THE GENERAL'S NEXT CAMPAIGN

Presidents are expected to do good works at the end of their term, except perhaps for Gerald Ford, whose wife does that for him while he plays celebrity golf. But General Colin Powell is going through the process in reverse. Having postponed running for President, he is channeling his immense popularity into promoting volunteerism. He will serve as general chairman of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future, which kicks off with an Olympian opening ceremony in Philadelphia on April 27. Joining him on the steps of Independence Hall will be co-chairmen Bill Clinton and George Bush. (Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford will also appear during the three-day event.)

It's hard to think of a better use of celebrity than inspiring the rest of us to get off our collective duff. But the project is not without some risk. We all know what the road to hell is paved with. And Powell's crusade could be seen as giving succor to Republicans who would like to leave it to volunteers to reweave the tattered safety net. "Nonsense," he says. "This is no replacement for government help. We're partners." Waving toward the capital skyline outside the window of his suburban office, he adds, "It's hard to shred the politics out of things in this wonderful town of ours. But this is not a bipartisan effort; it's nonpartisan."

Powell wasn't an easy hire. Since his decision not to run, a lot of people have wondered what it would take to get the general out of semiretirement, off the phone (he is a well-known phone and fax abuser) and away from the mail (he answers every letter). Even his wife Alma was thinking he ought to get out of the basement more. He had a stack of offers from corporate boards, foundations and academia that if laid end to end would circle the Pentagon and make the Republican who actually did run weep. Then Ray Chambers, a philanthropist who has devoted the past decade to salvaging kids in Newark, New Jersey, asked Powell to look at an idea, first proposed by Governor George Romney before his death in 1995, to convene a national, star-studded event to promote volunteerism.

Powell says the project "fit with my priorities," but he didn't want to be involved in a fuzzy-headed launch of a feel-good balloon that would simply drift away. "I said no to offers to chair studies, to sit on boards to examine the cities. I wanted concrete goals, a focus on kids, deliverable results and a way to continue beyond the summit." Convinced that Chambers and the other organizers wanted those things as well, he agreed to join Clinton and Bush at a White House ceremony on Jan. 24 to announce the summit.

Powell (a board member of the United Negro College Fund, Howard University, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.) is actually Powell Inc., which he runs from his house in McLean, Virginia, and a boxy little office nearby that's decorated with Army memorabilia, a print of Teddy Roosevelt charging San Juan Hill and a collection of gimme coffee mugs. His day job is to give speeches for big fees, but he is spending 30% of his time now on the summit and expects that to grow.