The economic survival of long stay institutions for impoverished aged people.

Objective: Identify structural couplings of Retirement Institutions for the Aged (RIA) with the economic system, in order to maintain those institutions that shelter the poor aged in the Brazilian context.

Method: Qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study. The data collection was carried out through interviews with seven leading people and eight aged people, analysis of communication of 52 non-profit Brazilian RIAs, both public and private. The content analysis was performed based on the Niklas Luhmann's Systems Theory.

Results: It was verified that in face of the aged scarce resources, a considerable share of the maintenance costs are supported by the institutions themselves, whose search for resources is done by leaders, team, the aged and communities.

Conclusions: The excessive involvement of these institutions in the elaboration of programs for searching funds can harm the performance of their essential function which is to care for the poor aged.