Forum to explore how nonprofits can engage older workers

Difficulty attracting quality staff was one of the most serious challenges that surfaced in Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s 2006 study on the state of the nonprofit industry in Hawai‘i. Given the state’s lowest-in-the-nation unemployment rate and the fact that in the next 10 to 15 years almost 25 percent of the adult population will be over 60, one way to meet the challenge is to bring older workers into the nonprofit workforce.

To begin a conversation about how this is being done elsewhere and how it can happen in Hawai‘i, the Community Foundation will host an issues forum from 9 to 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at the Captain’s Room of the Hawai‘i Price Hotel, 100 Holomoana St., Honolulu.

The discussion will be led by Marc Freedman, CEO and founder of Civic Ventures, a San Francisco-based think tank and incubator generating ideas and inventing programs to help society achieve the greatest return on experience. Freedman is author of “Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America.”

Civic Ventures programs include: Experience Corps, a national service program for Americans over 55; the Next Chapter, an initiative to help people in the second half of life find pathways to significant service; the Lead with Experience Campaign and Purpose Prize, an initiative to invest in older social innovators, recognize their achievements and create a network of retirees willing to work for the greater good; and Still Working, a documentary project profiling older role models.

The forum is free of charge; validated parking is available for $4, valet parking for $7. To reserve a spot, contact Christina Cook at (808) 566-5560 or donorservices@hcf-hawaii.org by Jan. 10.