Articles from Charitychannel's Volunteer Management Review Enewsletter

Articles from CharityChannel's Volunteer Management Review™ eNewsletter

Table of Contents

p. 2: The End of Retirement as We Know It: New Challenge for Volunteer Programs
Nan Hawthorne (2002)

p. 7: Talking To Baby Boomers about Volunteering - Part 1: Third Quarter of Life Passions
D. Scott Martin (2005)

p. 12: Talking to Baby Boomers about Volunteering - Part 2: Volunteering As a Career Transition Strategy
D. Scott Martin (2005)

p. 17: Retiring With Dignity: Volunteer Emeritus Programs
Michael Lee Stills (2003)

p. 21: Meet Generation Jones: The Potential Volunteers You May Be Missing
Susan Moscareillo (2002)

p. 25: Get Outside the 'Box' and Look In -- Take a New Look at What Your Program Has to Offer and Capitalize on it to Recruit Volunteers
Lisa Kay Schweyer (2006)

p. 30: Creating Boomer-friendly Volunteer Opportunities: Part 1: Restructuring Existing Opportunities
D. Scott Martin (2006)

p. 35 Creating Boomer-Friendly Volunteer Opportunities, Part 2: Developing Skilled Short-term Projects
D. Scott Martin (2006)

p. 41: Creating Boomer-Friendly Volunteer Opportunities, Part 3: Groups
D. Scott Martin (2006)

The End of Retirement as We Know It: New Challenge for Volunteer Programs
October 30, 2002 - Nan Hawthorne

Many volunteer programs are likely to face a challenge in the next decade or so as the formerly ample supply of "recruitable" seniors disappears. The once anticipated influx of 25 million Baby Boomer retirees is, as it turns out, likely to dwindle if the trend to postpone or interrupt retirement develops. The impact on volunteer programs in general will be notable, but the impact on programs focused on senior involvement could, it can be argued, be devastating.
Until recently the prediction was when Boomers reached retirement age they would prove to be healthier, more active and more involved than their predecessors, and be a promising pool of volunteers. Nothing has changed this prediction, but a new one affects how this vitality will be used.
The fact is that Boomers as a group have not prepared sufficiently for retirement in the face of inflation and the vagaries of investing. According to a "Retirement Reality Check" survey completed by Allstate Financial, America's graying Boomers have severely underestimated how much money they need to retire and live comfortably. The survey found that nearly four out of five expect that they will need "$30,000 per year for basic living expenses during retirement. To have $30,000 per year, Baby Boomers will need approximately $1 million upon retirement, factoring in an eight-percent return on savings and an average four-percent rate of inflation."1 The same survey concluded that the figure quoted by respondents as what they will need to live, $30,000, is only about half of what they will actually require.
There are other influences on the trend either to retire much later or to return to work after retirement.
The age for eligibility for Social Security retirement benefits is going up incrementally. That age will eventually climb from 62 to 67 with a substantial reduction in benefits for early retirees. This means that many older Americans will spend at least two to five years longer in the workforce or face a reduced lifestyle.
Many older people will want to keep working. "We are going to have a whole generation that is healthy... and bored." What are they going to do with the later stages of their lives, if those stages span 25 or 30 years? If this optimistic projection of wealth by Dorothy Cantor, a writer and psychologist in Westfield, N.J., quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is accurate even for a fraction of retirees, it will impact the workforce. While many will choose -- and demand -- volunteer opportunities that are substantial, others will choose to keep working or will go back to work, if their need for meaningful volunteer work is not met by volunteer programs still operating on outmoded models. 2
What will the impact be on volunteer programs?
· The sheer number of available seniors will shrink, making recruitment methods less effective in general. Programs that rely entirely on seniors, such as the Senior Service Corps programs and intergenerational programs may find it difficult to find sufficient volunteers to meet their needs or to justify their funding.
· As generational influences shift the techniques we have developed to cope may no longer work. For example, as more independent seniors have been found to need less of the social outlet of volunteering, organizations have coped by bring out studies that show a benefit to health of keeping active to continue to draw senior recruits. However, coming seniors who do not retire will not only have less time to volunteer; they will not need the activity and connectedness they formerly lost when they left work.
· Whereas many senior volunteers have come from generations of women who did not work outside the home the new non-retirees will include a large number of women who have had jobs and careers and likewise will need to stay employed.
Are volunteer programs feeling the impact of the trend? It appears that the leading edge of the trend is making itself known. "We are finding as a result of the uncertainties and selling in the financial markets that a number of volunteers are finding part-time jobs to help supplement retirement income," shares Kathryn A. Gitto, CVA, Director of RSVP of BroomeCounty in Binghamton, New York. " Most of them have continued in various volunteer obligations." However, she adds, "Their flexibility is limited."
Gitto sees light at the end of this tunnel, however. "The average age of volunteer in our program has been stable at 75. As we attract younger volunteers (those 55-65) our long-time members also age. Their life expectancy has increased so we have more volunteers at each of the outside ranges of ages. Volunteers still are active up to 97 or 98. If more people defer going to complete retirement until later, many cut back hours and still find time to volunteer. Seniors are staying active later in life and we will probably continue to see an average age at about 75 years of age. By the time most people are 75, they will cut back work hours significantly." Indeed, volunteering may be the healthiest stage in this inevitable transition.
Nevertheless volunteer programs need to begin to change their approach to meet this looming trend. Gitto again supplies the keys. Volunteer program staff must receive training in what to expect in the coming decade. The opportunities available to volunteers must adjust to their time availability, habits and interests. She says, "Our staff has received information about how the Baby Boom may look in retirement and that Boomers may tend to go in and out of the workforce and education institutes throughout retirement. We offer a variety of options for volunteers and offer a great deal of flexibility in assignments both in terms of skills required, commitment required, and time required. This flexibility, I believe, will allow us to transition to a new type of senior volunteer effectively."
Will your program meet the challenge of the end of retirement, as we know it?

