Giving Expertise

When a call goes out for volunteers for a good cause, Pamela Ramsden shows up. But this administrator at Episcopal Church headquarters in New York City has become irritated with some charity organizers. On one cleanup day, for example, nobody could find the paintbrushes, and everyone sat around eating bagels and chatting. "You want me to clean the bathrooms?" Ramsden asked impatiently. "O.K., but be sure you have the damn bucket here and don't waste my time. I have better things to do."

Ramsden, 61, is typical of many boomers and preboomers. They want to help make a better world, but they're busy. As for the unpaid work their mothers did--stuffing envelopes, ladling out soup in a church kitchen--forget it. Some, like Ramsden, will donate a few hours to such efforts, but most boomers, most of the time, are unwilling to offer themselves up as just another warm body.

According to a 2004 report by the Harvard School of Public Health in conjunction with the MetLife Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement, if the members of this best-educated generation in history step up, they want to do good in ways that tap into their expertise and experience. They also want to see the impact they're making. And that's not all. If they're retired, they look to public service to replace what they enjoyed about working: camaraderie, intellectual stimulation, the sense of achieving a goal. And they want all this only when it fits in with their lives--weekly, seasonally or on a one-time basis to respond to a crisis.

The good news for boomers restless to use their energies in new, socially productive ways is that innovative openings are springing up every day that not only satisfy these needs but also provide unanticipated bonuses.

Ramsden found her perfect slot at the Grace Institute's mentoring program, where she coaches low-income women on the skills they need to land office jobs: appropriate office behavior, résumé writing and self-presentation. A favorite tutorial she conducted focused on the dos and don'ts of e-mails. Drawing on her own experience, she offered anecdotes of disastrously funny mistakes--like hitting REPLY to a Listserv message, not realizing everyone in the office would read a catty remark about a colleague. "You're teaching these women about relationships in the workplace," Ramsden says. "I can see the difference I make."

Ramsden didn't fall into this assignment. She helped create it as a member of the Transition Network (TTN), an organization of retired professional women who help one another explore the next chapters in their lives. Initially, TTN found few volunteer opportunities that matched its members' high-level skills. So it approached the Grace Institute and other worthy charities with proposals for new programs. In return, TTN asked that its members be used in teams--because the women wanted the collegiality of working together.