The Dayton Foundation is inviting area nonprofit organizations to apply to host a Del Mar Encore Fellow, beginning in July 2020. The Request for Proposals, which can be found at The Dayton Foundation website, seeks initiatives that address a significant community issue and would benefit from the leadership of an experienced older adult professional – a Del Mar Encore Fellow. Up to three not-for-profit organizations will be selected as Host Organizations for the new Fellows. Proposals are due Thursday, March 19, 2020.
Nearly a dozen organizations have hosted Fellows since 2016, including the Dayton Metro Library, Learn to Earn Dayton and St. Mary Development Corporation. The Fellows’ projects have included work on increasing low-income seniors’ access to health care through technology; creating volunteer-led Homework Help programs at area library branches; and researching challenges to building a stable home healthcare workforce. Because the Fellows come with a lifetime of experience and skills, they bring a wealth of additional resources to the Host organizations.
“Having a Del Mar Encore Fellow on your team gives you access to a seasoned, but also objective, professional,” said Celine O’Neill, retired executive director of Brunner Literacy Center. “It is easy as an executive director to begin to see the world solely within your organizational context. A Del Mar Encore Fellow broadens that context and provides you with other points of view and ways of engaging reality, both within and outside your organization.”
Prospective Host Organizations are invited to attend an information session scheduled for Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 3:00-4:30 p.m. at The Dayton Foundation, 1401 S. Main Street, Suite 100, Dayton, OH 45409. For additional information or to RSVP for the information session, please contact Noreen Willhelm, Senior Fellow, at [email protected] or (937) 225-9949.
About the Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative
The Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative was launched in 2016, thanks to a $1 million gift from Del Mar Healthcare and its DMH-Fund of The Dayton Foundation. Since 2010, this fund has awarded more than $2.2 million in grants to Dayton-area nonprofit organizations that serve the needs of older adults.
Through this pilot program, skilled, older professionals serve as Fellows with social-purpose organizations to help advance a mission-focused initiative or project. The organizations and projects were selected based on community need, an ability to create systemic change, opportunities for collaborations and identified funding.
