ReServe Overview

Mission

ReServe connects experienced older adults with stipend-paying jobs that challenge them to use their lifetime skills for the public good. ReServe is founded on two principles. The first is to draw not only on the time of willing older adults but also on their lifetime skills, offering them the satisfaction of doing what they can do best. The second is to go beyond volunteerism with stipends; when money changes hands, both sides -- the older adults and the non-profit partners -- feel a deeper commitment to the work.

ReServe is working to educate civic institutions about the experience and wisdom that retirees can bring them, to work with the institutions to create service opportunities, and to recruit, place, train and support older adults on the job. ReServe’s ultimate goal: to bring fulfillment to the lives of older adults and to strengthen the institutions, the communities and the populations they serve, particularly vulnerable older adults.

History

The inspiration for ReServe came from Jack Rosenthal and Herb Sturz, New York residents deeply engaged in philanthropic activities. They were struck by the lack of post-retirement public service opportunities for the rising wave of educated older adults, and resolved in early 2005 to create an institution to make these connections.

ReServe set out to test two propositions. The first is that retired older adults are eager to put their skills and experience to use by working for pay at non-profit and public agencies. The second is that such agencies will recognize the value of and thus embrace older workers. The response to both propositions has been strong: ReServe is stretching and straining to grow faster than originally imagined. It is now possible to envision that this pilot experience in New York City can one day become a model for other cities.

The Challenge

The current generation of retirees is already the healthiest, longest-lived, best educated and most affluent in America’s history. Between the years 2000 and 2030, the number of Americans over 65 will more than double, from 35 million to 71.5 million. By 2030, one of four Americans will be over 65.

These statistics encompass those Americans born between 1946 and 1964: the baby boomers. The first baby boomers turned 60 in 2006 and their number will rise for each of the next 19 years. Life expectancy, meanwhile, keeps growing, while the retirement age remains static. The baby boomers will thus accelerate the already substantial growth of our aging population, which can expect to live more vigorously than any prior generation.

Benefits of Social Engagement

As retirement lengthens, older adults increasingly regard it as an active, engaged phase of life that includes work and public service. They have entered another stage of life, one that may extend for as much as 25 years. Americans over 50 consider feeling vital and physically active, being intellectually stimulated, and working as part of a group of people with a clear and important purpose important elements of happiness in their later years. In the words of one ReServe participant, a retired market analyst: “my mind wants to work. My heart wants to work.”

Engaging Volunteers

Older adults can face challenges in finding meaningful non-profit work. And once they do, working within non-profit agencies can be challenging. In the words of a retired executive who spent two years approaching non-profits and was asked to do work that was boring or ignored his business expertise, “I felt like a trainee again…I found an entrenched group of agencies that did not accept the skills that I could provide for them.”

Reaching Older Adults

ReServe specifically targets educated adults, serves them as direct clients, arranges stipends and works with non-profits to identify service opportunities. A qualified ReServist observed: “The key word that attracted me was ‘stipend.’ Some volunteer opportunities are so disorganized. It can be daunting, especially coming from a structured, corporate background. When I read about ReServe, I immediately got excited. It sounded like you were addressing the very problem I kept encountering.”

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