References:
1 Allstate Financial 'Retirement Reality Check' Reveals Financial Crisis for Baby Boomers Heading into Retirement PR Newswire

2 Two Trends Show Why Diversity Needs to Include Disability,
Editor's Note: Our thanks to Nan Hawthorne for her contribution to Volunteer Management Review. Nan Hawthorne is a freelance journalist living and working in Bothell, WashingtonState.

About the Contributor

/ Nan Hawthorne:
P O Box 335
BothellWA98041-0335
425-398-3741
Hawthorne is a professional journalist and content developer living in the Seattle area and has been a practitioner, trainer, consultant, and writer in the profession of volunteer resource management for many years. She came to international attention as founder and coordinator of the CyberVPM online forum, a pioneering effort in using the Internet for professional networking in the field of volunteer resource management. She is the founder of International Volunteer Manager Appreciation Day November 5.
Hawthorne is the author of three training kits, "Recognizing Volunteers Right from the Start," "Building Better Relationships with Volunteers," and "Managing Volunteers in Record Time." She has written over 150 articles on volunteer management. In addition, she has written articles for eSight Careers Network, specifically regarding competitive careers for those who are, like herself, blind or partially sighted.
Hawthorne has received recognition for her work through a Dufort Award for Excellence in Volunteer Management, as Nonprofit Nuts and Bolts "Favorite Internet Resource [provider] on Volunteer Management," the Victim-Assistance Online Award for Excellence, LA Times Pick of the Day, as well as having a biography included in "Who's Who in America."
Hawthorne is best known for her "what works?" approach to developing and managing volunteer programs.
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Talking To Baby Boomers about Volunteering - Part 1: Third Quarter of Life Passions
Wednesday, November 02, 2005 - Scott Martin, Volunteer Service Administrator, DelawareVolunteerResourceCenter

How do we talk to Baby Boomers about volunteering? With the Greatest Generation, those Americans who served in WWII and their contemporaries, we would appeal to their sense of civic duty. With Boomers a more promising approach is to talk about unexplored passions.

