Symetra Sponsors the 2014 Purpose Prize for Future Promise: $100,000 Awarded to David Campbell, Founder of All Hands Volunteers
SAN FRANCISCO and BELLEVUE, Wash. (PRWEB) October 28, 2014 -- On Oct. 28, 2014, David Campbell, founder and chairman of All Hands Volunteers, will be named the 2014 winner of The Purpose Prize® for Future Promise, sponsored by Symetra. The Purpose Prize, a program of Encore.org, recognizes and rewards the achievements of social innovators over 60. Symetra, a Bellevue, Washington-based financial services company, is the sponsor of Campbell’s $100,000 award.
The Purpose Prize for Future Promise, sponsored by Symetra in 2013 and 2014, recognizes an individual whose approach to helping society has the potential to grow steadily over the next five years. Former tech executive David Campbell channeled his business savvy into building the nonprofit All Hands Volunteers — a nimble, effective organization that has dispatched 28,000 volunteers to 45 global disaster zones.
“I began this work as one individual, but after putting up a virtual flag on the internet, I wound up getting hundreds, and eventually thousands, of volunteers. All of a sudden, my 40-plus years of management experience came into play, as we grew into a global organization,” Campbell said. “Our view is if people are willing to work hard for nothing, we’ll find a way to use you. When people are allowed to do the best they can do, we find that clever ideas emerge to solve immediate problems.”
“We are honored to be a part of Encore.org’s Purpose Prize program and to support the altruistic work of David Campbell and other social entrepreneurs in their encore careers,” said Dan Guilbert, executive vice president of Symetra’s Retirement Division. “For Symetra, the concept of ‘future promise’ fits with who we are as a company. As a core value, we make and keep promises to our customers, helping them achieve financial and personal enrichment through our retirement and life insurance products. The Purpose Prize honors those who contribute their time and talents for the enrichment of society.”
“We are grateful for Symetra’s vision and generosity in partnering with Encore.org and The Purpose Prize. Once again, Symetra distinguishes itself as a creative community and business leader committed to the greater good. We look forward to working with Symetra to recognize the powerful impact of David Campbell’s encore,” said Eunice Lin Nichols, director of The Purpose Prize, created by Encore.org.
Campbell and additional winners of The Purpose Prize will be honored on Oct. 28, 2014, at an awards ceremony at the Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona. Dan Guilbert of Symetra will be on hand to present Campbell’s award. Emmy-award winning journalist Jane Pauley and 2013 Purpose Prize winner Ysabel Duron will emcee the event, which will include hundreds of encore leaders and Purpose Prize honorees.
Twenty-four jurors — leaders in business, politics, media and the nonprofit sector — chose the six winners of The Purpose Prize. An additional 38 Purpose Prize fellows were selected from a pool of nearly 800 nominees. Jurors include Sherry Lansing, former CEO of Paramount; David Bornstein, author and New York Times columnist; Eric Liu, author and founder of Citizen University; and Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The Purpose Prize was created in 2005 by Encore.org, formerly Civic Ventures, with major investments from The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation. Since 2005, more than 430 people have been recognized as Purpose Prize winners or fellows.
For more information about The Purpose Prize and the selection process, visit http://www.encore.org/prize.
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About Encore.org
Encore.org is a national nonprofit that is building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond to improve communities and the world. The Purpose Prize is a program of Encore.org.
About Symetra
Symetra Financial Corporation is a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue, Washington. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent agents and advisors. For more information, visit http://www.symetra.com.
About The Atlantic Philanthropies
The Atlantic Philanthropies are dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Atlantic is a limited-life foundation that will complete grantmaking in 2016. To learn more, please visit http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org.
About the John Templeton Foundation
The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. The Foundation supports research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. It encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights.
About David Campbell
When the Indian Ocean tsunami ravaged Southeast Asia in December 2004, technology executive David Campbell, then 63, flew to Bang Tao, Thailand, to volunteer, with little more than duct tape and a wireless router. Campbell joined some volunteers who had started a website to recruit more help. He put on his work boots and gloves and pitched in — clearing debris, mixing cement and helping to build rudimentary temporary housing. Meanwhile, Campbell tapped into his managerial and operational skills to organize the chaotic global community of random volunteers. Within months of his return home to Massachusetts, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. Using the model he developed in Bang Tao, Campbell was in Biloxi, Mississippi, within a week and enlisted 1,500 volunteers to help. These experiences became the foundation for All Hands Volunteers, the nonprofit Campbell launched in 2005 to provide immediate and sustainable volunteer support — with minimal bureaucratic obstacles — to communities struck by natural disasters. Since 2005, All Hands has completed 45 relief projects in five countries and dozens of U.S. locations, serving 45,000 families with the help of 28,000 dedicated volunteers. Campbell, now 72, says he has no intention of packing in his encore career. “My goal is to remain as highly effective as I can be in this next phase of my life — to live a life that has purpose.” ($100,000 winner of The Purpose Prize for Future Promise, sponsored by Symetra)
Media Contacts:
Encore.org — Encore.org Media Line 415.890.0142 or Marci Alboher, VP of Marketing and Communications, at malboher(at)encore(dot)org
Symetra — Diana McSweeney, 425.256.6167, diana.mcsweeney(at)symetra(dot)com
Marci Alboher, Encore.org, http://www.encore.org/, +1 (917) 443-0182, [email protected]
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