Call us catalysts, thought leaders, innovators, community builders — we answer to them all. But, in this our 25th year, the term we most embrace is “norm entrepreneurs.”
In our first two decades, we helped change the norm from golden years to encore careers, from “graying as playing” to “second acts for the greater good.” Now we’re working to change the norm from generations apart to generations together, bridging divides and tackling problems that no generation can solve alone.
On this anniversary, we look back with pride, then forward with vision, drive and urgency. For your role in our past and our future, we’re so grateful. Thank you for all you’ve done and for all you are doing to advance and support this critical work.
Please consider making a donation to honor our 25th anniversary and invest in our future.
We look forward to doing so much more together!
Marc Freedman
Founder and Co-CEO
Eunice Lin Nichols
Co-CEO
things we look back on with pride
1. We introduced and popularized the term “encore”
and helped change the narrative and the norm for the years beyond midlife.
2. We created Experience Corps
(now AARP Experience Corps), a 20-city tutoring program engaging older volunteers to help 30,000 K-3 students learn to read every year. Studies show the program boosts kids’ reading and social-emotional skills, while improving the older adults’ mental and physical health.
3. We launched The Purpose Prize
(now AARP Purpose Prize), to tell a new story about creativity and innovation in the second half of life. Called “a MacArthur genius award for older adults,” the Prize has invested nearly $8 million in social innovators over 50.
4. We collaborated closely with AARP
the world’s largest organization on aging, to lean into purpose and the power of cross-generational relationships in later life. Watch for a new AARP-produced documentary, The Hidden Power of Purpose, narrated by Debbie Allen.
5. We placed more than 2,300 Encore Fellows
seasoned professionals who have provided over 2 million hours of service to the social sector, contributing the equivalent of $200 million to nonprofits in more than 50 US cities. Fast Company called the program “a bold and timely idea that wows us…the kind of innovative thinking that can transform lives and change our world.”
6. We accelerated and amplified the work of 162 innovation and public voices fellows.
Public voices fellows diversified thought leadership at the intersection of longevity, intergenerational connection, and social justice. Innovation Fellows bridged generational divides while solving big problems like racial and climate justice, the need for more early childhood education, the loneliness epidemic, just to name a few.
7. We launched the Intergenerational Vaccine Corps
during the early days of Covid, mobilizing retired medical professionals and volunteers of all ages working alongside them to vaccinate 47,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area.
8. We spoke from some big stages
including the Aspen Ideas Festival, the United Nations, the Skoll World Forum, the World Economic Forum, the Milken Global Conference, SXSW, TED Democracy, and dozens of major universities.
9. We produced six books read by hundreds of thousands of people.
Marc Freedman wrote The Kindness of Strangers, Prime Time, Encore, The Big Shift, and How to Live Forever. VP Marci Alboher wrote The Encore Career Handbook.
10. We won some big awards
including the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the World Economic Forum’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, and the Eisner Prize for Intergenerational Excellence.
1. We introduced and popularized the term “encore”
and helped change the narrative and the norm for the years beyond midlife.
2. We created Experience Corps
(now AARP Experience Corps), a 20-city tutoring program engaging older volunteers to help 30,000 K-3 students learn to read every year. Studies show the program boosts kids’ reading and social-emotional skills, while improving the older adults’ mental and physical health.
3. We launched The Purpose Prize
(now AARP Purpose Prize), to tell a new story about creativity and innovation in the second half of life. Called “a MacArthur genius award for older adults,” the Prize has invested nearly $8 million in social innovators over 50.
4. We collaborated closely with AARP
the world’s largest organization on aging, to lean into purpose and the power of cross-generational relationships in later life. Watch for a new AARP-produced documentary, The Hidden Power of Purpose, narrated by Debbie Allen.
5. We placed more than 2,300 Encore Fellows
seasoned professionals who have provided over 2 million hours of service to the social sector, contributing the equivalent of $200 million to nonprofits in more than 50 US cities. Fast Company called the program “a bold and timely idea that wows us…the kind of innovative thinking that can transform lives and change our world.”
6. We accelerated and amplified the work of 162 innovation and public voices fellows.
Public voices fellows diversified thought leadership at the intersection of longevity, intergenerational connection, and social justice. Innovation Fellows bridged generational divides while solving big problems like racial and climate justice, the need for more early childhood education, the loneliness epidemic, just to name a few.
7. We launched the Intergenerational Vaccine Corps
during the early days of Covid, mobilizing retired medical professionals and volunteers of all ages working alongside them to vaccinate 47,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area.
8. We spoke from some big stages
including the Aspen Ideas Festival, the United Nations, the Skoll World Forum, the World Economic Forum, the Milken Global Conference, SXSW, TED Democracy, and dozens of major universities.
