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The Funding Gap

The average cost of skilled nursing care for religious is $51,361—less than the average in the U.S., ($55,200), but still far beyond the capacity of many religious institutes to pay. More than 20,000 women and men (but mostly women) reside in religious communities that have less than 20 percent of the amount they expect to need for health care and daily living.

The Funding Gap 2003-2023

According to actuarial projections (PDF) by Mercer Human Resources Consulting, religious communities may have all of their current retirement funds wiped out and will be facing a shortfall of more than $20 billion by 2023. Since the Retirement Fund for Religious conducted its first appeal in 1988, the Fund has raised more than $529 million.

While the funding gap seems overwhelming, the National Religious Retirement Office, as well as individual religious communities, engage continually in strategic planning and fundraising with the aim of transforming this crisis into a manageable concern.