Baby Boomers in Action!
An Initiative in Iowa to Recruit Baby Boomer Volunteers
By
Elaine Hanson
and
Elizabeth Weinstein

Overview
Anticipating the huge number of Baby Boomers entering retirement in the next two decades, RSVP of North Central Iowa leaders decided to focus their attention on how to engage that cohort in volunteer service. Even the ability to interest a small percentage of the approximately 22,000 Baby Boomers in north central Iowa in volunteerism could yield enormous dividends for the citizens in the region.

In addition, the Corporation for National and Community Service, of which RSVP is a grantee, set one of its four national strategic goals to focus specifically on Baby Boomers. “Harnessing Baby Boomers’ experience” emphasizes the need to tap into this rich resource of potential volunteers and is a call to action for all program leaders under the CNCS umbrella. The National Target for 2010 is to engage an additional 3 million Baby Boomers in volunteering up from 25.8 million in 2005.

In communities across North Central Iowa, the need for services provided by volunteers has increased substantially and this need is likely to continue well into the future. Tight social service budgets and increased needs of the elderly and the young have made securing quality volunteers an imperative in the four county area that RSVP serves. Iowans have a history of neighbor helping neighbor and consequently, volunteerism is a way of life for many. Building on that ethos is one of the keys to securing large numbers of Baby Boomer volunteers. Acknowledgement of what has been accomplished already by a strong contingent of volunteers, is important as a bridge to envision the possibilities of what can be achieved with a dramatic increase in the number of volunteers. This is a prime time for matching needs of communities to Baby Boomers seeking volunteer opportunities.

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