Doing Good While Living Well

Jill posts some great suggestions above. I thought I might add my story to the mix.

I spent three years in graduate school and doing internships and fellowships that paid between $500 and $1500/month before landing a job at IDEO that paid me competitively. Had I not spent this time working for Scojo Foundation and Acumen Fund for low compensation, the opportunity to work at IDEO would not have been available. While making enough money to live comfortably is certainly a respectable goal, my recommendation would be to make it a mid-term rather than a short-term goal. If you do what you love, you will figure out how to make money from it later.

Another option to add to Jill's list is to proactively reach out to companies and create a position for yourself there. Lots of companies see the importance of social and environmental impact but don't really know how to approach it. They're not posting positions because they're not clear about what they want and need. Show them you are indispensable to their business. And, make a business case for the social and environmental impact work that you're encouraging them to move into.

Thanks for your comment Jocelyn. I heard a similar sentiment about following your passion from Brigitta Witt who is Vice President, Environmental Affairs for Global Hyatt Corporation. Said Brigitta, "I figured out what I was passionate about and what was important to me in my life and that of my family. Since I realized that my personal commitment to environmental issues was one that I could meld with my professional aspirations, the rest was easy!".

I also really appreciated your suggestion to proactively reach out to companies to create your position. In your blog you mention that you're involved in a new initiative at IDEO, a design and innovation firm, around design for social impact and design for the base of the pyramid. Can you describe your efforts to build out this business and how IDEO became interested in serving this community rather than just for-profit companies?

Thanks for your comments and questions, Jill, and for the engaging discussion here. To answer Jill's questions, IDEO decided to start an initiative around design for social impact for a number of reasons. First, the CEO and employees at all levels believe that design thinking can effectively address some of the world's largest problems (provision of low-cost health care, access to clean water, design of low-cost housing, etc.). IDEO also believes that doing work for social enterprises is tough and that we can keep our design skills sharp if we add layers of complexity to the work we do (offerings must be low-cost, made with locally available materials, etc.). Third, IDEO sees this as a way to attract top talent. Many people are no longer willing to just take a secure job that pays well. They want to do something meaningful and feel like they're making a difference. To get the best, you need to offer them what they're looking for. And, finally, IDEO sees a business opportunity to serve this market.

The social impact initiative at IDEO is just taking off and we've been able to do work with many interesting clients (social enterprises, non-profits, foundations, and multinationals). Over the past few years, we have done work with Kickstart, Design that Matters, Acumen Fund, Gates Foundation, the Red Cross, Kellogg Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and d.Light, to name a few.

I think you hit the nail on the head there - to recruit and retain the best employees, companies need to contribute to making the world a better place. The company you work for is an extension of yourself in this way. Study after study has showed that consumer buying preferences and potential employees decisions are heavily influenced by corporate social responsibility. Socially responsible investing is taking a chunk of all investment dollars.

To be competitive, companies need to do good. Even looking at the bottom line - "About one in every ten dollars of assets under management in the U.S. - an estimated $2.3 trillion out of $24 trillion - is being invested in companies that rate highly on some measure of social responsibility." - a bet that socially responsible companies will outperform others. (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391850/index.htm) And according to a Goldman Sachs report, globally, "companies that are considered leaders in implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies to create sustained competitive advantage have outperformed the general stock market by 25 per cent since August 2005. In addition, 72 per cent of these companies have outperformed their peers over the same period." (http://www.csrwire.com/News/9112.html) Whew! No wonder the number of CSR jobs is on the rise.

This is an excellent suggestion to those just starting out, or those with the financial flexibility to ease into a second career... or those who can't "afford" to spend another day in a position about which they feel less than passionate.

Another way to approach this, if the internship/fellowship route is financially unrealistic, is to volunteer strategically. Rather than volunteer to clean up a neighborhood park or hand out food to the homeless - both noble pursuits to be certain - volunteer for a "consulting" assignment where you organize the corporations in the community to stand as better corporate citizens and clean up the park on their own, or design a more innovative system by which area restaurants team with local service providers to become more efficient and less wasteful. Show your stuff either as a board member or as a pro-bono consultant, but be very clear that in exchange you expect to be assisted with networking and, which the time comes, references on how you were about to work within a nonprofit environment.

Jill asked me to relate my experience, so here goes. I currently am responsible for philanthropy at NetSuite (www.netsuite.com/giving). I've done a lot of things prior to this job... international development, run nonprofits, enterprise software product management, managed a $10M foundation grant portfolio and some other things. Most of my career is bouncing between do good & no money; do good & very little money; and real jobs. Only recently have I been able to combine real jobs and do good.

When people ask me how I got the NetSuite job, it was pretty simple... my startup didn't take off, I needed a regular job, a quick search of the job boards for the word philanthropy identified the job. I applied and my fairly bizarre background stood out as an excellent candidate.

The great thing that is happening today is that there is an explosion of non-entrepreneurial (i.e. you work for someone else) "do gooder" jobs, many with good pay and benefits. Many of those jobs are of a quality that just didn't exist 15 years ago when I started my career. I jumped off into a space that I know would NEVER pay well and have been pleasantly surprised at the results.

However, I believe that someone who's career was exclusively comprised of well-paying do-gooder jobs is not a very good candidate for most jobs that are trying to deliver outcomes for underserved communities. It is really hard to have first hand understanding of what makes sense "on the ground" when you have never worked "on the ground". That said, I doubt that a person with that lack of on-the-ground experience would have difficulty getting a job.

I think the biggest lesson I've learned is that social enterprises and other well paying do gooder jobs don't have established career paths. Diversity of experience and entrepreneurial skills/experience give you flexible platform to make the case your would be effective in a wide range of roles. Until this sector has been around for a few decades and establishes some clear career paths, that flexibility is probably the most critical element.

Finally, though I don't think this is a top priority for most hiring, spend some time on the ground. Bit the bullet, take a salary cut and get in the midst of some people you are trying to help. It will help you be far more effective in the future.

Great story, David. Good to hear that you think there is an explosion of do gooder jobs, and equally interesting that you weren't expecting this outcome when you started in philanthropy but have been pleasantly surprised.

Questions for everyone else based on David and Jocelyn's experiences: 1. Should you have to pay your "low income dues" to get one of these "do gooder well paying" jobs? 2. Has anyone else had to create their do-gooder job? 3. Have you gone the other way - quitting the high paying job to "bite the bullet, take a salary cut, and get in the midst of some of people you are trying to help"?

