"CLOI's programs have encouraged me to think deeper about myself… Stepping outside myself to help someone else is a great healer"
– Participant who lost her spouse of 40 years.

Nonprofits currently face unprecedented reductions in funding coupled with significant increases in demand for their services. At the same time, a huge resource nonprofits can access has gone untapped—talented older adults. The Chicago Life Opportunities Initiative (CLOI) was created to bring these two vital assets together. And, we need your help!

One CLOI graduate was a nonprofit Director before staying home to raise her kids for 20 years. She became a trained mentor through CLOI's Count Me In! program and taught a social service agency how to use older adult volunteers in more significant roles like strategic and program planning. In the process, she helped them "work smarter, not harder" to improve their operations.

"I found Count Me In! at the right time in my life. The program reminded me that I have valuable critical thinking skills about nonprofits I forgot I had!"

Another CLOI-trained leader organized a first-ever event that raised over $17,000 to support low-income renters. Still another secured a multi-year $10,000 pledge for a nonprofit that supports birth mothers who have chosen to give their babies up for adoption.

This is what's possible when the talents of people, age 50+, are paired—and shared—with small and medium-sized nonprofits. The National Council on Aging says we can't afford to ignore this incredible talent pool. Every dollar nonprofits invest in their older adult leadership volunteers can receive, on average, $8 in return benefits.

But with funding becoming increasingly scarce, CLOI needs your support more than ever to carry out its forward-thinking mission.

Your contribution will

• Help more people, age 50+, who are undergoing often difficult life transitions, find hope and guidance in determining "what's next"; and

• Offset the costs of CLOI's programs so more deserving nonprofits can learn how to benefit from the critical thinking and hands-on skills older adults have to offer. And the nonprofits you care about get the operational help they need.

By supporting CLOI, your gift has the ability to transform individuals and transform organizations at the same time – helping them both to see how they can use their experience to impact their own lives and the lives of hundreds of others.

Your generous contribution will leverage the hard work and energy of our staff and volunteers to help us develop new and expand existing programs that create excitement and possibility, build capacity, set direction and make a difference in the quality of people's lives and communities.

There are three ways to contribute

Donate On-Line

Please make a donation on-line now on our secure form using MasterCard or Visa.
(CJE SeniorLife is the fiscal agent for CLOI)

Donate by Mail

Download and print our mail donation form, or send a check to:

Chicago Life Opportunities Initiative
Attn: Donna Pezzuto
3003 West Touhy
Chicago, IL 60645

Please make your check payable to CJE SeniorLife/CLOI.

CLOI is a partnership of CJE SeniorLife and Mather LifeWays. CJE Senior Life is CLOI's fiscal agent and gifts to CLOI are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law through CJE SeniorLife.

On behalf of all of us at CLOI, thank you so much for your generosity!