For nearly 30 years, the Retirement Research Foundation has been dedicated to improving the quality of life for seniors in the United States. While our work to make sure that older people remain vibrant and vital participants in society is unchanged, the environment in which we do our work is fundamentally different.

A New World for the Elderly
Demographics, philanthropy, and support systems for the elderly are all almost unrecognizably changed from the world in 1979.

• The senior population has grown by almost 50 percent, from 25 million seniors in 1980 to 37 million seniors in 2006.
• Life expectancy for seniors has increased by 22 percent—a 65-year-old in 1980 could expect to live an additional 15 years. Today the average is 19 more years.
• In 1985, more than a quarter of the 85+ population lived in nursing homes. By 2004, that proportion had fallen to 14 percent.
• In 1980, many seniors retired with a defined-benefit pension paid by their employers. Today, traditional pensions are disappearing and personal savings are much lower.
• In 1980, 22,088 foundations spent $3.4 billion overall, just 2 percent of which was dedicated to senior issues. Today, the number of foundations has grown to 71,095 and spending has increased tenfold, to $34.6 billion—yet the proportion dedicated to seniors is essentially unchanged at 1.9 percent.
• When RRF was founded, only three philanthropic organizations focused on aging. Today, more than 25 foundations devote sizable funds to aging.

Grants for the New Environment: Highlights
This shifting landscape has presented the Foundation with challenges, and our programs and grantmaking focus have evolved to meet these challenges. Significant recent grants address senior economic security, supportive housing, long-term care, mental health, and workforce challenges.

• Foundation grants to Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) have led to a new Elder Economic Security Standard. This uses information from credible state and national data sets to measure the real incomes needed to meet basic needs on a county-by-county basis across the country.
• Without economic security, independent living is tenuous at best. A Foundation grant to the Economic Opportunity Institute is helping the Institute develop a voluntary universal retirement savings account system for Washington state and to provide technical assistance to other states.
• In a collaborative initiative with other private funders, RRF grants to the Institute of Medicine helped develop Retooling for an Aging America: Rebuilding the Health Care Workforce, which was released in April 2008. The report's conclusion is that the health-care workforce will not be remotely adequate to meet demand if current patterns of health-services use and workforce training continue. Most importantly, the report lays out actions needed to address this situation.
• A genuine transformation in nursing-home care is underway, from a traditional medical model to a "person-centered" care model. This is providing greater resident autonomy and personal choice in a more homelike environment with a less bureaucratic relationship between residents and caregivers. The driving force behind this culture change is The Pioneer Network. RRF support has increased the Network's capacity, supported personnel training to implement "person-centered" care, and helped implement culture change in the health system.
• The 2004 Older Adults Services Act mandated "rebalancing long-term care." This is a nationwide effort to decrease the number of older adults who enter nursing homes and to increase the number who receive services at home. In Illinois, RRF grants to the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group supported legislative briefings, research on implementation for the Illinois Department of Aging, staff work for the newly appointed Older Adult Services Advisory Committee, and public education. A similar effort is supported in Indiana.
• RRF grants also support mental-health initiatives that are directed at the elderly. Two projects—one at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and the other at Wayne State University—are designed specifically to strengthen the skills of allied health professionals, with the goal of improving outcomes for older patients with depression.

Over the past three years, RRF funding has remained comparatively stable. In 2005, the Foundation distributed $8.3 million in 132 grants. In 2006 and 2007, the figures were $8.0 million in 128 grants and $7.5 million in 135 grants respectively. Year 2008 is consistent with this pattern: through August, RRF grants totaled a little over $6 million.

2008 Changes
Periodically, the Foundation engages in a strategic planning process, and 2008 was such a year. In the process, we review current programs and grants, assess what we have learned from cluster evaluations and grants made, and examine developments in aging and the programs of principal funders in the aging area. In the end, the Foundation restated its mission and objectives. RRF now is especially committed to improving conditions for those elderly who are vulnerable for three general reasons: those whose vulnerability is due to frailty associated with advanced age; those who are economically disadvantaged and are thus at greatest risk of falling through the safety net; and those who experience disparities related to race and ethnicity.

The Foundation's goals are to:

• Improve access to and quality of community-based and residential health and long term care;
• Promote economic security for all older adults by strengthening social insurance, pension, and personal savings programs; and
• Support adequate training of and compensation for those working directly with the elderly and their families to assure the highest quality of care.

To support these goals, the Foundation will support education and training, advocacy, direct service for older adults and/or their informal caregivers; replications of evidence-based programs, models and practices; and applied clinical, policy, and social science research. The Foundation will give highest priority to these substantive areas in the next several years: economic security, affordable and supportive housing, coordinating care when older persons transfer from one care setting to another, person-centered long-term care, and mental health.

Internal Changes
While the Foundation's staff and Board of Trustees have been notably stable, changes have occurred in the past year.

• First, the RRF lost two long-serving Trustees, William Gentle and Webster H. Hurley. The men passed away in March and December of 2007, respectively. William Gentle served as the Treasurer as well as in his capacity as a Trustee.
• Dr. John F. Santos resigned his position as Trustee in August 2008 after 29 years.
• Edward J. Kelly, whose tenure on the RRF board extends all the way back to 1975, resigned his position as Chairman of the Board in March, 2007, but he remains a Trustee. Our new Chairman is Trustee Bart T. Murphy.
• Downey R. Varey has replaced William Gentle as Treasurer. Downey Varey continues his service to RRF as an outside accountant, a position he has held since 1995.

Since 1979, the Retirement Research Foundation has invested nearly $185 million in a continuing effort to improve the quality of life for seniors in the United States. Our engaged Board of Trustees and our experienced staff will continue to focus on service, education, research, and advocacy projects that will meet the challenges facing a changing elderly population. As always, our goal remains to create the elder-friendly community that all of us hope to enjoy in our old age.

Marilyn Hennessy *
President
The Retirement Research Foundation

*Retired December 31, 2008.

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