What the world needs now (aside from love, sweet love) is more people like the six winners of Encore.org’s 2015 Purpose Prize awards, whose names were announced today. These four women and two men, age 61 to 77, demonstrate that it’s possible to make a difference — a big difference — after 60.
Encore.org, a nonprofit building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond, awards the Purpose Prize to people over 60 “combining their passion and experience for social good.” This is the 10th annual awarding of the prizes; for 2015, one winner is receiving $100,000 and the other five are getting $25,000 each.
In the course of the Purpose Prize history, Encore has received nearly 10,000 nominations and selected 508 winners and fellows (runners-up), giving out more than $5 million to these inspiring do-gooders.
What struck me about many of this year’s winners — chosen from roughly 600 nominations — is that they didn’t wholly reinvent themselves for their encore careers. Instead, the work they’re now doing so brilliantly is often a natural extension of what they’ve done before — just with more, well, purpose.
Read more at Next Avenue.