Another excellent point, and one that I'd like to expand upon. This is where a lot of job seekers fail. They rely solely on how others have defined them in terms of their day job but forget to look at the broader picture. You likely have gathered skills at work that are readily inventoried, but what about the rest of the hours in your day? What have you done for your child’s school? How have you volunteered in your place of worship? What have you learned along the way through your involvement in neighborhood committees? Have your hobbies or leisure activities lent you expertise relevant to your new career? Nonprofit job titles tend to be different and may be an amalgam of several jobs you have come to know in the corporate sector. Assessing your skills—from both the paid and unpaid hours in your day—will allow you to see the whole you and enable you to target the right job title for you in the nonprofit sector.

Any job

for any mission -- allows an employee to build assets. How many times at a for-profit job do people say, "well, they're not paying me anything like what I'm worth [on the market], but I'm learning a lot / exposed to good people / building a reputation."

In the non-profit world, there's a complication to this simple formula, and that's in the way "not paying me what I'm worth on the market" is interpreted. In the past, there have been two markets: (1) the corporate market and (2) the NGO market. If you want to have secular political power via the NGO market (non-profits), you "pay to play." That's a fine way to ensure that only those with financial means (or who are desperate, or who are demagogues) get to shape society, by the way.

However, the concept of "social entrepreneurialism" throws that into a tailspin. One of the enduring contributions of "Generation X" has been that what used to be called being a "slacker," i.e. wanting a work/life balance, not taking on-the-job degradation, being unwilling to sacrifice ones' children's baseball games for the corporation... in short, taking responsibility seriously (which also means not taking it on frivolously) ...is now understood to be a given by the incoming college graduates. Hey, you have to stand up for yourself!

With the concept of responsibility to one's society and self now firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist, these two labor markets finally converge: the NGO market can no longer assume that it has a "lock" on a particular labor supply.

So, where does this leave us? At the most important point: sourcing! In order to hire, we need to be sure to cast a wide enough net. Too many times do I see social networks and collegiate ties proxy for in-depth vetting. What this does is narrow the pool of eligible candidates.

In particular, sourcing is an issue regarding succession planning and finding new leaders. The way leadership looks is changing. It looks different now than it has in the past because we're in a time of unprecedented social and environmental volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. (VUCA, to those who have heard the term.)

================= So, to summarize: -----------------

It's perfectly reasonable to demand market value, but keep in mind that it's a package of financial, social, knowledge, and health assets. Non-profits should avoid assuming that they can source employees in the same way as in the past, and that means they need to consider that their remuneration composition should change in order to meet the needs of their best candidates.

Let's go back to Jill's original article, Tom Tierney's study, and think about them and this wise post. It's absolutely true that the current bench of nonprofit talent isn't deep enough (or necessarily skilled enough) for the challenges facing the independent sector of tomorrow. It's the chief challenge of search firm's like mine. In fact, we don't go looking for clients, they find us and in spades. What we need is good talent to fill all those searches.

Now, using statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Tom Tierney's great study, let's look at what this more globall:

Growth in the nonprofit sector has radically outpaced growth in the private and government sectors over the past 20 years. In fact, between 1987 and 2005, the number of nonprofits in the United States grew at nearly triple the rate of the business sector.

As anyone in the for-profit sector knows, growth means opportunity. But where does this growth come from, and what does it mean for career changers?

First, the baby boomer generation is responsible for creating and leading many of the nation’s nonprofits, and as this group retires over the next decade, the rate of nonprofit executive transition is expected to climb 10 to 15 percent, meaning that three to four out of every five executive director jobs will be vacated between now and 2010. This will produce a leadership vacuum unparalleled in the history of the nonprofit sector, leaving nonprofits scrambling for experienced managers. More than just causing change at the top, leadership vacuums create ripple effects, sending waves of turnover throughout every level of the organizational chart.

Second, to respond to this leadership deficit, according to Tierney, nonprofits will need to address three difficult but critical imperatives, most of which are also prevalent in the for-profit sector:

1. Invest in leadership capacity 2. Refine management rewards to attract and retain top talent 3. Expand recruiting horizons and foster individual career mobility.

This is very good news for career changers, particularly the last item. As the staffing needs of nonprofits multiply, hiring corporate employees coming into the sector at all levels will become a common practice.

Most nonprofits have neither the historical record of accomplishment nor the current resources to develop top-level senior management from within their own ranks. Further, they often lack the funds necessary to hire top-flight recruiting consultants who scour the Earth for perfect candidates. Yet filling this overwhelming leadership vacuum will force the nonprofit sector to take a long, hard look at the types of staff it employs and retains. Nonprofits will need to be much more flexible about the types of candidates they interview and the skills they bring on board. Candidates with experience in rapid-growth environments, expertise in management that is nurturing while still results-driven, and histories of actively grooming internal staff will thrive in the nonprofit sector. This includes, in large part, job seekers from the for-profit sector.

It is true that we, as professionals, ought to create our own opportunities if we aspire to live well while doing good. We are the masters of our own careers, after all! And with the emergence of social enterprises and (dare I say it) the continual development of corporate social responsibility, there are more and more opportunities out there to be made.

However, I hesitate to let the nonprofit sector off the hook so quickly. For so long, nonprofit organizations have not had the capacity to focus on meaningful leadership and career development – understandable, since small organizations need to focus on their mission. But studies (like the YNPN survey cited in the original article above) show that young nonprofit professionals are increasingly disillusioned by their career prospects in this sector. With the battle for talent raging on around us, how will nonprofits compete for the best people? And when young professionals see their executive directors as stressed out, overworked but talented individuals with a low quality of life, what kind of message are we sending?

Perhaps the third sector as a whole needs to take a closer look, not just at talent recruitment, but also talent retention. Sure, we know that young professionals tend to have shorter tenures with an organization, but maybe there is an opportunity here to think about talent retention on a sector-level. A single nonprofit would be hard pressed, I suspect, to develop its version of the private sector’s leadership development programs. But, if the nonprofit sector as a whole is growing faster than the others, isn’t it now in a better position to think hard about these issues? Is there room for the industry to address this problem and its solutions collectively?

