After working for 20 years in the field of nuclear medicine, Sharon Burns decided to take some time off so she could volunteer in school alongside her son, who had some learning issues. Little did she know that the experience would lead to her encore career.

If you are a nonprofit employer who has hired — or tried to hire — workers age 50 or older, the Conference Board, a business research and membership group, wants you to take a survey no later than August 1.

The goal is to better understand how nonprofit employers can reach out to experienced workers.

What are the chances a 65-year-old will live past 85? What is the average monthly Social Security benefit? What is the greatest financial risk facing retirees?

Most Americans would flunk a quiz on retirement income issues, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute, which has updated the Retirement Income IQ Test it first released five years ago. The institute gave an average score of just 43 points out of 100 to more than 1,200 people who took the test in a random survey.

The passing of Sir John Templeton provides an opportunity to reflect on “The Big Questions” that were the focus of his philanthropic work.

Templeton, one of the world’s leading investors and philanthropists, died today in Nassau, Bahamas. He was 95. A native of Tennessee, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for the philanthropic work he pursued in his encore career.

In 2006, the John Templeton Foundation helped establish The Purpose Prize to recognize social innovators over 60 with awards of up to $100,000, and remains a major funder. (The Purpose Prize is a project of Civic Ventures, publisher of Encore.org.)

Some people want an encore career that combines combine income with personal meaning and also contributes to society. Others think that’s a pipe dream, and that simply making ends meet is going to be a challenge. And still others at the end of their midlife careers want nothing to do with work at all.

The Internet is abuzz with reactions to the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Career Survey, which found that an estimated 6 percent to 9.5 percent of Americans ages 44 to 70 are already working in encore careers. The survey also found that, among those people not already in encore careers, 50 percent said they want to have one.

Alice Waters wasn’t content to start a national revolution around organic and locally grown food. At age 64, she’s 12 years into an encore career to transform the way schoolchildren think about what they eat.

She spends the bulk of her time traveling, speaking and raising funds for her Edible Schoolyard project, which gives children the experience of planting, growing and preparing foods that they share together.

Numerous media outlets reported on the findings of the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Career Survey. Some of the major articles:

USA Today: “Boomers’ New Jobs Give Back,” by Janet Kornblum.

The New York Times: “Options for Those Nonretiring Boomers,” by Marci Alboher.

Los Angeles Times: “Encore Careers Give ‘Retirees’ Another Chance to Do Dream Jobs,” by Maria L. La Ganga.

Civic Ventures released a new survey today estimating that between 5.3 and 8.4 million Americans have launched “encore careers,” positions that combine income and personal meaning with social impact and nearly half of those surveyed are interested in finding their encore career.

Read Civic Ventures CEO Marc Freedman’s blog about the report in today’s Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-freedman/bill-gates-deserves-an-en_b_....

We’d appreciate it if you could read the post and comment on Marc’s piece directly on the Huffington Post site.

The conventional wisdom about older workers is that they a) cost more; b) are absent more often; and c) have one foot out the door.

The truth is: not much, not at all and no way.

In ”Keep Pace with Older Workers” in the May 2008 issue of HR Magazine, Robert J. Grossman refutes some myths about older workers.

“Retailers like Target, Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, Circuit City and IKEA are just a few examples of companies that offer their part-time employees health care options, 401(k) plans, paid vacation time and/or discounts on merchandise,” reports Mary Lorenz of CareerBuilder.com.