Prostate Man Chat Transcript

Today's participants:

Jane Pauley, AARP's Brand Ambassador

Marc Freedman, Founder and CEO of Civic Ventures

Marci Alboher, VP of Civic Ventures and one of the nation's top experts on career issues and workplace trends.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Jane Pauley: Hello everyone! Thanks for joining us. I hope you enjoyed our TODAY Show segment this morning featuring Lawrence McRae – a Purpose Prize Fellow and an inspiration in his community and beyond. When he began his prostate cancer foundation, McRae had little guidance on how to start a nonprofit organization – and only the modest funds from his social security check. I’m sure many of us feel a desire to contribute to worthy causes rather than kick back into retirement mode, but it can be difficult knowing how to take that first step.

My guests this afternoon are here to help you figure out how to effectively turn your retirement or career reinvention into a time of giving back. Marc Freedman is the founder and CEO of Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. They’re also the organization that awards the Purpose Prize. Marci Alboher is the VP of Civic Ventures and one of the nation’s top experts on career issues and workplace trends.

Hello, Marc and Marci! Great to have you here this afternoon.

Just to get things going, Cynthia has a good question for you, Marc.

Comment from Cynthia: Marc and Marci, could you tell a little more about Civic Ventures? Who funds the organization?

Marc Freedman: Thanks so much Jane for hosting this discussion, and to Cynthia for this question – and to everyone for joining the discussion. We're honored to be part of it!

In response to Cynthia's question, Civic Ventures is a national nonprofit organization, with a focus on helping more people over 50 launch encore careers. Encore careers are a kind of practical idealism, second careers at the intersection of continued income, new meaning, and social impact. We are concentrating particularly on helping individuals who want to have second careers of this type to move from aspiration to action – through advice, new educational opportunities, and fellowships for grown-ups. More information is at www.encore.org.

Comment from Pete: What exactly is the Purpose Prize? How can I nominate someone for it?

Comment from Andrea: How do we submit information for an amazing over 60 couple who are helping the local homeless and low-income community?

Marci Alboher: Andrea and Pete, thanks for asking about the Purpose Prize. The Purpose Prize invests in people over 60 who are changing the world in their encore careers. So the couple working on homelessness are certainly the kind of people we want to hear about. Through this program, we award 5 prizes of $100,000 and 5 prizes of $50,000 to social innovators. We'll be announcing the 2010 winners in November of this year. And we are accepting nominations online for 2011. Full info on the prize, including how to nominate, is available at www.encore.org/prize.

Comment from Richard: It seems you need to be wealthy or at least have a lot of savings to be able to afford to switch to an encore career before retiring. Is that true?