Reminder: Sign and submit Chapter Summary Report 'Group 990 Tax Return Verification' page by February 28
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Page is available from the Reports/Listings area in the Chapter Leadership Administration Menu
ACTION Required: For IRS reporting purposes, all chapters need to submit the "Chapter Summary Report and Group 990 Tax Return Verification page" from its year-end Chapter Summary Report, signed by the Audit Committee chairperson and a current (2007) elected chapter leader, to the following address by Feb. 28:
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Fraternal Services, Z8
4321 N Ballard Rd
Appleton WI 54919-0001
Where is the year-end Chapter Summary Report?
To access the year-end Chapter Summary Report, which includes the Verification Page your chapter needs to sign and submit:
Click Chapter Leadership Administration Menu and log in (if this is the first time you are logging into the Administration Menu, you will need to complete a short one-time registration)
In the right column, scroll down to the area called Reports/Listings:
Important: Click on the drop down arrow by 2007 and select 2006.
Click on the drop down arrow by the box that has "(Press arrow for list)" and select Chapter Summary Report.
Click Go.
The Chapter Summary Report and Group 990 Tax Return Verification page that you need to sign and submit is generally located on or near page 5 of the Chapter Summary Report, between the "Chapter Summary Report" tables and the details.
Why do we need to sign and submit this by Feb. 28?
The chapter audit and submission of this form is necessary for Thrivent Financial to complete the IRS Group 990 form for all chapters. Chapters that do not sign and submit the authorization to allow Thrivent Financial to file information with the IRS regarding their chapter may be responsible for filing their own separate 990 forms with the IRS. In addition, the submission of this form is required for your chapter to receive the July deposit of chapter operating funds.
Thanks to the 15 percent of our chapters who already have completed their audit and submitted the signed authorization page. Great job!
Questions?
For more information about the audit and Chapter Summary Report, see one or more of the following:
The January 2007 Chapter News article about the audit and verification page needed from the Chapter Summary Report.
What does 'admitting new members into membership' mean?
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Chapter leadership boards are required to fulfill this requirement
ACTION Required: A responsibility of each chapter leadership board is to "review and admit into membership those persons who have applied, and are eligible, for membership in Thrivent Financial for Lutherans whose residence falls within their chapter boundaries." But why does this need to be done and how should it be done?
The Why
As membership organizations, fraternal benefit societies are required to have their lodges or chapters fulfill this responsibility.
However, it's important to note that chapter leaders are not obligated to determine whether or not applicants are eligible for membership—Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is responsible for administering membership applications on behalf of chapters.
The How
The best way to fulfill this requirement is to make sure your chapter leadership board adds "admission of new members" to each of your chapter meeting agendas.
To admit new members:
Access the "Newly Assigned Chapter Members" list online
Chapter leaders can view and print a list of new members from the Reports/Listings area of the Chapter Leadership Administration Menu. To do this:
Click Chapter Leadership Administration Menu and log in (if this is the first time you are logging into the Administration Menu, you will need to complete a short one-time registration)
In the right column, scroll down to the area called Reports/Listings:
Make sure the date is 2007
Click on the down arrow for the box that has "(Press arrow for list)" and select Newly Assigned Chapter Members
Click Go
You now will see the report. If you only want to see the list of new members since the last time your chapter admitted new members, type in the date by "Members assigned to this chapter as of (mm/dd/yyyy)" and click Find.
The report includes all members who are eligible to be admitted to your chapter:
Those who are new to the Society and are to be admitted into membership are the persons on your report with a 'yes' indicated in the "New Thrivent Financial Member" column.
The list also includes existing members who are transferring into your chapter. The leadership board does not need to admit the transferring members into the Society because they are simply being transferred to your chapter and are not new members. However, the leadership board does need to acknowledge their transfer into the chapter, along with admitting the new members.
At a chapter meeting, read the following script A motion is made that the persons on this list are admitted to membership as members of the (insert chapter name) Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. All in favor say ‘aye’.
Record in the meeting minutes that new members were admitted to membership
It is not required to read or enter each individual member's name, unless desired.
Questions?
For complete details about admitting new members, see CHIP, your online chapter reference guide.
