2024-03 From the President: $37,603,316

It’s a big number, $37,603,316. This is the amount of giving by current UMRA members to the University of Minnesota since FY12. It includes everything from cash gifts to estate gifts (and is nearly $5M more than the $32,800,501 the University of Minnesota Foundation reported to UMRA in 2021.) These gifts are directed toward a variety of uses: $17M for student support, $13.5M for faculty and staff support, $5.9M for program support, and the remaining for research, capital improvements, and outreach/community engagement. 

Here are a few more numbers of note: UMRA has more than 900 members. Our University Retirees Volunteer Center has coordinated thousands of hours of volunteer time devoted to supporting University projects. UMRA held 8 forums and 8 living well workshops and 3 special social events in the past 12 months. And our members have shown—in countless other ways—the value we bring to engaging with each other, the University, and the community. 

We should all recognize that we are a force for good in the world. The University is a better place because we are here and because we care enough to give back. 

Numbers are one way to represent the good we do. We also express the good we do when we welcome a new UMRA member, when we support each other in our grieving moments, when we come together as a group to accomplish good things with our interest groups and social activities, when we travel together, and when we help our currently employed friends learn the right time to move on to their next stage in life. 

I believe there is even more we can do. Let me know your thoughts.

—Eric Hockert, UMRA president, [email protected]