9. We produced six books read by hundreds of thousands of people.
Marc Freedman wrote The Kindness of Strangers, Prime Time, Encore, The Big Shift, and How to Live Forever. VP Marci Alboher wrote The Encore Career Handbook.
10. We won some big awards
including the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the World Economic Forum’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, and the Eisner Prize for Intergenerational Excellence.
25 years of impact
Here’s a quick look at what we’ve accomplished through visionary leadership, groundbreaking ideas, powerful partnerships and the inspired work of thousands of local champions.
Honor our 25th anniversary. Invest in our future.
things we can’t wait to do next
1. Popularize cogeneration
as a word, a strategy and a movement.
2. Publish The Future of Together
a new book making the case for generational connection and collaboration.
3. Start an intergenerational conversation
by listening to and sharing what 30 leaders under 30 say they want (and don’t want) from older allies.
4. Distill and disseminate best practices
to help more individuals and organizations learn to cogenerate.
5. Launch the CoGen Challenge to Fight Loneliness
elevating innovative models bringing older and younger people together to end social isolation and loneliness.
6. Launch the Gennies
a new prize to celebrate cogenerational creativity in pop culture.
7. Start up Music Across Generations
demonstrating the power of music to unite the generations.
8. Inaugurate CoGen Fellows
to connect experienced talent with young leaders driving social change for mutual benefit and social impact, and the CoGen Corps to demonstrate the power of old and young serving side-by-side.
9. Cultivate a diverse leadership community
of committed older and younger changemakers and funders who will power this movement.
10. Establish CoGen Live
an annual ideas and innovation festival designed to serve as a center of gravity for our growing movement.
Honor our 25th anniversary. Invest in our future.
Our 5-year plan
We’ll create a compelling alternative to age segregation by making cogeneration credible, doable, and sustainable.
Our 5-year plan
We’ll create a compelling alternative to age segregation by making cogeneration credible, doable, and sustainable.
With gratitude
Thank you to the institutional donors that have supported our work for the past 25 years!
AARP
Atlantic Philanthropies
AmeriCorps
Annenberg Foundation
Ares Charitable Foundation
Association for Growth and Education
Bechtel Foundation
Blue Shield of California
Capital Impact
Cargill Foundation
Carnegie Foundation
Carolyn K Tribe Foundation
Charles Hayden Foundation
City of San Jose
The Cleveland Foundation
David & Lucile Packard Foundation
The Deerbrook Charitable Trust
East Bay Community Foundation
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
Einhorn Collaborative
Eisner Foundation
Fidelity Investments
Gerbode Foundation
Goldman Sachs
Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Foundation
Hasbro Children’s Foundation
Hearst Foundation
Heising-Simons Foundation
Hewlett Packard
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
IBM
Intel
The James Irvine Foundation
John Templeton Foundation
Kaiser Foundation
Legacy Ventures
Lodestar Foundation
M Center of Excellence
Mackenzie Scott
The May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust
MetLife Foundation
New Pluralists
Partnership for American Democracy
The Pinkerton Foundation
Qualcomm
Rose Community Foundation
RRF Foundation for Aging
Rockefeller Foundation
The Schultz Family Foundation
The Sherry Lansing Foundation
The Skoll Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Social Venture Partners
Stanford University
Symetra Life Insurance
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
W. M. Keck Foundation
AARP
Atlantic Philanthropies
AmeriCorps
Annenberg Foundation
Ares Charitable Foundation
Association for Growth and Education
Bechtel Foundation
Blue Shield of California
Capital Impact
Cargill Foundation
Carnegie Foundation
Carolyn K Tribe Foundation
Charles Hayden Foundation
City of San Jose
The Cleveland Foundation
David & Lucile Packard Foundation
The Deerbrook Charitable Trust
East Bay Community Foundation
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
Einhorn Collaborative
Eisner Foundation
Fidelity Investments
Gerbode Foundation
Goldman Sachs
Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Foundation
Hasbro Children’s Foundation
Hearst Foundation
Heising-Simons Foundation
Hewlett Packard
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
IBM
Intel
The James Irvine Foundation
John Templeton Foundation
Kaiser Foundation
Legacy Ventures
Lodestar Foundation
M Center of Excellence
Mackenzie Scott
The May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust
MetLife Foundation
New Pluralists
Partnership for American Democracy
The Pinkerton Foundation
Qualcomm
Rose Community Foundation
RRF Foundation for Aging
Rockefeller Foundation
The Schultz Family Foundation
The Sherry Lansing Foundation
The Skoll Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Social Venture Partners
Stanford University
Symetra Life Insurance
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
W. M. Keck Foundation