Choosing Her Own Path: Cheryl Edmonds’ Story

To say Cheryl Edmonds’ life has been a long and winding road would be an understatement. At various times an art store owner, children’s dress designer, engineer, psychology student, and non-profit executive, she has never been one to get stuck in a rut. “I’ve always looked for new ways of doing things, new opportunities,” she says. “That’s how I’m wired.”

At age 54, after nearly 18 years at HP, Cheryl left in 2005. She insists, however, that it was not a retirement, just another chapter in a long, productive life. “I don’t consider myself retired at all,” she says. “For now, it’s full steam ahead. I want to stay involved, doing stuff that’s meaningful and fun.”

In 2011, upon returning from teaching Peace Corps volunteers in China, she was greeted by an e-mail from the Encore Fellows Network seeking former HP people in transition to sign up for a spot in Portland, OR.

Cheryl interviewed with several Portland-area non-profits before settling on Metropolitan Family Service, an organization dedicated to strengthening the lives of children and families. There she served as an Encore Fellow working part-time for 1000 hours from June 2011 to June 2012. Her job --- helping identify and recruit  volunteer “Encore Consultants” to perform projects for the non-profit, such as expanding a program that helps low income people learn financial literacy and secure low-interest car loans. She followed that with a Sept. 2012 – Sept. 2013 fellowship assignment helping improve the volunteer experience at the Ronald McDonald House.

Both fellowships came with $20,000 annual grants. “I’ve been a pretty prudent investor and saver, and also done occasional consulting along the way, so I’ve been able to make do,” Cheryl said. “But still, the dollars involved in the Encore Program are not, and probably never will be, at the level I earned in high tech. So I definitely have a modest lifestyle. “ But that’s by choice, she says. “I’m a minimalist. I have the aspiration of having a light footprint on the planet. I’m out of the thing market and in the market of experiences and meaning.

Making a Difference at Metropolitan Family Service

Edmonds' Encore work at Metropolitan Family Service was particularly rewarding.

Audrey, a single mother of two from Southeast Portland, came to Metropolitan Family Service (MFS) for help when she was on food stamps, struggling to care for her son and daughter, and had a bad credit score. With a low-interest loan coupled with financial coaching from MFS’ Ways to Work program, Audrey bought a used minivan. That allowed her to land a better job as an administrative assistant with a 50 percent pay raise.

MFS offers proven prevention services that help people of all ages succeed at home, in school and in the community.  Their services are in high demand as needs increase, and MFS was open to new approaches to build their capacity to meet those demands.

Founded in 1950, MFS is a non-profit that provides services each year to about 30,000 residents of Oregon and Southwest Washington. Eager to strengthen its capacity to address critical needs, MFS turned to the Encore Fellowship Program. The program offers seasoned private-sector professionals a second career exploration opportunity by providing professional expertise and passion to visionary nonprofits.

MFS already had a large volunteer corps of about 2000, including 500 seniors, but they were program specific, serving as mentors or providing health and human services, and generally not focused on capacity building.  MFS had engaged a number of retired human service professionals as expert trainers and project leads with great success. In addition, MFS has always had a strong Board that has leveraged pro-bono consultation across many fields of expertise. When SVPP launched the Encore Fellowship program, they were interested in seeing how a half-time Fellow could help MFS increase the range of structured volunteer roles for skilled seniors interested in meeting their capacity building needs.

In June 2011, Cheryl Edmonds, a former Hewlett-Packard engineer and marketer, joined MFS as an Encore Fellow for a one-year assignment, reporting to Judy Strand, now MFS’ Chief Executive Officer. Edmonds’ job – help figure out how MFS could recruit and use skilled seniors more effectively to address critical capacity-building needs.

“For us it was an experiment to see if we could be more adaptable, use the talents of someone who was advanced in the for profit business field to help us meet our capacity needs” said Strand. “We wanted to see if this was something that would work for us, that would ultimately reduce our load and be a viable blueprint for the future.”

MFS staff identified about 18 short-term high-impact projects that could be tackled during Edmonds’ one-year stay. The executive team then examined the projects against the agency’s strategic goals and the availability of potential champions within the agency. “In order for this to be successful, the people I work with internally need to be really jazzed about this, they need to be excited,” Edmonds told MFS, “because the biggest resistance you can get is from people doubting whether an effort is going to be worth it.”

In the end, MFS narrowed down the Edmonds’ initial assignment to working on two projects that required senior volunteers with business skills to address: (1) Updating MFS’ branding and messaging, and  (2) Enhancing awareness of an MFS low-income car loan and financial education program, “Ways to Work”, that was expanding from the Portland Metro Area into Clark County, Washington.

Promising she wouldn’t be a burden on MFS staff and would handle most of the administration of the programs, Edmonds got to work.

After finding project champions within MFS, Edmonds drafted the project plans, wrote the position descriptions and advertised on Craig’s List for experienced seniors willing to work pro bono as Encore Consultants. Three exceptional candidates were signed up.

For the Ways to Work program, Edmonds brought on a former banker to work with Clark County banks and a former Army captain to focus on business development with the large military population in the county.

For the branding work, Edmonds got a former senior executive at a marketing services agency and a web design professional. The newcomers laid the groundwork for the re-branding, establishing a foundation for Edmonds to build upon when MFS brought her on as a paid contractor after her fellowship ended.Edmonds work was so successful and valued that MFS went on to use the same Encore Consultant model to do 6 more internal capacity-building projects. During Cheryl’s fellowship, MFS extended Encore Consultants to partner agencies through their RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program). This was quite successful. MFS is also considering the feasibility of serving as a broker in identifying and channeling energetic skilled seniors willing to work pro bono for other non-profits.

When Edmonds’ Encore Fellowship ended in June 2012, MFS integrated the Encore Consultants framework into the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), a federally-funded effort within MFS that connects individuals age 55 and older with volunteer opportunities.

“The whole experience was extremely positive for us,” Strand said. “Cheryl was so efficient, did her assignment really well, had strong project management skills, and was able to blend together the best of the culture she came from with our work. Plus, Social Venture Partners Portland did a fantastic job.”

“I think there’s a vast capacity of people out there who really want to give back,” Strand said. “Having the framework that Social Venture Partners provided through the Encore Fellowship Program organized that for us. Without that framework we couldn’t have done it.”

Strand is proud that MFS has taken the lead in promoting experienced volunteers in realizing their mission.  “We pioneered intergenerational programs in our community – including Foster Grandparents and Experience Corps,” she said.  “MFS has always valued those with experience, and relied on retired human service professionals as a vehicle to meet the social needs in our community.”

Strand also takes satisfaction in MFS’ consistent engagement of the for-profit community in leadership roles through board work, fund development and strategic thinking.

“It is this history of success with experienced professionals from many fields, that created the atmosphere of openness to the Encore Fellowship program’s capacity,” she said. “To us, the Encore Fellowship program has taken our ability to partner with advanced volunteer experts to a new level, which has created more strength, capacity and ability to grow as a result.”

Edmonds' advice to others contemplating getting involved in the Encore Fellows Network: “Go volunteer with a non-profit; use your skills there and convince them you can become part of the mission’s passion, “she says. “There are so many problems to solve. Non-profits need all the brainpower and enthusiasm to solve them. Don’t spend a lot of time mired in the prospects for failure. Just go do it.”