Forty Plus of Greater Washington
Empowering Professionals in Career Transition
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Ageism today, as in 1953 when we were founded, is a significant and sometimes insurmountable obstacle for older workers needing to re-enter the workforce. 40 Plus gives the older worker the tools and the self-confidence to successfully overcome the ageism factor. A 2018 analysis by ProPublica and the Urban Institute--based on a nationwide longitudinal study sponsored by NIH and Social Security Administration of 20,000 workers over the age of 50--found that 56% of workers in the study were laid off or involuntarily separated from their job at least once after age 50, with one third of these losing a second or more jobs. Only 10% of these workers were able to regain their previous income level. 40 PLUS HELPS OUR ALUMNI BEAT THE ODDS TO BECOME RE-EMPLOYED FASTER. Moreover, as our 2019 survey indicates, 39% OF OUR GRADUATES WERE ABLE TO REGAIN OR SURPASS THEIR PRIOR INCOME LEVEL ---that puts us four times the national average, as indicated in the NIH and SSA study.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Career Transition Skills Course
A four-week immersive and transformative job search skills training course, facilitated by 24 selected volunteers who are graduates of the course and have mastered the skills being taught. Fees paid to take the 43-hour course are a fraction of the cost of private coaching (approximately $14.00 per instruction hour). Each class has a maximum of seven students to assure optimum small-group dynamics. About 42 people benefited from taking the course in 2019. Training in 2019 included Pre- and Post-Assessments to help students identify areas that they should focus on during the course and how they have improved after the course. After the course ends, students form a job club with their former classmates to support and assist each other through the job search process. ***** ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR CAREER TRANSITION SKILLS COURSE: A 2019 survey found 89% of training-course graduates are employed or self-employed, with 39% of training course graduates regaining or surpassing their prior income level. The survey found 15% of graduates surpassed their prior income by 10% or more. Scored assessments conducted before and after the course indicate an improvement of up to 85% in interviewing skills. Furthermore, 94% of graduates would recommend our course to family and friends.*****
Monday Morning Speaker Series
We conduct our FREE Weekly Monday Morning Meetings for 48 weeks out of the year, with each meeting featuring a different speaker covering some aspect of career transition and job search. The Monday Morning meetings are a destination for those who are unemployed to begin the week on a positive note and an opportunity for them to learn job search and networking skills. We also offer free or very low-cost monthly evening events with speakers and networking, as well as occasional workshops. ***** ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR MONDAY MORNING SPEAKER SERIES***** A) 94% of attendees indicated content was valuable/highly valuable; B) 97% would recommend them to family and friends; C) 1,000 people benefitted from these weekly meetings in 2019 D) We have successfully taken these meetings to a virtual format and have experienced up to five-fold increases in attendance, with up to 117 people attending a meeting!
Where we work
External reviews

Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
WE AIM TO EMPOWER EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS TO SUCCESSFUL CAREER TRANSITIONS THROUGH THE FOLLOWING GOALS:
1) Increase in revenue and resources to meet the new demand for job search guidance and tools
2) Increase in course offerings, potentially reducing the price point, to meet the new demand
3) Grow and further professionalize our organization by adjusting our business model
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
OUR STRATEGIES ARE TO:
1) Further develop and grow our VIRTUAL Monday Morning Speaker Series and Career Transition Skills Course offering, as the adaptation to a virtual offering due to Covid has proven to be a great growth opportunity, effectively catering to the 40+ and 50+ target group, and reducing future costs.
2) Increase revenue by increasing the quantity of Career Transition Skills Course offerings, adding a daytime and weekend track. (Currently we have an evening and Saturday morning track.)
3) Increase revenue through partnership and grant proposal opportunities to assist us in increasing the resources to fund this growth. This will allow us to bring our offerings to significantly higher scale, and potentially permitting the reduction of the student fee.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
OUR CAPABILITIES ARE:
1) Significant in-house know-how for teaching our Career Transition Skills Course, with a cadre of 24 experienced facilitators, graduates of the course, and who have mastered and utilized the skills being taught through their own successful job search.
2) Dedicated and knowledgeable volunteer administrative staff, who are helping to engineer and support our growth plans.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are actively seeking out partnership and grant funding opportunities to generate the resources to fund our growth plans. We would like to set the foundation to implement these plans beginning in 2021.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person),
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To measure the acquisition of new skills that are taught in our Career Transition Skills Course.,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We had to adapt our Monday Morning Speaker Series and our Career Transition Skills Course to a VIRTUAL format due to Covid-19 restrictions. We gathered feedback from our Monday Morning attendees and the students in our class as to whether we are fulfilling our constituents' needs. We have obtained feedback after every meeting and every class, and have been very pleasantly surprised as to how well our virtual offerings are received. This has allowed us to forecast that until there is greater public safety that can be provided by a vaccine, we can be very successful in providing our meetings and classes virtually. This, in turn, provides greater flexibility and capacity than our in-person offerings, at a future lower cost!
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Forty Plus of Greater Washington
Board of directorsas of 02/25/2021
Ms. Jeryl Skinner
Executive Committee, Board of Directors
Term: 2017 - 2020
Lori Sharn
BOD Secy.
Santina Rocca
BOD Treas.
Greg Collins
Exec. Comm.
Jeryl Skinner
Exec. Comm.
Pam Colbert
Christopher Cordom
Robert Henderson
Barbara Hoenig
Ronald Moore
Scott Morris
Hallock Northcott
Ken Schoppmann
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
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