Vanessa, you bring up an intriguing idea. If individual nonprofits cannot provide the leadership training and "a ladder" of career development to climb, can the sector as a whole step in to help? Sounds like a social entrepreneurship venture to me - Put together a way for nonprofits to train, advance, and retain talent in the nonprofit sector.

Anyone have any ideas on how to do that? Are there programs doing this now and how can small nonprofits participate? What would it take to take to provide leadership training and a path to keep people engaged, learning, and increasingly well compensated, so that they remain enthusiastic and dedicated to the nonprofit sphere?

Jill, to respond to your question about a leadership training program for the social sector, I think Acumen Fund's fellowship does a great job addressing that need. The purpose of the program is to train people who have potential to be the next generation of leaders.

Acumen Fund has seen an incredible amount of demand for the fellows program and with only 8 or so slots a year, there are literally thousands of other people who are looking for these opportunities. I completely agree that there's certainly a need for leadership development programs and I hope we can see more launch in the coming years.

Ah, Jill! I am so glad you brought this up! I think the most important infrastructure development in the nonprofit sector can be had at the base of the organizational pyramid. The sector is full of bright, talented, passionate young people fresh from university who are taking positions where there is a serious misalignment of existing and needed skills. These young professionals struggle to do great work in environments with non-existant training budgets and often without knowing what skills they need or how to access the development they want. Yes, larger organizations have great training, but given the abundance of small npos in our country (and ones unaffiliated with a larger national network), there is a serious gap that needs to be addressed. I really believe that by working to resolve the issue of hard and soft skill development, the sector will improve its ability to keep committed workers and to establish a pipeline of talent for years to come.

I'm leading a small group at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business to design and build a web 2.0 solution to address this very issue by strengthening the dissemination of knowledge, building localized communities of practice/networks and creating a structure in which young nonprofit professionals assess skills and map career paths that will keep them engaged in community work. We would love to have participation from the larger social enterprise community as we engage in the design process. Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Hi Fran, Thank you for posting and sharing the initiative that you are working on. I look forward to reading more about it. Cheers, Jill

The fattest line on most nonprofits’ budgets is payroll and benefits, yet nonprofit organizations remain infamous for underpaying talent. There is no disputing the fact that nonprofits generally pay far less than their for-profit counterparts for the same level of talent. This is not something nonprofits choose to do; it is something they are forced to do. Often, their funders demand it, expecting that the vast majority of any donation will address service needs in the field, not overhead at the home office. The most difficult funding a nonprofit can secure is funding for general operating costs, including salaries. Funders want to say that their money went to hepatitis vaccinations for 600 infants, books for 100 students, or meals delivered to 50 elderly shut-ins. No one wants to boast to their friends or their board of directors that they gave $50,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Atlanta to pay half the salary of one-third of the IT department. It’s not sexy, although without that half salary for a third of the IT department, not one child in Atlanta would get the mentoring services that those “sexier” donations fund. At the end of the day, dollars are dollars to a nonprofit regardless of how they are earmarked; the earmarking just makes for harder accounting, which, ironically, costs the nonprofits more general operating dollars in the end.

However, while it is true that most nonprofits are looking for $300,000 of talent for only $100,000 a year, nonprofit salaries are becoming more and more competitive. Funders have become more sophisticated, and some have begun to use a venture philanthropy approach, rewarding high-functioning nonprofits with general (i.e., unrestricted) funds for purposes such as attracting great talent. Such funding has allowed nonprofits to pay more competitive wages for staff with a broader set of skills, like you and your fellow corporate career changers.

In addition, some nonprofits pay better than others. Organizations fighting for civil rights, human rights, women’s rights, or animal rights tend to pay toward the lower end of the spectrum. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find nonprofits that fight against poverty wages paying their own employees impossibly low salaries. Smaller organizations that have been run by the same person for long periods of time are less likely to have faced a competitive analysis of their wages. As such, they may not be paying current market value for their people; I recently heard this jokingly referred to as "founder's discount." Conversely, nonprofits with high staff turnover have spent a great deal of time and effort negotiating job offers and better understand the wages they need to pay. Research institutions, colleges and universities, and foundations, for example, tend to pay toward the top of the nonprofit sector and also have more comprehensive benefits packages.

Jessica and Laura bring out some important facts about the historical and embedded traditions in nonprofit hiring. The need to reach out from the traditional pool of applicants is becoming more dire, especially given the dramatic turnover expected that Laura explains.

These challenges are compounded, it seems to me, by the public perception of what is "proper" for nonprofits to pay. Nonprofit expert Clara Miller points out that a proposed revision of the tax form for nonprofits "“distorts public understanding” of nonprofit groups by focusing on the compensation of higher-paid officials" and implies that "salary levels are “profligate” [a great word meaning wildly extravagant] at nonprofit organizations, which struggle to attract and retain talented employees." [http://chronicle.com/news/article/3441/nonprofit-expert-says-new-tax-form-focuses-too-much-on-salaries]

Meanwhile, "Sen. Elizabeth Schneider, D-Orono, doesn't think nonprofits in Maine that receive government funding should be allowed to pay their top executives more than $250,000 a year. She's sponsoring a bill, Legislative Document 1792, that would limit compensation for officers and directors of nonprofits." [http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3875805.html]

In the face of these types of challenges, how does a nonprofit justify to it's supporters the importance of recruiting and retaining top talent, and the paying of competitive salaries to achieve this?

What are appropriate salaries for nonprofit executives? Does it vary across the globe? Does it vary according to the type of nonprofit (arts, academics vs human rights and poverty). Should it matter what the nonprofit does, or does the dire need they serve justify paying more to bring in the best talent - with the goal of achieving the highest level of success in serving the population?

The nonprofit sector is changing every day. As it changes, trends have begun to emerge. These trends point to increased opportunities for those with business skills (and some of them mean potentially higher salaries as well)

Nonproit Mergers: In the past decade, the number of nonprofits in the United States has increased by 64 percent. Yet the rate of donations has not grown at the same pace. Because of repeated natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami, and acts of terrorism like 9/11 and the war that followed, donors feel tapped out or simply exhausted. Receiving an increased number of solicitations from additional nonprofits being set up every day is not helping matters. As a result, a larger number of nonprofits find themselves competing for a relatively smaller pool of available funds. The influx of business thinking has, in part, set off a wave of nonprofit mergers across the sector. Merged nonprofits find that they can consolidate staff, reduce competition, and minimize overhead costs. This trend is good news for corporate career changers, as merger and acquisition work is uncharted territory for many nonprofit staff.

