Who We Are

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Established in February 2009, Experience Matters’ mission is to create a culture in our community and its organizations that fosters meaningful work and service opportunities for experienced people in the second half of life.

Our primary goal is to connect every passionate, experienced adult to an organization in need of people’s time, talent and experience. We operate as a consortium of business professionals, community leaders and organizations who work strategically to enhance the capacity of the public and nonprofit sectors to tap into the talent of committed adults in our community.

The need is a simple one of connecting supply and demand:

Demand: To meet the welfare, education, healthcare and environmental demands on our community, over 20,000 Arizona nonprofits and civic agencies enlist the support of community talent. Demand on these agencies is growing, financial resources are reduced and the population of traditional volunteers is diminishing.

Supply: In 2006, the first of Maricopa County’s 900,000 Baby Boomers – people born between 1945 and 1964 – turned 60. Beyond traveling, volunteering is what this demographic looks forward to doing most during retirement.

Situation: A gap exists between the recruitment of Boomers, who are seeking more engaging assignments, and the traditional roles found at most non-profit organizations.

According to Unlocking Resilience, The Key to Healthy Aging in Arizona published in August 2010 by the Morison Institute, “…40% of volunteers approach the organizations in which they want to be involved on their own initiative. This rate increased to 45% within the 45+ age group. That leaves more than half of potential volunteers needing help in finding the right fit.”

Experience Matters was founded to fill this gap by creating a framework to systematically and strategically connect individuals wanting social purpose engagement with organizations that could benefit from the time and talents of experienced adults. Making the connection is critical, but to do so organizations must be prepared to receive this new talent.