Boomers are now entering the third quarter of life. This period of 20 to 30 years following the winding down of a career and prior to the onset of true old age is characterized by a reinvention of the self. Now that the children are raised, a career established and some financial security gained, people in this stage of life seek to bring greater wholeness and balance to their lives. Passions that had to be set aside in the first half of life can now be explored in the service of creating a new life. Passions are simply those ideas, activities and objects that bring us the greatest fulfillment in life. They point the way to a more complete self and they are fueled by our inherent drive towards wholeness.

Volunteer managers can help potential baby boomer volunteers connect with their passions by asking questions like “what are your dreams for the next 20 years of your life” or “who is it you still want to become.” Providing Boomers with a checklist of the passions appearing below and asking them to indicate the two or three that are of most interest to them is another way to begin. Once passions have been identified, the next step is to translate them into volunteer activities.

Third Quarter of Life Passions and Volunteering

There are probably as many passions as people, but here are some passions that are particularly common in the third quarter of life.

Searching for Meaning. As we grow older, we may become more curious about the meaning of life as discussed in philosophy and religion. In their youth, Boomers were so committed to the search for meaning that many began experimenting with mind-altering drugs and exploring eastern religions. Volunteerism can be a path to meaning. Volunteering brings us into contact with people and issues we might otherwise not encounter. These experiences can cause us to re-evaluate long held beliefs and prejudices. In time, new beliefs may arise that are truer to our expanded experience of life. Volunteering with the disabled, aged, chronically ill or dying can bring questions of life’s meaning into sharp focus.

Pursuing Personal Growth. It is not uncommon to enter the third quarter of life having experienced the loss of a career, marriage or loved one. At this stage we may be finally ready to confront a lack of self-esteem, an addiction or other self-defeating behavior. Baby Boomers, who launched several liberation movements, read self-help books and were frequent visitors to the therapist’s office, are likely to intensify their search for personal growth in post-career life. Volunteering provides many opportunities for people to deepen their healing once it has begun to take place. A recovering alcoholic can work with other alcoholics. After a year of grieving, a widow or widower might be ready to volunteer with hospice, lead a support group or staff a hotline. A divorced women who is starting a new career after years of working in the home, may want to work with other women in transition.

Finding Meaningful Work. The third quarter of life is a time for establishing a new relationship with work. Boomers who have little savings, considerable debt and uncertain pensions are likely to work well into the traditional retirement years. However, work will be more on their terms. Serial employment (periods of work followed by periods of leisure), part-time work and starting small businesses will be common in the third quarter of life. Volunteering offers career changers opportunities to explore new career fields, try out new skills and gain work experience for their resumes. We can make our opportunities even more attractive to job seekers by partnering with trade schools or community colleges to provide certification.

Increasing Intimacy and Connectedness. In the third quarter of life people often seek to be closer to their families, particularly grandchildren. Workaholic, over-achieving Baby Boomers are likely to pursue this passion. Family volunteering is an excellent way for Boomers to get to know their own grandchildren while reaching out to others. Fifty-plus adults and their grandchildren can become co-pet therapists or co-friendly visitors. Boomers can volunteer in their grandchild’s school, scout group or sports team. They can volunteer with family to plant beach grass, clean up a city street or in any number of other one-time events.

This passion may also express itself as a search for community. Boomers, who once joined communes, may find in this later stage of life a desire to create communities that support their third quarter of life goals. Volunteer organizations might attract these Boomers by providing housing. A park, for example could offer free camping for RVs. A faith-based organization might fill any empty church building with volunteers in search of a more contemplative service community. Even if an organization cannot offer housing, there is much that can be done to deepen the sense of community in our organizations.

Continuing to Learn. Learning without the pressure of tests and degree requirements can become a great pleasure in the third quarter of life. For some, this will also be the time to return to school to earn a degree that will open doors to a new career. Boomers who are known for valuing education will likely pursue it both formally and informally in their post-career years. Whether it is tutoring, working in a museum, teaching, or researching recycling options, volunteering offers many opportunities for lifelong learning. Service is also the perfect accompaniment to classroom learning. Volunteer organizations can forge partnerships with trade schools and colleges to offer service-learning experiences, internships and perhaps even academic credit.