Revenue-Generating Subsidiaries: As the competition for funding dollars increases, nonprofits are realizing that they will be more successful if they rely less on the whims of individual donors or government funding and more on themselves. Doing so means that they must come up with new ways to fund their programs. Youth service nonprofits might run fee-for-service summer programs; transitional houses and long-term shelters might teach their residents job skills; and fair trade advocacy groups might sell chocolate made from cocoa harvested by fairly paid workers rather than trafficked children. An example of a successful revenue-generating subsidiary is the Greyston Bakery, a New York–based nonprofit that has become a leader in community development and a role model for other socially conscious businesses. Greyston sells award-winning cakes, tarts, and other baked goods, yet, as varied as its products might be, the main ingredient in each item is its dynamic social mission. Greyston’s profits support the community development work of the Greyston Foundation, which includes housing, child care, health care, a computer learning center, and more. In addition, the bakery actively recruits and hires employees who have had difficulties finding employment in the past. Finally, Greyston partners with and serves a network of other businesses, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Stonyfield Farms, that share its social concerns.

Public-Private Partnerships: Nonprofits have learned that it is not enough to work on their own, even if they do outstanding work. Some of the most exciting work in the nonprofit sector today is done in collaboration between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. It seems so simple, but bureaucracy, misunderstandings, and stereotypes have long kept these sectors apart. More and more, nonprofits and for-profits are joining together, breaking down barriers of language and culture and creating new and innovative programs.

Venture Philanthropy: The new trends in philanthropy—led by dot-com millionaires and venture philanthropists—mean that foundations look at their role in the nonprofit sector entirely differently than they may have ten years ago. Many foundations still stick to the old way of heavy-handed, slow thinking, but more and more often, foundations are catching on that they can create the change they want to see in the world. Empowering their nonprofit partners to do what they have already done well even better, more broadly, and with better efficiency is a successful business model. The idea of the nonprofit as a partner, not just the recipient of a carefully constructed, tightly managed grant, is new, and this method of venture thinking (i.e., scalable, demonstrable, innovative, and creative) is most successful with agile and responsive nonprofits. Nonprofits that employ business minds, MBAs, and corporate types have an advantage because they speak the language of the for-profit sector, understand the business model, and have worked with others who share the same mentality and benchmarking for success.

Management Matters: With the increasing focus on the bottom line and with more and more competition for funding, nonprofits are getting wise that management techniques matter (and how begun getting smarter about the salaries they need to pay for this talent). Once considered taboo, nonprofits no longer feel shy about incorporating best practices from the private sector. It is not uncommon to hear a nonprofit executive director discussing some of the latest ideas from famed management gurus, from Jim Collins’s ideas about getting the right people on the right seats on the bus, for example, or Peter Senge’s thoughts on building learning organizations. Where once such comments would have been met with horror and shock, they now are met with heads nodding in agreement. However, great management in the nonprofit sector means nothing if it is not done compassionately. For-profit managers who can bring the mind of a businessperson coupled with the heart of a social worker will do very well in, and by, the nonprofits they serve.

This is an important discussion and I hope Social Edge will make it a focus area on its home page. I've been involved in volunteer service for over 30 years. I got involved in a tutor/mentor program in 1973 when I joined the Montgomery Ward corporation as an advertising copywrite. A couple of years later I was recruited to be the leader of that program, and from 1975 to 1990 I had two careers. One was growing responsiblity as an advertising manager for the Montgomery Ward corporation. Between 1980 and 1990 I held various roles ranging from national advertising planing and creative development manager, to the Home Furnishings Divisional Advertising Manager. The other was with a growing tutor/mentor program that served 100 pairs of youth and adults in 1975 and had grown to 300 pairs by 1990.

I left the paying job in 1990 (kicked out) and was given the opportunity to converth the tutor/mentor program to a non profit, which I did. In 1992 I created a different version of this aimed at serving older kids, and at helping tutor/mentor programs grow in all poverty areas of Chicago (where more than 200,000 kids live in high poverty). In 1998 we began using the internet, and now I'm in forums like this sharing ideas intended to help tutor/mentor programs in all parts of the coutnry/world.

In my advertising job I learned that we need to communicate every day to millions of people if we want them to come to our stores. In my tutor/mentor program I learned that I needed to apply the same thinking if I wanted kids and volunteers to come to the tutoring program every week. Until 1990 we did not need to raise money because we were not a nonprofit and relied primarily on volunteers, like myself, to provide all leadership. When we became a non profit, we needed to add a third track to our communications, which was aimed at businesses and foundations who might support our work.

I encourage you to browse the various sections of the http://tutormentorconnection.org web site and my http://tutormentor.blogspot.com. We address the same issues as this conversation, but work to change the quality of programs by changing the way they are resourced. We've created maps of Chicago showing where poverty is, and where tutor/mentor programs are needed. And we've created events and networking that is intended to encourage volunteers and donors to shop by zip code to choose what programs they will support.

By providing links to this discussion and to the research you've posted, we're aiming to reach business leaders who understand the growing workforce shortage, and how this will affect the entire US economy, not just the non profit sector. We are looking for business leaders who are thinking more strategically of how they use their resources (jobs, leadership, dollars, manpower, ideas) to support the growth of future workers, while developing the talents and skills of current workers.

We believe that if you want to have great programs you need to find ways to atract and keep great people. If business leaders want a pipeline to their industries, they need to invest in programs that start reaching kids as early as 1st grade.

That may not be the focus of everyone reading this, but it illustrates how people who focus on the same cause (environment, health, world peace, etc.) can band together to educate the donors so that they become more involved in providing the resources that support the non profits who will benefit them.

On Feb. 12 and 13 a CEO summit will be held in New York City, intending to release $1 billion in workplace talent to support non profit organizations. This link provides some information: http://www.corporatephilanthropy.org/enews/CEOBriefs/2008January.html

If we can use such events to get CEOs strategically involved, this can provide many paths of involvement for people who want to make a difference, but don't want to live in poverty while doing it.

