October 3, 2010

Skilled Older Volunteers Help Charities Stretch Resources, Study Finds

The Value of Retired Volunteers 1

Corporation for National and Community Service

Placing highly skilled, older volunteers with charities has paid big benefits for nonprofit groups, according to results from a project by the National Council on Aging.

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Corporation for National and Community Service

Placing highly skilled, older volunteers with charities has paid big benefits for nonprofit groups, according to results from a project by the National Council on Aging.

By Eric Frazier

When Kim Pavlock retired from her job running programs at Mather Lifeways, an Evanston, Ill., nonprofit organization that serves older people, she had no intention of retiring from the active role she had played in the life of her community.

She saw retirement as a chance to, in her words, “do what I want to do.” And what she wanted to do was help charities. Not just by stuffing envelopes or answering the front-desk telephone, but by offering organizations a chance to take