Seymour Rettinger was devastated when his orthopedic surgeon looked at his arthritic fingers and told him he had to stop practicing immediately. Rettinger had been a dentist for more than three decades.

Now he has a new career heading a nonprofit dental clinic for low-income families in Middlebury, Vt.

He is amazed to find himself doing things he never imagined, like writing business plans, meeting with local funders to solicit grants and combing census data. He’s now working more than full time and loves his new career.

“The need is here,” he said, “and uniquely, I fill that void because I have the skill, the motivation and the time. And the time is the most important. I can give all my time to this.”

Have you switched — or do you want to — from business or government to a job at a nonprofit organization?

The Conference Board, a business research and membership group, wants to hear from experienced workers who have moved, or wish to move, from for-profit or government jobs into the nonprofit sector. It has extended the deadline for responses until May 21.

The goal is to better understand the key cultural, generational, intergenerational challenges they face, and which pathways they find most effective in moving to the nonprofit sector.

The retirement of aging baby boomers is creating a talent gap in the federal workforce, but also an opportunity to help fill that gap.

“Most people talk about the retirement loss as a problem for the future, and I would argue it is a problem of today. We are already seeing that exodus of talent,” said Max Stier, president of Partnership for Public Service, in a discussion organized by the Council for Excellence in Government.

Dr. Frank Artress’ encore moment came at 18,500 feet.

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was supposed to be a celebration of his 50th birthday, but it nearly ended in death for the cardiac anesthesiologist from Modesto, Calif.

Frank Benest is stepping down in June as city manager of Palo Alto, Calif., after 36 years in local government. But he’s not retiring. Instead, he’s graduating to an encore career devoted to finding and preparing leaders to work in the public sector.

While serving as majordomo of one of California’s most innovative cities for the past eight years, Benest has laid the groundwork for a campaign to convince more people to work in local government. Come June, he’ll make it his primary concern.

A skills-matching service that helps generate millions of dollars of pro bono help for community organizations each year also serves to introduce skilled professionals to careers in the nonprofit sector.

Many of the professionals who have volunteered to help nonprofit organizations with specific projects have continued to work with those organizations after the projects are complete, said Lindsay Firestone, manager of strategic partnerships for the Taproot Foundation. Some have gone on to serve on nonprofit boards or as salaried employees, she said.

Move over, race, gender and even class. Here comes age as a major issue in the seemingly never-ending presidential campaign.

It’s not just the age of the candidates, even though John McCain, at 72, would be the oldest new president in history; Hillary Clinton, 60, is the quintessential baby boomer; and Barack Obama, though technically also a boomer at 46, has positioned himself as an antidote to the boomers’ decades-long divisions and self-absorption.

It’s also the age of the voters.

We’ve complained that politicians seem to prefer sticks to carrots when it comes to encouraging people to extend their working lives.

Now, Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) are offering some carrots.

Among other provisions, The Incentives for Older Workers Act, introduced April 28, would extend the Social Security bonus for recipients who postpone claiming their benefits beyond the “normal” retirement age. The change could mean bigger monthly checks — for life — for those who choose to keep working.

How are you handling health care coverage in your encore career or encore transition?

Securing adequate health coverage is perhaps the biggest challenge for people considering or embarking on their encore careers. Fear of losing coverage keeps many people from leaving their current jobs, while the inability to find or afford coverage can limit encore career options. Retiree health benefits are becoming ever more rare. Some employers (Home Depot, Starbucks) offer health coverage for part-time work, but few nonprofits and social sector employers have followed suit. High costs and exclusions for “preexisting conditions” often rule out individual coverage.

Encore.org is interested in how people are managing this challenge. Are you:

• Getting employer-sponsored health benefits in your encore job?
• Staying in your current job to keep health coverage?
• Covered under a retiree health program, your spouse’s or partner’s plan, or Medicare?
• Taking advantage of COBRA benefits?
• Working at a part-time job in retail or elsewhere, primarily for the health coverage?
• Paying for individual coverage, perhaps a high-deductible (“catastrophic”) plan?
• Going without?

The expansion of after-school programs for California children is creating encore opportunities for experienced adults interested in paid positions leading afternoon classes or offering specialized enrichment programs.

Encore After School, an innovative program to train and place experienced workers in after-school programs, is seeking about 40 people for positions in schools in Oakland and Santa Clara County. Training will begin in August for the school year beginning in September. Leaders of after-school classes (approximately 20 students) will work five afternoons a week, while those providing enrichment activities can work two or three afternoons a week. Pay levels will also vary.