JVA Consulting President Janine Vanderburg was named a finalist for the first-ever Launch Pad contest, which aims to help people over age 45 turn creative ideas for solving problems in their communities into working solutions.

Janine was one of just 25 finalists selected from more than 1,000 submissions nationwide. Her idea: To train boomers with sales backgrounds to become nonprofit fundraisers.

“I’m a huge believer that everyone wins when we are able to focus on what we are the best at and the most passionate about. If we can successfully implement and scale this idea, nonprofit leaders would get to spend the time on what they love the most—their community and society-changing work—and people who are great at ‘closing the deal’ can manage the fundraising efforts.”

The idea originated when Janine facilitated a JVA workshop last year on Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector. The room overflowed with talented individuals over age 50 who had recently exited the corporate sector, some voluntarily and some as a result of downsizing. Many of them had backgrounds in sales.

“From our work on boomers and civic engagement, I understood the broader potential on engaging boomers in work, service and learning. With that particular group of people in the room on that one day, I realized the potential of training an identified segment of the boomer population—people with backgrounds in sales—for a function that many people in nonprofits will admit they don’t relish—fundraising.”

The public can vote online daily between January 25 and February 25 to select five who will receive $5,000, plus resources and support from the larger Encore.org community. Click here to read more and to vote for Janine. Winners will be announced in early March.

Launch Pad (http://launchpad.encore.org) is a project of Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose that promotes encore careers – which combine purpose, passion and a paycheck.