Encore: Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life

2008 Purpose Prize Winner

Joseph James saw an opportunity to help black farmers in South Carolina profit from the growth of biofuels and new demand for local and sustainably grown food. His “Greening of Black America” initiative is aimed at helping minority farmers increase their incomes with seed crops used to make biodiesel fuel.

Find Out How

As an engineer, John Kostibas was keenly aware of the shortage of engineers -- and ready to help produce more. With a fast-track teaching certificate, he's getting high school students excited about algebra and geometry. By soothing their math anxiety, he says, "I can direct more students into engineering and technology careers.”

Find Out How

Autoworker ; Nurse

“I’m third-generation auto,” says Terry Ramey, who started on the assembly line in his 20s. With an “education buyout" from Ford, he's in a four-year nursing program. “It’s important to be able to help people.”

Health care is hiring, but you may need to get additional training.

Find Out How

2008 Purpose Prize Winner

“Where else can you find a retired farm wife and a grandmother whose grandson was killed in Iraq sitting across a table teaching a Kurdish refugee from Iraq how to speak English?” asks Michele McRae, who has engaged a virtual army of adults as mentors for resettled refugees in Fargo, North Dakota.

Find Out How

As a psychologist, Toni Heineman saw too many foster kids adrift and without a consistent relationship with an adult they could trust. She has enlisted a network of fellow therapists to counsel hundreds of foster children - for as long as needed. This year, A Home Within plans to be in 30 cities nationwide.

Find Out How

Nominations Now Open!

Nominate someone - or yourself - for the $100,000 Purpose Prize. Ten social innovators in their encore careers will win awards for their big ideas.

Click here to see who took home the 2009 Purpose Prize. Are you next? Nominate today for 2010.

New! Get Started Guide

Check out our new Get Started Guide, which offers expert advice, helpful books and Web sites, tips and success stories.

What's New

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Encore Careers and the Economic Crisis

Posted 02/05/2010 - 4:25pm

Editor’s note: The following article by David Bank, vice president of Civic Ventures, appears in the Fall 2009 edition of Generations, the journal of the American Society of Aging. See below for more information about the issue.

The Great Recession is over, the chairman of the Federal Reserve and other officials have declared. It might not feel that way to the 10 percent of Americans who are officially unemployed, including the more than 2 million out-of-work Americans over age 55 whose ranks have more than doubled in two years.

If it’s back to business as usual for bankers and traders, it’s anything but for those at or near what used to be called retirement age. Nearly two-thirds of those ages 50 to 61 expect to delay their retirement because of the recession, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. Nearly four of every 10 adults who are still working at age 62 have already delayed their retirement plans.

by: David Bank | Read more >>

Support for Encore Entrepreneurs

Posted 02/04/2010 - 5:21pm

I’m on the lookout for good examples and creative ideas at the intersection of two promising trends: 1) the urge to dump the boss and work for oneself in an encore career and 2) the emergence of viable “social enterprises” that make both a social impact and a profit.

by: David Bank | Read more >>

Marc Freedman on the Generativity Revolution

Posted 02/03/2010 - 12:13pm

Marc Freedman, founder of Civic Ventures, responds today on The Huffington Post to David Brooks’ call for a “generativity revolution,” noting that “the real generativity revolution is well under way. And with the help of smart new policies, this movement of forward-looking baby boomers might actually succeed.”

Freedman writes, “It’s increasingly clear that these older workers aren’t competing with younger people; they are meeting demands for talent that will only grow as the economy recovers.”

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

David Brooks on the Generativity Revolution

Posted 02/02/2010 - 8:43am

The New York Times' David Brooks issues a rousing call to action for the encore generation in his column today.

Under the headline, "The Geezers' Crusade," Brooks calls for a social movement of older adults on behalf of younger people.

"Spontaneous social movements can make the unthinkable thinkable, and they can do it quickly, Brooks writes. "It now seems clear that the only way the U.S. is going to avoid an economic crisis is if the oldsters take it upon themselves to arise and force change."

by: David Bank | Read more >>

MSNBC Spotlights Encore Careers

Posted 02/01/2010 - 5:33pm

A story on MSNBC about three individuals in their encore careers brought the biggest spike in Encore.org’s history – more than 3,400 visits in a single day.

The article posted on January 25, “Workers Finding Fulfillment in Encore Careers,” tells the stories of Terry Ramey, 42, a former autoworker in Michigan who is currently in nursing school; Penny Mudd, 55, a 20-year Silicon Valley veteran who is studying to become a middle school math teacher; and Barbara Higbee, 57, a district manager for a Texas merchandising school who now works for a women’s crisis center.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

Help Save Idealist.org

Posted 02/01/2010 - 1:30pm

The economic crisis may be about to claim as another victim: Idealist.org, the nonprofit job site that has been a strong proponent of encore careers.

