Charitable Remainder Trust: A CRT given by a UCR alumus will build a legacy and connect generations
UCR alumnus Derick Brinkerhoff and his wife Jennifer have graciously given two planned gifts to the university: a scholarship fund for undergraduate students created with a charitable remainder trust, as well as an additional testamentary gift to establish a scholarship allowing students an opportunity to work and study in our nation's capital.
"UCR students are the future of our country," said Derick '69 '75, a distinguished fellow emeritus with RTI International and an associate faculty member at George Washington University's School of Public Policy and Public Administration. "We want to support their opportunities."
In 2019, the couple created the Dericksen M. Brinkerhoff Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fund was established through a charitable remainder trust in honor of Derick's late father, Dericksen Brinkerhoff, an emeritus professor of art history who served on the UCR faculty from 1965-1991. It's designed to support undergraduate students in any major who take an elective in art history.
"My dad's philosophy was that your undergraduate experience is not an apprenticeship for your future job, but an opportunity to be exposed to different ideas and disciplines," Derick said. "We wanted to create something that would enable students to sample the arts — even if that isn't what they ultimately want to pursue as a career."
Derick, who earned his bachelor's degree in anthropology and master's in administration from UCR, as well as a doctorate from Harvard University, knows firsthand the value of this approach.
"The main value of my UCR undergraduate education was the diversity and exposure I had to different people, ideas, and disciplines," said Derick, who received a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005. "I took courses from the art history series to physics for non-majors to a series in the drama department."
The Brinkerhoffs established their gift with an initial transfer of $25,000. After Derick's parents passed — his mother, Mary Brinkerhoff, in 2016 and his father in 2018 — they then created an annuity for $400,000. It will pay out to Derick's sister during her lifetime and, eventually, will go into the scholarship fund.
"We learned about estate planning from Derick's parents — they inspired us," said Jennifer, a professor of public administration and international affairs at George Washington University, who noted Derick's parents' financial commitments to UCR also led to the late couple's membership in the Watkins Society, a giving society for donors with planned, or deferred, gifts to the university.
"Through the Watkins Society, they built stronger relationships with the university and felt more included in the community — that was appealing to us," Jennifer said. "You want to give to do good, kind things, and there are ways of doing that that are also beneficial to you. With an estate gift, you get to leave behind a legacy that will make a difference in the future — that's important — and, in the short term, it's nice to be part of a community and institution that shares your values."
In October 2020, the Brinkerhoffs created an additional $250,000 testamentary gift to establish the Derick and Jennifer Brinkerhoff Endowed Scholarship Fund for Public Service. The fund is designed to give students from the School of Public Policy an opportunity to work and study in our nation's capital through the University of California Washington Center (UCDC) program.
The scholarship is an ode to Derick and Jennifer's academic careers, focused on public policy and international development, and their experiences mentoring UCDC program participants.
"I think any student who wants to engage in public service — even if they go back and serve in their local community — can benefit from learning and living in Washington, D.C.," said Jennifer, who earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, MPA from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and doctorate from the University of Southern California. "Exposure to places other than where you live makes you more compassionate and understanding, and you can make a bigger contribution in the world."
Scholarship preference is given to students from historically underrepresented groups — including first-generation college-educated students and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
"UCR has been amazing in the way it has grown and expanded and focused so much on serving underrepresented people," Derick said. "We support that and want to give those students even more opportunities."
The couple also appreciate that UCR has ranked No. 1 for social mobility for three consecutive years by U.S. News.
"I represent that mobility," said Jennifer, who is first-generation U.S. born and college educated, and was raised in California. "Education is the leveler. It's our privilege to help students from a variety of backgrounds try to foster their dreams in some way."
The couple, who chose not to have children, added that their planned giving allows them to leave a legacy that may not otherwise have come to fruition.
"It connects us to the younger generations," Derick said, "now and in the future."
