Idealist.org is stepping up its efforts to list every nonprofit job in the country by waiving its usual $60 listing fee for nonprofit employers for the months of June.

“Our ultimate goal is to bring you every nonprofit job that’s open across the country (as well as internships and volunteer opportunities, which are always free),” explained Ami Dar, executive director of Idealist.org, inviting them to spread the word.

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.

The movement to vastly expand national service is recruiting hundreds of organizers for a fall campaign to mobilize public support.

The goal is spur the next president and Congress to quickly enact legislation that will engage 5 million or more Americans in service each year by 2012. The vision is to make the most common question Americans of all ages ask each other, “Where do you plan to do your service?”

Q. You’ve spent your career in a profit-making business but want your work to be more in line with your personal values… Is this the right reason to make a switch?

Eilene Zimmerman tackles this and other questions about encore transitions to the nonprofit sector in her “Career Couch” column in the New York Times.

In her answer, she quotes Steven Pascal-Joiner, midcareer transitions coordinator for Idealist.org. “It’s not enough to say, ‘I want to work for a nonprofit,’” he said. “You need to know what kind of organization you want to work for, the role you want to play and why.”

Serving on the board of a nonprofit organization is a good way to demonstrate leadership skills.

The first wave of “next generation” of nonprofit leaders may be nonprofit executives and others now in their 40s and 50s, according to a new report on the nonprofit leadership gap.

The study, “Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out,”
focuses on the need to nurture young leaders in their 20s and 30s. But it has important ramifications for experienced workers, too.

Kathleen Davies’ path to her encore career was bumpy, twisted and rural.

In 2001, the sinking economy dealt her 23-year-old public relations firm a lethal blow. “At age 53, I hoped to reinvent myself by helping preserve wildlife and nature — though I wasn’t quite sure how,” Davies writes in “Pursuing a Passion for Nature After a Life in Business” in the March 20 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Innovative nonprofits around the country are seeking talented and experienced individuals to help tackle some of the nation’s toughest challenges, according to Commongood Careers, a Boston-based search firm that specializes in working with social entrepreneurs.

College Summit, which has a proven model for increasing college admission rates, is seeking a director to manage school partnerships in Miami. Kiva, the pioneering peer-to-peer microfinance organization, is looking for a general counsel. And SeaChange Capital Partners, founded by former Wall Street executives who themselves are in their encore careers, is seeking support staff as it works toward its goal of directing $100 million in “growth capital” to high-performing non-profits in the next three years.

Why do you want to work in the nonprofit sector anyway?

That’s the question the folks at Idealist.org, the leading website for finding nonprofit job and volunteer opportunities, pose at the beginning of their very helpful guide to nonprofit careers.