MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Many Boomers who choose to work beyond traditional retirement age, choose to work at making a difference. In June of 2005, Metlife Foundation in conjunction with Civic Ventures released the New Face of Work Survey, the first study to ask what our priorities will be in our next phase of work. They found a sense of purpose and staying involved with people as well as doing work that contributes to the general good, were high on our priority list. To help with our quest, they offer a free download of Ellen Freudenheim’s The Boomers Guide to Good Work an on-line guide to Social Service jobs.

If you are interested in changing from a for-profit career to a non-profit career or in applying your professional skills to mission-focused work, Both Commongood Careers and Bridgestar can help. They match committed, talented people with social organizations in need of their skills and can help you find resources, job postings and networks of other like-minded individuals.

The term “Social Entrepreneur” is recent but social entrepreneurs have a long history of affecting positive change. The profession of social work as we know it owes its inception to luminaries such as Lillian Wald, founder of the Henry Street Settlement in 1893 and Winifred and Edith Holt, founders of the Lighthouse for the Blind in 1905. Social entrepreneurs apply business principles and innovative thinking to healing the world and measure success in terms of positive impact. Contemporary social entrepreneurs, using the knowledge, skills and contacts gleaned from their first careers, have opened free medical clinics and legal services for the poor, worked to protect the environment, improve cross-cultural understanding, and a multitude of inventive philanthropic ventures.

Civic Ventures founded by social entrepreneur Marc Freedman, is dedicated to utilizing the skills, expertise and passions of our most experienced citizens to benefit society. They see our generation as a treasure trove of talent that can be harnessed to produce vital, positive change. To recognize and encourage mature social entrepreneurs, Civic Ventures initiated The Purpose Prize: each year five $100,000 prizes and ten $10,000 prizes are awarded to outstanding social innovators aged sixty or older. Civic Ventures considers this a down payment towards the next problem these remarkable thinkers will solve. “As the first wave of America’s seventy seven million baby boomers turn sixty, The Purpose Prize winners are doing what society least expects people over sixty to do; innovate” says founder Marc Freedman.

Many organizations support and encourage the work of social entrepreneurs Ashoka: Innovators for the Public was founded in 1981 by Bill Drayton, the godfather of social entrepreneuring, with a meager budget. It now supports the work of thousands of social entrepreneurs all over the world. Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll, the brains behind EBay, have turned their empowerment and networking acumen to solving social concerns through both Omidyar Network and Skoll Foundation.