Daniel - thanks for sharing your ideas. The CEO summit should be interesting. Imagine if more companies encouraged their workforce to contribute volunteer hours (during the work week). This would increase the staff hours and expertise available to nonprofits dramatically. For example, Google encourages staff to innovate 20% of their time and they also encourage "employees to volunteer by alerting Nooglers (new Google employees) to volunteer opportunities on their first day at orientation." http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/100best2008-google.php

In terms of keeping your day job and still doing good - can anyone else share how their company supports volunteer efforts? Has anyone participated in a nonprofit project through Volunteer Match or a similar organization? How has that worked out in terms of keeping your day job and helping a cause? Was it hard to do, or did you find it invigorating?

I work for a San Francisco based Nonprofit called volunteermatch.org that makes it easy for great volunteers and great nonprofits to connect. In 2007, we facilitated over 500,000 connections, supported over 55,000 nonprofits, and helped 1.3 million volunteers in their efforts to connect. My background is in Wall Street finance (derivatives trading and investment management) and internet commerce. This is my first nonprofit job and it has been a great choice. Most of our employees could double their income tomorrow at one of the local high flyers (some have actually landed at places like Google and Yahoo), but most of us choose to stay. As has been stated below, if you love what you do and feel good about it, making tons of money seems to matter a whole lot less.

Our business depends on three diverse sources of "operating" revenues: 1. corporate volunteering initiatives, 2. premium services for nonprofit members, and 3. donations from our volunteer users.

Corporations have proved to be fantastic supporters of our mission and are a key part of our long term plan. We work with over 60 corporate clients. Most of these clients are multi-national, household brand, Fortune 1000 types. They are all committed to volunteering and service for their employees, the customers or both. Our corporate clients provided approximately 25%, or 125,000, of our referral connections in 2007. We provide them with a full-featured set of online tools for managing their volunteering initiatives. It's a great model - our clients actually do good while doing well. Measuring stock performance from date of program launch has proved nearly impossible, or at least we do not have the resources to dedicate to the task. However, we have found that employee satisfaction rates and retention rates for many of our corporate clients are high. This, of course, depends on many factors but we like to believe that a culture of civic engagement is a contributor.

Key to corporate program success is the support of executive management. Our experience is that programs with direct CEO support in the form of a personal appeal and call to action realize the greatest success and employee participation. To support other contributors prior comments - CEO encouragement and support for civic engagement is critical. The trend in CEO engagement is positive. Each year we see more executives volunteering with the employees and personally attending and endorsing volunteer recognition. I hope this trend continues.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a report compiled by the Corporation for National Service, 65.1 million people volunteered in the United States during 2005. This means that the person in the next cubicle, despite having a career in the for-profit sector, may spend time on the weekends volunteering at a local soup kitchen or serve on the board of the local zoo. Volunteering is hip, and it helps even corporate ladder climbers get ahead. You, too, can use this to your advantage by hitting up your corporate contacts for their nonprofit connections.

And, remember, those looking to transition from the for-profit sector to the nonprofit sector volunteered at a rate of about twice that of other Americans.

Find a volunteer opportunity: 1-800-Volunteer (www.1-800-volunteer.org) Hands On Network (www.handsonnetwork.org) Points of Light’s Volunteer Centers (www.pointsoflight.org/centers/find_center.cfm) SERVENet (www.servenet.org) VolunteerMatch (www.volunteermatch.org) Volunteer Solutions (www.volunteersolutions.org)

Find a loaned executive placement: United Way’s Loaned Executives (http://national.unitedway.org) Building Blocks International’s Corporate Service Corps (www.bblocks.org)

Find a consulting project: Executive Service Corps Affiliate Network (www.escus.org) Taproot Foundation (www.taprootfoundation.org)

Some other interesting corporate voluntarism statistics (according to the Points of Light Foundation) supporting this growing trend:

• 81.7 percent of corporations focus their employee volunteer programs on core business functions. - One out of every two corporations stresses a commitment to community service in its corporate mission statement. - 58 percent of corporations use their employee volunteer program for recruiting and retaining employees.

For some, transition is motivated by an overwhelming urge to do good but does not necessarily come with a temperament or skill set that works well in the nonprofit sector, or it's simply financially unfeasible for them at this point.

There are still plenty of ways to create social impact, even without compromising your personal economic value or your operating environment comfort level. Consider the socially responsible business as a promising alternative. Socially responsible businesses give substantial consideration not just to their economic value but to their social value as well. This category does not include corporations that invest large chunks of profits into nonprofits bearing their name; while a noble and much-needed endeavor, the Ronald McDonald House does not alone make McDonald’s into a socially responsible business. Rather, the “double bottom line,” doing what is right even if it means shaving off some profits, makes for corporate social responsibility.

Often, the social value provides great public relations fodder for the business, thus raising the economic value in turn. In addition to the public relations benefit, companies with socially responsible charters also find that they are better able to retain staff, align management and board with shareholders, and create brand loyalty for reasons above and beyond product quality. Some socially responsible businesses were founded on social value principles, while others have recently internalized corporate social responsibility as part of their mission and vision. Prospective sector switchers should see socially responsibly companies as a haven for corporate minds with conscientious hearts.

I have enjoyed reading the comments posted on this electronic dialogue. I thought I would briefly outline some of my own experiences in doing good by working with an international foundation that helps develop civil sector capacity in other countries. It has been a great experience for me, and has proved a very fulfilling career path, and a way to live pretty well while doing some pretty good things.

I've just returned to the US from four years living in the Republic of Georgia, and overseeing regional operations of a US-based and internationally funded grantmaking and operating foundation. The foundation's goal is to assist development of a vibrant social sector in countries going through transition from centrally-planned to market-based economic systems. The Eurasia Foundation's core business is giving grants to local non-profits and helping them build their organizational capabilities (fiscal management, program planning, donor relations and reporting, HR management, impact assessment, etc. etc.) in the process. My work there as Regional Vice President also involved building public-private partnerships, enlisting corporate sponsors for support of our efforts, engaging european governments and multilateral insitutions (like the World Bank and the IMF) in collective efforts to build a stronger civil sector in the post-Soviet context. I felt incredibly privileged to do this work, coordinating the Foundation's efforts in three countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia

and ultimatley creating the intellectual and organizational infrastructure for launching locally registered stay-behind foundations in all three countries. In partnership with my local managers and staff, I set a key programmatic goal in these foundation's strategic plans that targets building understanding of corporate social responsibility and how it can create synergies in local economic deveopment and social revitalization.

