Joining the UU Organizations Retirement Plan

UU Org Retirement Plan Piggy Logo

Considering offering the UU Organizations Retirement Plan (UUORP) to your employees? This page walks you through the adoption process from initial review to your first day of participation.

Important: Plan implementation cannot be retroactive. Once your board has passed its adoption resolution, submit your Employer Participation Agreement (EPA) to the Retirement Plan team promptly — allow several weeks for processing and approval before your intended implementation date.

Questions at any point? Contact us at retirementplan@uua.org.

Who Can Join

The UUORP is available to UU congregations, regions, the national association, other UU organizations, and community ministers. Not sure if your organization is eligible? Contact us at retirementplan@uua.org.

Organizations that have not completed the adoption process and do not have a fully executed Employer Participation Agreement on file with the UUA cannot offer this benefit to their employees.

Phase 1: Learn and Review

Key leaders — typically the president, treasurer, minister, and/or personnel committee — should review these documents before bringing a proposal to your board:

Also at this stage: review staff eligibility requirements so your board can make informed decisions about who will be covered.

What elections and contribution levels should we offer? The UUA maintains UUA Benefit Recommendations — including recommended retirement plan contribution levels — to help your organization make informed decisions about what to offer employees. Contact Jan Gartner at comp@uua.org on the Congregational Life Team with questions.

By adopting the Plan, your organization takes on responsibility for administering it in compliance with the Plan document, your Employer Participation Agreement, and all applicable federal regulations. The documents above will help you understand those responsibilities before your board takes action.

Phase 2: Discuss and Decide

Your board, personnel committee, minister, and/or executive team should reach decisions on the following:

  • Base employer contribution percentage — Your board decides the exact percentage; the minimum is 5% of eligible compensation, and the UUA recommends 10%. This contribution must apply equally to all employees who have satisfied the Year of Eligibility Service (YOES) requirement.
  • Employee matching contributions — Decide whether to offer a matching contribution on employee pre-tax salary deferrals. If yes, choose a whole percentage from 1–6%. Matching is optional; many organizations do not offer it.

Review your options and address any questions before finalizing. The Key Considerations PDF and the UUA Benefit Recommendations resources cover these decisions in more detail. Contact retirementplan@uua.org with questions.

Phase 3: Board Action, Submission, and Staff Review

Step 1: Board passes the Plan Adoption Motion using the Sample Adoption Motion (PDF). Record the date — you will need it when completing the submission form.

Step 2: Submit your Employer Participation Agreement (EPA) online using the EPA Submission Form. The person completing the form is typically your administrator, treasurer, president, or minister. You will need:

  • Your UUA organization ID (if known, you can search dropdown if unknown)
  • Your employer base contribution percentage (minimum 5%, UUA recommendation of 10%)
  • Your employer matching contribution percentage (1–6%, or 0 if not offering)
  • Your requested implementation date
  • The date your board passed its adoption motion
  • Name and email address for your treasurer and board president/chair

Once submitted, your treasurer and board president/chair will receive an email to review the agreement and add their electronic initials and signature.

Note: If any organizational information appears incorrectly on the agreement after you select your organization from the lookup, contact retirementplan@uua.org before submitting so corrections can be made.

Step 3: Complete your staff review. Before your implementation date can be approved, the Retirement Plan team needs to verify your employee roster. When you submit your EPA, we will send you an employee data spreadsheet to complete and return. This step ensures all eligible employees are properly enrolled from day one and that any employee that has satisfied the Year of Eligibility Service (YOES) is identified in advance. Return your completed spreadsheet to retirementplan@uua.org promptly — your implementation cannot be approved until this review is complete.

Step 4: Receive confirmation. Once your EPA is signed by all parties and your staff review is complete, the Retirement Plan Director approves your Agreement and sends you a fully executed copy with your confirmed implementation date and next steps.

Phase 4: Implementation

Once you receive your confirmed implementation date, take the following steps before your Plan goes live:

  1. Designate your Remitting Admin. This person will have login credentials to the Empower Plan Service Center (PSC) to remit contributions and post hours worked. This must be in place before contributions can be remitted. See Remitting Admins for setup instructions. Note: login credentials may not be shared or transferred.
  2. Communicate the implementation date and Plan elections to all staff, including what the employer contribution means for them and whether matching is available.
  3. Your Remitting Admin will handle employee enrollment as part of their onboarding to the role. The Retirement Plan team will guide your Remitting Admin through this process once they are set up.
  4. Begin remitting contributions per the Plan document and your confirmed Agreement. See Remitting Admins for instructions.

Ready to Get Started?

Contact us — we’re happy to answer questions, walk you through the process, or send you any of the documents listed above.