Ami Dar, Idealist’s founder and chief executive, explained in an appeal this morning that the recession has cut Idealist’s revenues from nonprofit job postings, which had grown to cover about 70 percent of the organization’s budget, leaving a hole of $100,000 each month

by: David Bank | Read more >>

Aging Brains Benefit From Experience Corps

Posted 01/26/2010 - 2:38pm

Volunteers boosted their brain performance after working with children in the Experience Corps program, according to a study featured in today’s New York Times.

The small study, which was recently published in The Journal of Gerontology, tested eight female volunteers before and after they mentored children in Baltimore public schools. They are part of a network of 2,000 Experience Corps volunteers who are mentoring 20,000 students in 22 cities across the United States.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

10 Ways to Jump-Start Your Encore Career

Posted 01/20/2010 - 3:47pm

Want to find an encore career in 2010 but don’t know how to get started? Here are 10 tips to help you find paid, purposeful work.

1. Download our new Get Started Guide. Acclaimed by The Wall Street Journal and others, it answers 12 frequently asked questions about finding encore careers that provide pay, personal fulfillment and social impact.

2. Watch a video or listen to a podcast by Marci Alboher, our in-house encore careers expert.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

A Conversation With Dan Pink

Posted 01/19/2010 - 4:05pm

Dan Pink’s latest book, Drive, turns traditional thinking about how organizations motivate people (and how we try to motivate ourselves) on its head. After studying the scientific research on motivation, Pink came to the conclusion that what science knows about how to motivate people is entirely different than what organizations do.

If more of the world starts paying attention to Pink’s ideas, we should be seeing fewer carrots and sticks, and a lot more recognition that people are motivated by intrinsic forces like the desire for autonomy and mastery, as well as the quest to be part of something bigger than themselves, which Pink calls purpose. Sound familiar?

by: Marci Alboher | Read more >>

Seizing the Green Encore Opportunity

Carpenters, electricians, factory workers and others are getting a crash course in solar energy at Ohlone College in Newark, Calif., this week as part of a Civic Ventures’ Community College Encore Careers program.

“Their passion is palpable,” writes David Bank of Civic Ventures. He’s on site at Ohlone with 28 participants from around the U.S. who are learning how to set up solar programs to train at-risk populations for jobs that pay a decent wage and help the environment. Read his report and learn about a luncheon forum on Friday, January 15, at Ohlone (Newark, Calif.) called “Expanding Green Opportunities with Encore Talent.”

Ellen Goodman 'Lets Herself Go' Into Her Encore Career

Posted 01/03/2010 - 1:16pm

On the first day of 2010, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman launched her encore career in her final column for The Washington Post by declaring, “I’m letting myself go.”

She put a positive spin on the phase, explaining, “After all, where will you go when you let yourself go? To let this question fill the free space between deadlines in my life has been quite liberating. It suggests the freedom that can fuel this journey.”

At the Purpose Prize Summit a few weeks ago, Goodman announced she planned to enter the semicolon phase of the “Then ; Now” encore career transition with a group of women friends who were all committed to having an impact on society.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

Still Going Strong in His Overseas Encore Career at Age 79

Posted 01/01/2010 - 5:44pm

W. Frederick Shaw, sees no reason to stop after working nearly 40 years in international development, primarily in South Asia.

At age 79, the 2009 Purpose Prize fellow is living in Chandigarh, the capital of the Indian state of Punjab, and is providing services to more than 14,000 residents of two slums, Janta Colony and Adarsh Nagar. Nearly all of these residents have incomes below the official national poverty level. But he’s perfectly content and encourages other experienced workers to pursue encore careers in international development.

by: Daniel Werner | Read more >>

How Much Money Do You Need for Your Encore Career?

Posted 12/28/2009 - 2:02pm

It would be nice if there were a single, simple “calculator” you could use to determine whether or not you can afford to transition to an encore career. Alas, financial calculators are only as useful as the assumptions that go into them. Typically, the more assumptions that go into a model, the higher the odds that one faulty input will geometrically impact the
output – for the worse.

So, what to do? Think Occam’s razor. When faced with a choice, opt for the simplest solution. Here are three straightforward, powerful steps you can take to help figure out how to finance your encore career:

by: ManishaThakor | Read more >>

Encore Italy: Terzavitosi!

Posted 12/23/2009 - 2:02pm

When I was on vacation last summer in Italy, my country of origin, I was surprised to find two of my best friends telling me what I myself had been thinking about – and what Civic Ventures and Marc Freedman have been talking about.

I call it the third life. As I start the second half of my 50s, I suddenly realized that I was starting to take the years ahead of me as “dealing with the tail of my life,” as if I did not have much time to change things.

by: Ottavia | Read more >>