In this part of the world, the challenges of the not-for-profit sector (there they call it non-governmental sector, and individual organizations are called NGOs or Non-governmental Organizations) are even deeper than they are in North America. The sector has been almost artifically inseminated by injection of international donor funds, and it has created almost unimaginable levels of social tension, resentment from both the public sector and private business, and little support from the citizenry. But a balance from the civil sector is desperately needed, to provide for social protection that truly addresses citizens' need and citizen priorities. Volunteerism is almost non-existent for a variety of economic and historical factors... and poverty levels make it difficult for NGOs to look to membership structures when most people have little or no discretionary income.

At any rate, bringing resources to local grassroots organizations, on an agenda that was set primarily according to local leaders' priorities, has been a great pleasure and challenge. There are many lessons their NGO sector can learn from north american counterparts, and many they can and should avoid. But being a part of helping them to build local insitutions that meet their own societal needs has been an extraordinary privilege. I am sure there are parallels in many other global regions.

Enriching that experience. I personally got involved as a volunteer with a number of local organizations (outside work time) and continue to assist them today after I have returned to the US. In terms of how I got here, I did start with some dues paying many years ago. I started as a (virtually volunteer) tour guide during the cold war era leading tour/citizen exchange groups to the Soviet Union. This led to a chain of increasing responsibility in paid work... I've worked in the government sector setting up citizen exchange programs in the arts and entrepreneurship field. I helped with building multi-donor consortia addressing higher education reform in economics, and research capacity building for locally based social scientists. Now, after returning to the US I am doing strategic planning and systems building for US non-profits who work on international initiatives.

I found that throughout this career path, I was strongly influenced by the philosophy of my graduate school (the Yale School of Management) that provides education for leaders in all three sectors. The same skills must be brought to bear in public, private and nonprofit endeavor... and results are simply measured by different yardsticks. I think this is something that is increasingly being recognized in the global marketplace.

Hi Andrea - Thanks for sharing the global perspective. In 2006, Social Edge ran a blog that will be of interest to you and others entitled: Corporate Service Fellows. Here is the overview:

Madhu Anand left her comfortable job as a Business Operations Manager in Cisco Systems’ California headquarters and began a six-month, full- time corporate service fellowship supporting microfinance in Kyrgyzstan. She tells her story to Jennifer Anastasoff, CEO of BuildingBlocks International. Read also Oren Penn's story below --he left PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington to start a corporate service fellowship in rural Orissa, India.

http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/not-to-be-missed/corporate-service-fellows

I would be interested in hearing from others around the globe about how people are "doing good and living well" in Africa, Asia, Europe, etc. and how the opportunities are similar or different to those already described in our discussion. Please join in.

Hi Andrea,

Just over 3 years ago, a brief dialogue with Eric Boyle of Eurasia gave me the chance to describe our efforts to promote sustainable enterprise in Ukraine and my colleagues prior efforts in Siberia leveraging a microcredit bank.

To be frank, it's been quite a struggle, not least in making ends meet with our own funds - creative capitalism micro style. But we got the Marshall Plan into government channels, nevertheless.

So the arrival of the East Europe Foundation came as a welcome surprise last week. I wrote, declaring our willingness to collaborate/participate but got no reply.

Even more recently, just yesterday I may have been one of the few people who read the press release describing USAID's Development Commons and information portal. Again a move in the direction we like to see, and congruent with our own ideals:

http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2008/sp080201.html

We're still there, hoping to participate if theres' anyone listening.

Given the text of the opening post in this thread, it is my hope that the public are permitted to join in the dialogue with members of the Skoll Foundation, and other professionals in the field of social entrepreneurship. I am seeking career advice; specifically, about work-life balance, and the advisability of gaining graduate qualifications in areas such as Public Health and Public Management.

Although I have an intrinsic interest in the marketing and human resources areas of business (and minored in marketing as part of my B.S. in Technical Writing), to date I must say that I've found the number-crunching and IT aspects of business largely unappealing--perhaps largely because those skills and career tracks were presented as ends in themselves, without the added appeal of being applicable in the service of goals greater than greed, etc.

I am currently in the process of retraining in Allied Health, with an eye to obtaining skills which are not only largely recession-proof, but also will allow me to have an immediate beneficial impact (in an environment far more positively stimulating than a gray cubicle can provide.) Many have asked why I am not in a Masters program somewhere; and I respond by asking, "A Master's program in what?" (whereupon their ambition for me proves insufficient.)

Although on one hand, I believe that ongoing recertification and cross-training in my chosen area of Allied Health will provide a good work-life balance--in addition to the other benefits described above, social/financial pressure has also led me to begin examining more highly qualified career tracks.

On a personal level, I am a single parent who has been primarily focused on the well-being of my elementary-schooler until last year. I would like to be as present as possible for my child while he is still living under my roof, so am not currently interested in taking on a role which requires 60-80+ hour work weeks (which is what I imagine many management roles require.)

However, I might be open to more intensive professional commitment 8-9 yrs. from now. It is also my goal to participate in one of the Sans Frontieres organizations (or similar projects, either domestically or overseas,) when my child is old enough for me to travel.

I have been advised by someone with experience in both private and non-profit healthcare that in his experience, the private mgt. role, in particular, was primarily composed of juggling budgets (he has moved on into the non-profit sector.) Having had my fill of endless in-trays full of paper, and the aforementioned gray cubicles, I am therefore led to wonder whether the typical career tracks available to someone with credentials in Public Health/Mgt. might lead me further away from the aspects of work which I find more fulfilling.

I am loathe to pester and exhaust my one personal acquaintance who has had experience in all of these areas, and would much appreciate comments from others here. Second and third opinions are always useful!

If you see connecting with your one personal acquaintance as "pestering" then of course you aren't going to take advantage of the great wealth of knowledges/he might have. But, let me ask you this, if s/he asked you for advice, wouldn't you jump at the chance to help?

Too many job seekers think they have to "go it alone" and recreate the wheel (and then pull it uphill, both ways, in the snow). Not so. Remember, everyone once was a job seeker, and most everyone will be again some time. Everyone has 15 minutes to spare, and if that 15 minutes is used well, most would readily spend even more time.

SO, bring on the information interviewing. Now, what, exactly is an informational interview and how do you do it well?

