Jim Emerman

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With so many boomers looking for something new – and meaningful – to do with their talent, an array of organizations is showing the way.

The Harvard University Kennedy School of Government recently explored this phenomenon with a webinar called “New Pipelines for Social Innovation: The Changing Face of Recruitment, Opportunities and Impact.”

“We need all the help and new ideas that we can get from as broad and diverse a group as possible to tackle today’s great challenges,” co-moderator Tim Burke, a social innovation expert at Harvard, said during the session. (Registration to listen to the hourlong recording and view the slides is quick and free. Go here.)

Burke praised both online-based groups, such as All for Good and ModestNeeds.org, and on-the-ground organizations, such as City Year and Civic Ventures for engaging people in activities that help address social problems.

Jim Balfanz, president of City Year, and Jim Emerman, executive vice president of Civic Ventures, were on hand to talk about how their organizations are meeting demand.

Emerman discussed the desire among Americans for encore careers, and he highlighted Encore Fellowships, which help highly experienced corporate managers transition to the nonprofit world.

“For us, the question is: If working lives are getting longer, what kinds of work are people going to do?” Emerman said. “We need to create a culture that welcomes and allows people, gives people permission, really, to use their talent for the social good.”

The webinar was part of the Power of Social Innovation Series, sponsored by the Kennedy School’s Government Innovators Network and the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. For more about the series, and to check out past webinars, go here. To learn about the book that inspired the series, The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good, by Harvard professor Stephen Goldsmith, go here.