Eligibility

To be eligible for The Purpose Prize^®, the nominee must:

• Be at least 60 years old (by the deadline of March 22, 2012).
• Be a legal resident of the U.S. (including U.S. territories).
• Be someone who has initiated important innovations (in a new or ongoing organization) in an encore career. Encore careers combine personal meaning and social impact with continued work in the second half of life.
• Be currently working in a leadership capacity in an organization or institution (public, private, nonprofit, or for-profit) to address a major social problem in the United States or abroad.
• Have initiated important innovations (in a new or ongoing organization), and have demonstrated recent creativity and leadership with the promise of more to come.

Please note that elected officials are NOT eligible for The Prize for work they conduct in their official capacity. Individuals working in faith-based service organizations that have a broader social mission are ELIGIBLE AND ENCOURAGED TO APPLY, but the purpose of their project cannot be strictly religious or sectarian--in that it is confined EXCLUSIVELY to individuals within a denomination or for THE SOLE purpose of expanding the religious mission of the denomination or faith.

Selection Criteria

Applicants will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Is the person an outstanding social innovator who is working creatively and in a transformative capacity to spearhead significant change?
• How important is the issue the person is addressing? How much of an impact has his or her work had on the issue? Is the work already effecting, or does it have the potential to effect, systemic change? To go to scale? Is it likely to be sustainable?
• Has the person initiated important innovations (in a new or ongoing organization) in an encore career in the past 15 years, demonstrating creativity and leadership throughout and promising more to come?
• What does the person plan to do in the next five years and how would recognition, technical support, and the financial benefits of the award help to advance this work?
• Will the person be a compelling role model and articulate spokesperson whose own personal story will serve to inspire others not only to think differently about the second half of life, but also to take on an encore career and perform significant service in this phase?
• Is the person a highly ethical individual?