UC Riverside
Retirees Association
Spring 2026 Report
Submitted by Andy Plumley, UC Riverside CUCRA Representative
Fundraising / Scholarships / Budget
Fundraising:
UCR Give Day was recently held on April 7th and 8th, and we participated to raise funds for our Undergraduate Student Scholarship Endowment. For the last two years, we have partnered with SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union to incentivize giving by an offer to give UCRRA $10,000 if 425 individual donations are received from retirees, emeriti, staff and faculty. This year, we secured a five-year agreement with SchoolsFirst, where they will donate $12,500 per year in the same incentive manner. This will grow our endowment fund significantly as a result of SchoolsFirst contributions along with the resulting increased giving the incentive initiative generates.
Scholarships:
In winter, we awarded four UCR Students with scholarships totaling $15,000. The scholarship requires that recipients are children, grandchildren, or other close relative of UCR staff, faculty, retiree or emeriti. We recognized our student scholarship winners and their families at our Winter Luncheon in February.
Budget:
We ended the 2025/26 year with $30,000 more than budgeted. Given this surplus, we have increased our programs budget so that we do not need to charge any added fees for activities. This also allows us to keep our quarterly luncheons fees at the same level, even with increased dining costs. We have reported in the past of the difficulty in receiving regular financial reports from the campus. This now seems to be resolved as we now receive regular reports.
Retirement Center
For several years we have been working on securing a permanent physical home for our Retirement Center. As last reported, an historic building, The Cottage, was being renovated and we confirmed with the Chancellor and Provost that The Cottage would be our new home. The project is near completion, although the project has some remaining items needed for occupancy. There appears to be no money available for these remaining items, which will require us to go to the Chancellor and Provost to secure funding. We currently have a gift to help fund furnishings for the building. Additionally, we will also need to convince the campus that the on-going facility costs (utilities, security, IT) need to be covered by the campus. It is a small building, so these costs are very minimal. We are working on securing cost estimates to bring to the Chancellor and Provost.
Membership / Board
Membership:
UCRRA membership is at 426, an increase of 3.3% from last fall, and 74% being lifetime members. While we continue to have commitment to the continuation of the campus benefits for our association members (free parking in designated lots, retainment of UCR email account, and providing a UCR ID card which includes library access and discounts at the bookstore), we had to negotiate with Parking Services on which lots we need access to. We were successful in securing the parking lots that are near our libraries, administration building, the Barn, the University Theater, and the Botanic Gardens.
Board:
We will soon be seeking nominations for our 2026/27 Board. We have been fortunate to have had a full board for the last four years, and all but one of our officers will be seeking re-election. Additionally, we will be adding two new Members-at-Large positions. The intent of these positions is to allow current board members to continue on the board without any specific duties. It also allows us to introduce new members to the board. Bylaw changes are necessary for these positions, so these will be filled by appointment this first year, as elections will be held at the same time the Bylaw changes are approved.
Events and Activities
Events and activities sponsored by UCRRA, UCREA and the Retirement Center include:
- Quarterly Luncheons. These are plated luncheons with donated wine and include association announcements and a guest speaker. Our Holiday luncheon includes additional holiday entertainment, and our Spring luncheon includes our annual business meeting. For the past few years, we have included donation drives for various student assistance programs (food pantry, career closet, foster youth).
- Annual reception featuring the Chancellor, who provides a state of the campus address. This annual reception is hosted by UCRRA and UCREA.
- Mystery Book Club. This activity is held monthly.
- Walks, Talks & Tours. These events include tours on campus and in the Riverside community. Since fall, events have included meditation in the Botanic Gardens, a tour of the California Air Resources Board building which sits on donated campus land, and a tour of our new School of Business building.
- Edward A. Dickson Emeritus/a Professorship Lecture Series. Two lectures have been held this year with one more planned for spring.
- Tech Tip Seminars. These are provided by a recent Information Technology retiree and feature seminars to help retirees and emeriti with understating new technologies. Seminars since fall included: “Getting comfortable with Google Mail and Calendar (the campus switched over to this new platform), “How to use Google Docs,” “How to use Passkeys,” and “Understanding Web Browser Options.”
- Happy Hour. We host this program at our Barn, where we provide appetizers and folks purchase their own beverages. This new monthly program has been very popular, and we see many new people each time we have one.
- Other Events include a volunteering presentation from the American Red Cross, a Fidelity Investments and UCR Gift Planning session on Estate Planning, and participating in the campus’ Community Partner Fair and the Benefits, Health, and Wellness Fair.