{"id":2546,"date":"2012-12-28T07:39:49","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T11:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=2546"},"modified":"2012-12-28T07:39:49","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T11:39:49","slug":"changing-lives-how-five-americans-won-100000-purpose-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=2546","title":{"rendered":"Changing Lives: How Five Americans Won $100,000 Purpose Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"forbes\"<\/a>Most people do good deeds without expecting to be repaid. The reward is the act in itself.<\/p>\n

Encore.org<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit that promotes second acts for the greater good,\u00a0selected five Americans 60 and older to each win a $100,000 Purpose Prize for changing lives in new and creative ways.\u00a0Wow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Encore.org \u00a0has made it a mission to encourage those whose work\u00a0gives them a sense of meaning and a feeling of accomplishment. This financial bonanza is the holy grail.<\/p>\n

(More: Second Verse column at Forbes.com<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Passion is palpable among this crowd year-round, but it ratchets up when the San Francisco-based outfit salutes a hand-picked few to hold up as examples for others to aspire to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cPurpose Prize winners underscore that significant social innovation is by no means the exclusive province of the young,\u201d according to Marc Freedman, author of\u00a0The Big Shift: Navigating The New Stage Beyond Midlif<\/a>e\u00a0and founder and CEO of\u00a0Encore.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So true.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exciting and incredibly energizing for me to see people who work under the radar, people who follow a gut sense of what\u2019s right and just and meaningful in this world, get a brief moment in the klieg lights and a chance to take a humble bow.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s 60-year-old might reasonably plan to work\u00a0at least part-time for another 15 years, figures Freedman.\u00a0\u201cThat changes the entire equation about what you want to do, what\u2019s possible to do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

These encore entrepreneurs are \u00a0interested in social services, poverty alleviation, working with at-risk youth, economic development, and health care, the environment, and human rights or social justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many obstacles to building successful enterprises at this stage in life\u2013some are financial constraints,\u201d Freedman says. \u201cBut, as we\u2019ve seen with the Purpose Prize, many have been able to make a living while making a difference. We need to help many more do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallelujah. Now in its seventh year,\u00a0The Purpose Prize<\/a>,\u00a0funded by the John Templeton Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies, is doing just that.<\/p>\n

Among this year\u2019s Purpose Prize 23 judges of the 800 nominees were Sherry\u00a0Lansing, former chairman of Paramount Pictures, David Gergen, Jane Pauley and Sidney Poitier.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here are the 2012 winners. Drumroll, please<\/strong>.<\/div>\n