Meet the 7 New AARP Purpose Prize Winners

Building hospitals in the world’s poorest communities. Reconnecting children in foster care with their extended families and communities. Teaching entrepreneurship to women in prison. Encouraging high school students to learn about science and engineering, or registering them to vote.

These are just some of the ways AARP’s latest class of Purpose Prize winners — all Americans 50 and older — are helping to improve the world, motivated by their own life experiences.

This year, AARP has awarded seven nonprofit founders a combined $350,000 — $50,000 each for their organizations — and will provide them with a year’s worth of technical support to build on their work.

AARP awards the Purpose Prize annually to nonprofit founders 50 and older who see a problem and create impactful solutions inspired by their personal stories. Winners must have started their organization at age 40 or older.

“We are proud to salute our AARP Purpose Prize winners, who are using the experience they have gained over a lifetime not only to fulfill their own purpose in life but also to create new solutions for how people live and age and solve pressing social problems,” AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement announcing the winners Sept. 3.  

AARP is presenting Emmy award–winning actress, author and philanthropist Taraji P. Henson with an honorary Purpose Prize for her founding of the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation. The organization honors the legacy of her father, who battled untreated mental health issues after returning home from Vietnam. 

All winners will be recognized during a celebration in Washington on Oct. 1.

The recipients of the 2025 AARP Purpose Prize are:

Jim Ansara, cofounder and managing director of Build Health International in Beverly, Massachusetts, which helps build high-quality health care infrastructure in underprivileged communities around the world.

Jon Eldan, founder and executive director of After Innocence in Oakland, California, which provides post-release support for people imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit.

Robert Elkin, cofounder and board president of March to the Polls in Dallas, which provides in-class voter education and registration in public high schools.

Reneé Fluker, founder and president of the Midnight Golf Program in Detroit, which provides golf instruction, mentorship and college readiness skills to high school seniors.

Gemma M. García, cofounder and treasurer of the Ladies Empowerment and Action Program in Miami, which provides pre- and post-release education, housing, employment and case management services to incarcerated women.

Jennifer Jacobs, cofounder and CEO of Connect Our Kids in Falls Church, Virginia, which helps keep kids in foster care connected to their people.

Calvin Mackie, founder and CEO of STEM NOLA in New Orleans, which provides activities to steer young people into careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Learn more about the AARP Purpose Prize