Two social innovators, one 80 and hugely accomplished and one just starting out, meet at a conference. John Gardner — former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, founder of Common Cause, and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom — becomes a friend and mentor to Marc Freedman, then 35, as the two develop an idea to mobilize the time, talent and experience of older Americans to help children thrive.

With Gardner, Dr. Linda Fried and Tom Endres, Freedman co-founds Experience Corps to match reading tutors aged 55+ with school children. AARP now runs the program, serving over 30,000 students each year in more than 20 cities across the country.

With a small team of colleagues, Freedman, already the author of two books — The Kindness of Strangers and Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America — creates Civic Ventures.

Civic Ventures launches The Purpose Prize to tell a new story about the tremendous potential for social contribution and impact in later life. Over 10 years, with support from the John Templeton Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies, the program invested $5 million in more than 500 social entrepreneurs over 60. The Purpose Prize lives today as a program of AARP.

The New York Times covers Freedman’s new book, Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life (“Discovering Second Acts in Sustained Working Lives”). The Times called Freedman "the voice of aging baby boomers who are eschewing retirement for what he calls 'encore careers,' long periods of meaningful and sustaining work later in life."

Civic Ventures creates Encore Fellowships to match skilled, seasoned professionals with social sector organizations in high impact, paid leadership engagements. To date, more than 2,000 Fellows have provided over 2 million hours of service, working on multigenerational teams and contributing the equivalent of $200 million in talent to nonprofits in 50 metropolitan areas.

Freedman receives the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship for “transformative leaders whose organizations disrupt the status quo, drive sustainable large-scale change, and are poised to create even greater impact.”

The Wall Street Journal calls Freedman’s new book, The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife, “invaluable and inspiring reading.” USA Today hails Freedman as “a natural storyteller, a deep researcher and a forward thinker.”

Encore.org launches a network of leaders to champion the civic, social, and economic contributions of people over 50. Today, the Encore Network is an independent, nonprofit coalition with leaders from 11 countries.

Going all in on second acts for the greater good, Civic Ventures becomes Encore.org.

Encore VP Marci Alboher talks about her new book, The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life, on The Today Show.

With hundreds of nonprofit partners, Encore.org launches the Gen2Gen Campaign to mobilize older adults to stand up and show up for – and with – young people.

The Wall Street Journal ranks How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations, Freedman’s newest book, #1 on its list of the year’s best books on aging well.

Encore, in partnership with the OpEd Project, launches the Encore Public Voices Fellowship to accelerate the ideas and impact of new and necessary thought leaders working at the intersection of aging, longevity, intergenerational connection and social justice.

The Encore Physicians program, with support from Kaiser Permanente Northern California Community Benefit Programs, begins placing retired physicians in Bay Area community health centers to treat underserved people and mentor younger clinicians.

Encore.org VP Eunice Lin Nichols receives the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for advancing innovative and effective solutions to California’s most significant issues.

In the early days of the pandemic, Encore team members Phyllis Segal and Dr. Gerry Bourne call for an intergenerational vaccine corps in a Newsweek op-ed. With support from AmeriCorps Seniors, it becomes a reality. The Encore Intergenerational Vaccine Corps mobilizes retired medical professionals — and volunteers of all ages — to help vaccinate 47,000 underserved people in the Bay Area.

To support ambitious initiatives to solve problems and bridge generational divides, Encore’s Gen2Gen Innovation Fellowship enlists its first cohort of 15 innovators of all ages. The nine-month program provides expert coaching and peer assistance, exposure to important networks, help creating a three-minute pitch video, and a $10,000 stipend.

The Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), an award-winning and influential magazine and website, publishes “Meeting the Multigenerational Moment” in partnership with Encore.org and The Eisner Foundation. The 13-part series shines a light on some of the nation’s most promising intergenerational innovations.

In partnership with AmeriCorps, Encore announces eight recipients of $25,000 Generations Serving Together incentive grants to age-integrate national service programs across the country.

Marc Freedman captures an emerging cultural shift in an essay published by The Boston Globe. There’s evidence, he writes, that popular culture is moving away from ageist stereotypes in favor of artistic collaborations that “illustrate the power of cross-generational connection and collaboration” and win over audiences, too.

Encore Board Chair Susan Gianinno announces that Marc Freedman and Eunice Lin Nichols will become co-CEOs. “It feels so important to walk the talk, practicing cogeneration as we support others who are reaching across generational divides to change the world,” she writes.

Encore.org commissions NORC at the University of Chicago to find out what Americans think about cogeneration. The results reveal widespread enthusiasm about working across generations for change, along with notable differences in perspective by generation and race.

Encore.org becomes CoGenerate, doubling down on a strategy we call cogeneration and define as older and younger generations coming together to solve problems, bridge divides and co-create the future.

CoGenerate launches the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity to elevate and accelerate innovative models bringing generations together to help create a more inclusive and prosperous future.

We mark our 25th anniversary with gratitude to the thousands of people who have made this work possible — innovators and thinkers, leaders and followers, educators and activists, our funders and staff. Thank you for all you do. We look forward to doing so much more together!