We are thrilled to announce a special, one-time benefit to our participants and retirees.
Dear YWCA Retirement Fund member,
You may have heard that the YWCA Retirement Fund is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The Fund began operations in New York City on September 1, 1925. This was just five years after the 19th Amendment established voting rights for women and a decade before the creation of Social Security.
The fact that the Rockefeller family, who had strong ties to both the YMCA and the YWCA, helped fund the creation of a retirement plan for YWCA women was spectacular. The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, created by her husband, John D. Rockefeller (after her death in 1915) donated over $1 million to help create the YWCA’s retirement program.
Laura Spelman was a firm believer and supporter of the YWCA, its mission, and its workforce, and inspired the Fund’s singular purpose: to provide employees of YWCAs with access to a secure, comfortable retirement for careers of service to the YWCA mission.
As we crest the wave of this first century of the Fund’s existence, we look forward to ensuring that our program remains viable and relevant in the next hundred years. It is no surprise that a benefit like ours is very rare in today’s workforce. Ask any of your friends if they receive a retirement benefit even remotely like the one provided by the YWCA. It’s a testament to the YWCA’s dedication to its employees that it requires that all YWCAs offer this invaluable plan. It is my extreme honor to be leading the Fund at this critical point in our history. We will continue to review our benefits offerings and our operations to ensure we remain an invaluable and well-valued part of YWCA employment and service.
I am thrilled to announce that, in honor of the YWCA Retirement Fund’s centennial, our Board of Trustees has approved a special, one-time benefit to our participants and retirees.
This month, all participants will receive an extra monthly interest payment, and all retirees will receive an extra monthly annuity payment. This is our way of sharing our success with those whom we are here to serve. Participant and retiree one-time benefits will be deposited in accounts between 09/30/2025 and 10/01/2025.
We thank you for your dedication to the YWCA movement and for being a member of the YWCA Retirement Fund. I look forward to the Fund’s next 100 years of service to the YWCA.
Yours sincerely,
Elliott Buchholz
CEO
YWCA Retirement Fund