, a TechTown-affiliated venture that offers training, one-on-one mentoring and internships to people over 50 exploring second acts.

Read about prize winner Jenny Bowen.

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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Civic Ventures is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. Civic Ventures awards The Purpose Prize, which provides “five social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges.” Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

(The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation, funds the prize, a program of Civic Ventures.) Twenty-eight judges – leaders in business, politics, journalism and the nonprofit sector – chose the five winners from a pool of more than 1,000 nominees.

I’m delighted to be an invited guest to The Purpose Prize awards ceremony in December in Sausalito, CA. The organization will host approximately 300 attendees of the invitation-only ceremony. We will hear from Purpose Prize judges, including NBC’s Jane Pauley and Sherry Lansing, CEO of The Sherry Lansing Foundation and former chair of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group.

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing information and videos about Purpose Prize winners. I hope their stories will inspire you…While you may not want to create a non-profit organization yourself, these successes remind us that age is not a true barrier to accomplishing your career goals.

Purpose Prize Winner: Jenny Bowen (pictured), 66, Half the Sky Foundation, Berkeley, Calif.

Winner of The Purpose Prize for Intergenerational Innovation, sponsored by AARP

When Bowen, a screenwriter, saw a photo in The New York Times in 1996 of a starving girl in a Chinese welfare institution, she took immediate action. Within 18 months she and her husband had adopted a 20-month-old girl named Maya from Guangzhou, China. Maya couldn’t walk or talk, but after a year of loving care, she was a happy, healthy child. In 1998 Bowen launched Half the Sky Foundation to radically transform the way China cares for its 800,000 orphans. Today the organization operates in 51 Chinese cities, providing infant care, preschool programs, free medical services for disabled children and financial support for foster families caring for AIDS orphans. So far, the group has improved care for more than 60,000 orphans.

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures.

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I hope these stories of people who might otherwise be retired, but are instead working hard to improve their communities and the world may help many job seekers realize that nothing is impossible. The prize winners I met are dedicated to their causes and to using their skills in a way that makes a broad impact, but in many ways, they are no different from any person who is willing to overcome obstacles and has a passion for a cause.

Civic Ventures, “a think tank on Boomers, work and social purpose” awards these Purpose Prizes that recognize and reward extraordinary efforts. Five people received $100,000 and five receive $50,000. Read my earlier profile of a prize winner Inez Killingsworth HERE.

Dr. Judith B. Van Ginkel won a $100,000 prize for her work with Every Child Succeeds. The program “provides in-home services for first-time, at-risk mothers – including parenting support – to improve the lives of young families.” Upon accepting her award, Dr. Van Ginkel commented on the “strength of the human spirit to go on in spite of hardships.”

(Learn more about Judith and her work here and read about her program, Every Child Succeeds.)

Take a look at the video (below) about Judith from Civic Ventures. (See more videos at Civic Ventures’ site.) I will be sharing stories from winners and other remarkable people I met during the weekend in Philadelphia on my blog in the next few weeks. I hope their stories help inspire you if you are a job seeker to begin to think about how you can use your time and expertise. No matter what your age, there is something out there for you to do that makes good use of your skills.

Maybe you don’t want to start your own non-profit or launch a movement in your community, but there is sure to be some place or organization that needs you. You never know when that something may turn into a paid position.

If you are 45+ with an idea about how to make a difference in your community or in the world, consider applying for Civic Venture’s new Launch Pad award. It provides $5000 and support and mentorship to get your program started. Read more HERE.

Learn more about Judith below:

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Each winner will receive $5,000 and resources and support from the Encore.org community to put his or her idea into action.

Jim Emerman, executive vice president of Civic Ventures, explained, “The Launch Pad is a new contest to spur people’s thinking about how they can make a difference in an encore career.  We’re looking for five people, 45 and over, with great ideas for transforming their communities.  Each will win $5,000 to get their ideas off the ground.”

He continued, “Experienced adults with the passion and know-how to make a real difference in the lives of others offer a windfall of talent in our communities. The Launch Pad is about tapping their ideas for improving education, health, environment, social services and more.”

Launch Pad contenders from around the country can submit their ideas on how they want to make a difference in their communities at http://launchpad.encore.org/ through December 20.

On January 17, 2011, Civic Ventures will name 25 Launch Pad semifinalists. From January 17 through February 14, people will be invited to vote online for the idea they’d like to see realized.

The announcement of the Launch Pad contest follows last week’s news of the 2010 Purpose Prize winners, 10 people over age 60 who are making extraordinary contributions in their encore careers. The Purpose Prize, an award of up to $100,000, is given annually to individuals who are using their experience and passion to tackle society’s biggest challenges.

For more information on the Launch Pad contest, visit http://launchpad.encore.org/.

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In fact, I didn’t hear anyone mention the word “retirement” without it being followed by a laugh. As if to say, “Like there is time to relax. There is too much to do.”

Inez Killingsworth won a $100,000 prize for her work heading Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People. The organization helps homeowners avoid foreclosure by negotiating with banks for more favorable terms on mortgages. When receiving her award, she commented, “if you know something is wrong and you don’t try to do something about it, why are ya’ here?” (Learn more about Inez and her work here.)

Take a look at the video (below) about Inez from Civic Ventures. (See more videos at Civic Ventures’ site.) I will be sharing stories from winners and other remarkable people I met during the weekend in Philadelphia on my blog in the next few weeks. I hope their stories help inspire you if you are a job seeker to begin to think about how you can use your time and expertise. No matter what your age, there is something out there for you to do that makes good use of your skills.

Maybe you don’t want to start your own non-profit or launch a movement in your community, but there is sure to be some place or organization that needs you. You never know when that something may turn into a paid position.

Learn more about Inez below:

photo courtesy of Civic Ventures.

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