May 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 52

Tapping into Talent
Please describe the increase
you are seeing in service and
volunteerism among those
55 and older.
[Boomers] represent an incredible
wealth of experience, education, and
skills. Now more than ever, research
shows that this generation wants to continue to do work that will make a positive
impact in their communities while putting their expertise to good use. at
handsOn Greater DC Cares, the SkillsBased Volunteering Program offers a variety of opportunities to serve, from
creating a marketing and communications plan for a nonprofit, to mentoring a
young person to become the first in their
family to go to college, to participating
on a nonprofit's Board of Directors.
we're certainly not alone in this
movement to create opportunities that
will change the image of service from
the soup kitchen to the board
room. There is a groundswell taking

Interview with Laura Toscano,
Manager of Skills-Based Volunteering,
HandsOn Greater DC Cares

place, especially among the Baby
Boomer generation, in support of
skills-based service opportunities. we
see more individuals 55 and older registering to volunteer every day.

What types of volunteering are
most popular among this
demographic? How do you
successfully engage your
volunteers?
it's an exciting time because everyone
is beginning to realize that not all volunteering requires paint. Pro bono consulting, board service, and mentoring
are all incredibly popular forms of volunteerism among this demographic. we've discovered that the key to
engaging a more diverse demographic
of volunteers is as simple as asking

Hoskins's experiences have led her to similar
conclusions, and as a result she and her staff now
stress skills-based volunteering. [See accompanying interview with HandsOn Greater DC Cares
skills-based volunteering manager Laura Toscano
for a fuller discussion of that approach.] Hoskins also
recommends forming relationships with volunteers
through short-term, carefully outlined skills-based
opportunities. A typical description, she says, would
go something like this: " I have a graphic design job.
It should take 5 hours. The skills I need are graphic
design and desktop publishing. You are saving this
organization $500 by doing it.
" When a person looks at that as an opportunity, they say, sure, I've got five hours. I've got those
skills. That's very different from saying, 'Would you
like to be a volunteer for our organization? We'll need you
every week from now until eternity and we don't know exactly what we're going to need you from week to week.
And we're really going to be dependent on you, so you'll
feel bad if you go on a three-week vacation.' "

them to do something skill-specific. a
call for folks to " volunteer " is so diffuse
as to inspire little sense of civic responsibility. But when you need someone
with a specific area of expertise to complete a definable project on a definable
timeline, baby boomers and retired professionals raise their hand to give back.
Ninety-two percent of nonprofits
don't have enough pro bono resources,
and this type of capacity-building project leverages six times more value per
hour than a typical day of checking in
books at the library. Pro bono service
is also especially critical for retired professionals: it allows them to maintain
the skills they have developed over a
lifetime, see their work tied to positive
impact, and remain connected to the
community around them.

senior center directors around the
country are ﬁnding skills-based
volunteering to be the Boomers'
preferred way of giving back.

" It's a different way of approaching volunteering, "
Hoskins concludes. " We need to redefine what we're asking so that we can make matches. "
maureen Hannan is Senior Editor of Parks &

Recreation.

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