Informational interviews enable you to accomplish several things at once. They allow you to do the following: - Introduce yourself to someone who may have a job opening in the future - Learn more about the people who work at this nonprofit - Receive direction and guidance from someone who was once in your shoes - Learn a name to drop in your networking and personal connections you can use - Gain valuable insights from an insider about trends in the sector in general, this nonprofit specifically, and the language to use to describe both - Hear about some concerns, assumptions, or stereotypes that might be affecting someone in your shoes and how you might combat them - Audition some preliminary answers to obvious interview questions when a particular job isn’t on the line

In short, the information interview is your opportunity to talk to folks at the Sans Frontieres types of nonprofits and see exactly what types of degrees and preparation you will need to gather between now and when you son is old enough to allow you to go back into the workforce with the intensity that you'd want in those roles.

For more information on information interviews, some important advice about the "major don'ts" and some great questions to ask, see the excerpt from my book here: http://www.nonprofitprofessionals.com/library/informational_interviews.htm

The subject matter selected by Jill is probably most appropriate in the current day world. In the course of professional assignments in Rural India where people have started hearing about the world beyond largely due to Cable TVs and partly due to the booming effects of ICT. We chucked up lucrative professional carrers to reach out to the rural folks. We stated by providing them with ideas to build systems to help themselves rather than depend on government aids etc. Having benn accepted by them we gave them ideas by which they can reach customers directly and worldwide. Based on such discussions we have brought together a large group of talented, monied and ambitious individuals from the rural areas for promoting their skills centered around handwoven fabrics beutifully crafted to the world stage. We are busy developing the project to participate in the 2009 annual fair held by NABC (an organization based in the US who help promote the culture of Bengal). This is a professional project financed fully by these rural businessmen. this has opened us out into areas of unthinkable prosperity by doing good to people who are truly good themselves and believe me the speed of growth even at the personal level is truly mind boggling when comapred to what was being followed as a lucrative professional career.

SBR

SBR - Thank you for your comment and sharing your experience in India. It is exciting to see that this discussion topic is relevant globally, and to hear how you have found ways to engage in helping others which has, in turn, brought you the satisfaction of doing good and unforeseen financial success. Congratulations.

If you have any advice for others considering "chucking lucrative careers", or tips on how to turn projects helping rural workers into financial successes, please share them.

Jill, Thanks for your observations & comments. The project has opened us into a vista of growth and prosperity for MILLIONS. The project has an annual fee of INR 250 equivalent of US$ 5. What we have started preaching to the folks is her/his Return on Investment - in this case the annual fees. We have promised them a minimum of two times, which by my estimates would be around 10 times at least. So micro level investment is what we are agressively preaching - helping develop awareness on Investments. Instead of just investing in shares/stocks of unknown large companies, we are promoting the culture of their investing in something with which they can directly relate to. A Rural Share Issue is being considered in 2009 which by our assessments based on a survey could be over-subscribed many times, when we consider the numbers and the micro-level investment plan. Will keep you posted with the progress.

Thanks SBR

My husband and I decided in 2006 to give up our secure jobs and comfortable existence in Prague, Czech Republic, in exchange for learning first-hand about the world and its people. This was a hard decision, one we discussed for over a year prior to handing in our resignation letters, but a decision we are very glad we made for our own personal and professional fulfillment.

We've been on the road for almost 14 months, visiting rapidly changing countries and seeing for ourselves what life is like, good and bad, for regular folks. We are trying to fund our trip through some freelance work, so we are traveling on a budget. As we only have a limited amount of time in each place, so we travel by local transport, eat at markets and try to connect with locals, as much as it possible with language barriers, to get a feel for the place and its challenges.

What started as a personal journey around the world for us has expanded into trying to put a "personal face" on these far off lands through our website, to try and forge a connection between the reader and these little-known places.When you visit a country or have met people from a country, a place barely heard of weeks before takes on new importance and meaning. It's not just a distant land seen on the news where something bad is happening.

Additionally, we've been seeking out and have been fortunate to meet some ordinary people and organizations doing extraordinary things in their communities. Although they have never heard of the term social entrepreneur, that's what they are. We've been amazed by what one person or a group of dedicated individuals can accomplish with limited resources and with sustainable results.

While we knew beforehand we didn't want to return to our corporate jobs, this journey has opened our eyes to how it is possible to live well and do good. We still can't tell you where we'll end up what we'll be doing professionally after this journey, but we gather more data points each day. This Canadian couple we met at the beginning of our trip still inspires us... http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2007/05/adrianne-rick-making-difference-cambodia/

Hi Audrey. Thank you for sharing your story. I appreciated your observation that you have met social entrepreneurs

even though they may not call themselves that. Part of our goal at Social Edge is to help people discover social entrepreneurs, and, discover that they ARE social entrepreneurs. There is power in being part of a community of world changers.

I encourage others to share their route to doing good and living well. There are many paths people have taken as we have seen in this discussion, and each one provides a valuable to tip on how to get what you need and want out of your career.

As Seth Godin points out in his book The Dip, sometimes to become the best in the world, you need to start quitting. Change is good, and knowing when to quit and look for something better is a good place to start.

And as our co-host Laura Gassner Otting writes in her book, "...write your resume not as a description of where you have been, but rather as a selling piece about where you are going." And you just might get there sooner than you think. Good luck!

Jill

Hi ... Jill asked me to share my story. Here is a quick version ... I spent a bunch of years in the nonprofit sector after college. After my last nonprofit, Earth Train, ran short of funding, I decided to try and work at a "socially responsible" company. I was able to leverage my skills and experience in Training and Development to land a role at Odwalla in 1996. After a few crazy years there, I decided it was time for some more corporate experience because I felt that business had more potential than nonprofits to positive impact society ... so I went to business school. After finishing Kellogg in 2000, I went to work for Intuit. I wanted to work at a high-tech company and wanted to learn how to build products and run businesses. That is more or less what I have been doing the last 7 years. Even though I was learning and was challenged, there wasn't a day when I didn't wonder to myself what the heck I was doing. Well ... things worked out for me ... about 6 months ago, the company decided that it should be doing more in "corporate social responsibility" and specifically the environment. So I got to re-tell all my nonprofit and Odwalla stories, those coupled with my successes at Intuit landed me the role. I have been doing this job for 6 months and I am in heaven. I get to work for a company with great values, high level of integrity, and lots of support to use what we are good at for environmental benefit. For me, all the years working on QuickBooks and TurboTax paid off and I feel really fortunate. I thought about leaving much earlier, but I felt stuck because I didn't really know what exactly I wanted to do and certainly didn't know how to get there. I feel like everyone who wants to do this kind of work needs an opening ... some truly talented folks, social entrepreneurs create that opportunity and for others like myself ... the opening presented itself.

