Harvard Educating Older Leaders to Serve Social Causes

Older people are looking for ways to give back by establishing 'second-act' careers. Many look toward the nonprofit sector for an opportunity to use their experiences in helping with a wide range of social needs.

Harvard University has kicked off a program, called the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, that provides a group of "fellows," all over the age of 50, a year-long immersion in social enterprise.

A New York Times article explores this new initiative and briefly profiles some of the 14 participants. They all have hefty resumes, including a former astronaut, a physician-entrepreneur, a former public utility official, and a former health minister from Venezuela.

All the participants want to help find answers to some of the globe's biggest social problems. They will, according to the NY Times article, "learn how to be successful social entrepreneurs or leaders of nonprofit organizations focused on social problems like poverty, health, education and the environment. Their interests include sickle cell anemia, women’s education in Africa, health care quality and water conservation."

The leader in encouraging older people to take up cause-related activities and work is Civic Ventures, headed by Marc Freedman, author of a popular book on social careers for baby boomers.

Civic Ventures has given grants to community colleges to develop programs for older people that will help them establish "encore" careers. The organization also gives the Purpose Prize to social entrepreneurs over the age of 60. And it has had wonderful success with a tutoring program around the country, Experience Corps, that sends retired people into urban public schools.

Harvard, with its long history of leadership programs in various disciplines, sees the new program as part of extending education beyond undergraduate and graduate/professional school at a time when the growth in the older population is shooting ahead of all other age groups. And those older individuals have dreams of making a difference. A recent poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates found that half of Americans age 50 to 70 want to find work, after their primary career ends, that will have a social impact

Harvard has the right idea, and it should provide an impetus for other educational institutions to take a new look at the potential in the growing numbers of older Americans. It is both a business opportunity and a way to channel a lot of great energy into solving social problems.

Related articles:

• How Nonprofits Can Attract Mature Employees
• ReServe Recruits Baby Boomers and Seniors to Work In Nonprofits
• Tips for Working With Baby Boomer Volunteers

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