California's Aging Opportunity

Recommendation I. Match Interest with Need

The Challenge

• Number and diversity of opportunities and organizations: Part of the gap between high levels of interest in volunteering and lower levels of volunteer activities is explained by the complexity and extent of the number and type of organizations and opportunities. Throughout California's 58 counties, there are 28 volunteer centers, 50 Retired Senior and Volunteer Program (RSVP), 200 public and private institutions of higher education, 9,000 public and private elementary, middle and secondary schools, 1,000 libraries, 500 hospitals, 135,000 nonprofit organizations, an extensive arrays of grassroots, faith-based and national service programs as well as public agencies that could potentially tap the power of community service to accomplish their missions. Prior to October 2006, no system was available statewide to help older Californians find a volunteer opportunity.
  
  
• Communications and interests: Another part of the gap comes from a disconnect between the nature of the volunteer opportunities, the type of outreach, and changing perspectives of older adults on aging and service roles. Just as the Baby Boomers are leading the charge to rethink and redefine retirement and life beyond the age of 60, they are also changing the language of aging. Past terminology — senior, elderly, aged, retired — do not resonate with this generation nor with many older adults who have already reached the age of 55 or 60. They are looking for new opportunities and new challenges to define what was traditionally viewed as retirement years. They are seeking opportunities that meet their interests and needs, but often don't easily find the connection. Communications and outreach efforts must acknowledge and incorporate these changes in their language and their interests.

Taking Action

Expand the California Volunteer Matching Network: To address the communications and connections issue across the full spectrum of service and volunteering, in late 2006 CaliforniaVolunteers launched a new statewide volunteer matching network. This network provides a comprehensive Web-based component with a central state portal and links to local volunteer centers and other organizations at the community level. It was implemented with the support of the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, First Lady Maria Shriver and the California Legislature, and in partnership with volunteer organizations throughout the state. It will be expanded and refined over the coming year.

Develop Messages and Communications Strategies: During the past several years, there has been considerable research on this evolving language of aging, but no clear cut new language has emerged. As CaliforniaVolunteers works with statewide and local partners to bolster communications, the focus should be on messages that appeal to the emerging generation of older Californians. Helpful research includes:

• Civic Ventures' report, Recasting Retirement: New Perspectives on Aging and Civic Engage, summarizes findings from research that was co-sponsored by Civic Ventures and Temple University Center for Intergenerational Learning. It provides insights into how Americans are experiencing retirement.
• Experience Corps' report, Appealing to Experience: Zeroing in On the Right Message, presents ideas for crafting successful recruitment messages aimed at older adults. It includes information gathered by Experience Corps from advertising executives, academic researchers, focus groups, nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, volunteer recruiters, photographers and storytellers.
• The Center on Aging at the University of Maryland 2001 report, Marketing Volunteer Opportunities to Baby Boomers, outlines ideas for marketing volunteer opportunities to Baby Boomers as a framework to help community organizations with their own planning.

Create Attractive Volunteer Opportunities: State and local organizations need to increase their understanding of older volunteers and how best to attract and support their volunteer efforts.

• A new research brief from the Corporation for National and Community Service, called Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering, reports that Baby Boomers today volunteer more than any age group and volunteer at higher rates than did past generations of the same age category. Retention from the first year of volunteering to the second year is highest when they're involved in professional or management activities, such as strategic planning, marketing or volunteer coordination.
• A recent study by Public/Private Ventures, Rewards of Giving: An In-depth Study of Older Adults' Volunteer Experiences in Urban Elementary Schools, examines the experiences of a group of older adults to provide lessons about how to run high-quality programs.