Rupesh, Thanks for posting your experience. I agree not everyone is cut out to be the "lead" social entrepreneur for a start up venture, but looking for and being open to opportunities to align your career with your nonprofit aspirations is important. In this case, your patience and expertise seem to have paid off when your company, that already offered integrity and great values, opened a door to do even more in the area of corporate responsibility. Helping your company along as they explore new directions can perhaps lead to a new job opportunity, which is very encouraging to folks who are interested in corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability! Cheers, Jill

Wouldn't it be nice if every company you worked for was aligned with your lifestyle and civic-minded goals? It turns out a new nonprofit called B Lab (Bcorporation.net) is working toward such an end. Conveniently timed with this discussion, Debra Dunn (Stanford Associate Professor, Skoll Board Member, former HP exec) just moderated a panel with B Corporation founders Andrew Kassoy, Bart Houllahan, and Jay Coen Gilbert at Stanford University as part of their Entrepreneurship Week.

As Andrew said in his opening remarks, to truly affect mass change, you need to view the "private sector as an agent for social change". B Lab intends to do this by creating standards and a legal structure for a new kind of corporation - the B corporation (B for “beneficial”). They certify and promote these B Corporations - companies that meet exacting standards for environmental and social performance.

Jay explained that with more and more companies claiming to be green, fair trade, or socially responsible, and every ad showing two hands holding a pile of dirt with a small sapling sprouting up, it has become difficult to know who is actually making a comprehensive and sincere effort to benefit their employees, consumers, shareholders, community, and the environment. To help you distinguish "good companies" from "good marketing", B Corporations have to meet performance, accountability, and transparency guidelines.

Here's another interesting aspect - as Bart explained there is a legal benefit to becoming a B-corporation too. Being a B-corporation "bakes the social mission into the business DNA" so that even if the company is sold or acquired, the principles will be maintained. There were many more interesting details covered in the presentation, so you should take a look at the video at edcorner.standford.edu.

In the meantime, guess what? There are over 80 corporations that have already passed the B-Corp requirements, so you can feel good about working for any one of them (http://www.bcorporation.net/community/). And B-Lab is looking for talent too. So if you would like to be part of the effort to help private sector companies be acknowledged for their double and triple bottom lines, and encourage more companies to delve into what it means to truly be socially responsible, visit them at www.Bcorporation.net.

A shout out to blogger Olivia Kuhn-Lloyd who mentioned this discussion on her blog Cause+Capitalism (her tagline is "Doing well by doing good" - what a great match up!). And I love what she titled the article: The Ground Between Gandhi and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (http://www.causecapitalism.com/2008/02/the-ground-betw.html). Check out her blog for more ways you can do a world of good, while pursuing profitability. Thanks Olivia.

Anyone else know of other blogs like this one with more ideas and discussion on this topic?

So, people are looking for success AND significance at all stages of their career life, but a new book and website is aimed at folks who are too young to retire but too old to do work they don't care about. Check out Marc Freedman's book Encore, and the website www.encore.org for more stories about, and services for, people who want to use their next career to do more than earn a paycheck. From their site:

"Encore is leading the call for millions of baby boomers to become a vital workforce for social change. Join Encore to become part of the movement for work that matters in the second half of life. Then, share your story. Encore.org is seeking thousands of encore stories to demonstrate the purpose and passion of people in this new stage of their working lives."

My point - you are never too young or too old to make the change to more meaningful work and it doesn't have to be at a financial cost.

Alright then - that's my latest two cents, but I turn the discussion back over to you folks. What do you think about B corporations? Do you have an "encore career"? Is "Encore" a U.S. trend only or is this happening in Europe and other parts of the globe? Are there other websites that can help people do good and live well?

Cheers, Jill

As Jill mentioned, at Encore.org we're collecting the stories of experienced adults who have chosen to do work that matters in the second half of life. Whether your goal is to serve your community or make the world a better place, we would like to hear from you. Please visit www.encore.org and click on the "Join Us" button (it's free) so that you become part of the Encore movement that is defining a new stage of work prior to traditional retirement.

Encore.org offers the latest news and views about opportunities for experienced workers. When you join, we encourage you to tell us about your encore career, to help inspire others to join this movement.

See you online!

Terry Nagel

With the assistance of my son's computer expertise, I have created a website Doing Good, While Doing Business: Support Socially Responsible Companies. Please visit it at www.changethemold.com, and let me know what you think. All feedback is appreciated. Thanks, Myrna Chandler Goldstein

I am Kapil from New Delhi. founder and coordinator of "Youth for Justice" a youth social enterprise working on various spontaneous issue especially on environment and water security.

while following my heart and devoting myself completely to work that I enjoys the most, at times one find himself in a confusing situation which ask for a clear decision between the two!

Thanks for sharing this article! A people are relying these days on making investments. But it is not as easy as that because as an investor, a great responsibility in holding your money is crucial. The unprecedented degree of global economic recession did help in a good way, that is, teaching the people to save their money. Investing is a good idea these days. Investing is really the key to retirement because no companies ever offer pension plans anymore and it isn't like you can rely on Social Security. Building an investment portfolio is something you want to start sooner rather than later. It might be worth getting a payday loan to start one. If you manage your investments carefully, you could even possibly retire early, and live off the interest. It's the way Warren Buffet has made billions, and it is the way to build a nest egg for your golden years, so you really can't afford to not start investing.

Thanks for sharing this article! A people are relying these days on making investments. But it is not as easy as that because as an investor, a great responsibility in holding your money is crucial. The unprecedented degree of global economic recession did help in a good way, that is, teaching the people to save their money. Investing is a good idea these days. Investing is really the key to retirement because no companies ever offer pension plans anymore and it isn't like you can rely on Social Security. Building an investment portfolio is something you want to start sooner rather than later. It might be worth getting a payday loan to start one. If you manage your investments carefully, you could even possibly retire early, and live off the interest. It's the way Warren Buffet has made billions, and it is the way to build a nest egg for your golden years, so you really can't afford to not start investing.