Attention first-year leaders: Was orientation simple and valuable?
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Answer quick-poll question about new chapter leader orientation teleconference; share feedback with LCS Team
If you dialed in to the Jan. 25 orientation for new chapter leaders or listened to the replay, we'd love your feedback about:
The value of the orientation session itself
The effectiveness of using teleconferences for training purposes and/or sharing information
ACTION Requested:How to provide feedback
Please take about one minute to complete the quick-poll question in the right column of your For Chapter Leaders page (thrivent.com > Members/Chapters > For Chapter Leaders)
Share more detailed thoughts about the orientation to your regional Lutheran Community Services (LCS) Team. For example:
Was the information provided valuable to you for your new role?
Was a teleconference an effective format for you to learn?
Was it easy to participate and dial-in?
Did you receive notification of the teleconference in a timely manner?
Was the packet helpful that you received in advance?
If you decided not to listen, feel free to let us know those reasons as well.
Your feedback will help us with future planning of training events and topics.
Replay available
If you didn't get a chance to listen to the teleconference on Jan. 25, you can hear a replay of it. Dial 888-843-8996 and enter confirmation code 16637302. The teleconference lasted 90 minutes including Q&A sessions.
Chapter site keeps visitors up-to-date and points them in the right direction
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Ashland-Richland Chapter receives Web Site of the Month honors
Congratulations to the leaders of the Ashland-Richland Chapter (Ohio), especially to Dave Bick, chapter Internet advisor and Web site administrator, whose site has been named Chapter Web Site of the Month for February.
The person who nominated this site praised the up-to-date information on the site as well as a layout that's easy to read and navigate and pleasing to the eye. The home page contains new notices that are important to chapter leaders or volunteers, the names and contact information of the chapter leaders, and the chapter mission statement.
"Our chapter's goal is to have the Web site be a source for information of interest to chapter members and a resource for members, especially congregational coordinators," says Dave.
Throughout the site, Dave does a great job of providing helpful instructions—whether it's about whom to contact and submit forms to, or information about when to use and steps for completing the necessary forms.
On the Download Forms page, visitors can link to six different forms that the chapter has done a great job of creating or customizing. An excellent explanation of the purpose of each form is provided as well instructions for downloading, who they need to be submitted to, and whom to contact with questions.
"The chapter Web site gives our chapter leadership board the opportunity to reach members and others with the latest information from the chapter," says Dave. "It also gives us another way to make our forms available."
Duluth Area Chapter receives 2006 Chapter Web Site of the Year honor
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Informative, fun, easy-to-read, looks great, up-to-date … the list goes on
Congratulations to the leaders of the Duluth Area Chapter (Minnesota) for having its Web site honored as 2006 Chapter Web Site of the Year. This site received the Chapter Web Site of the Month honors in September, and it's even better now thanks to the skills of Laura Hanson, the chapter's communications director and Web site administrator.
This site is a great model for chapters to use as they look for ways to provide a professional, yet fun, look to their sites. Through an excellent use of fonts, font sizes, white space and graphics, Laura provides a site that is very pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate, easy to read and informative, while capturing the helping spirit of the chapter and its volunteers and the fun of volunteering.
Read about the numerous features that make this site an excellent tool for members of the Duluth Area Chapter as well as comments from Laura about working with the Web site. To see the site, please visit www.lutheransonline.com/duluthareachapter. Congratulations to Laura and the Duluth Area Chapter.
The following articles also were posted for congregational coordinators.
What's Your ThriveQ?
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CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
New online tool from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
As chapter leaders and congregational coordinators of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, we wanted to alert you to a new tool that can help members on the path to retirement. This tool will be announced nationally on Feb. 20.
What's your ThriveQ?
Introducing ThriveQ — a free, easy and personalized way to see where you stand on your path to retirement, available now from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. After answering a few questions about your goals and dreams for retirement, you receive:
A personalized assessment about your retirement readiness
Your ThriveQ score, showing where you stand compared to others your age
Steps you can take to help you reach your goals
Try this in advance
To experience this tool, visit www.thriveQ.com!
As chapter leaders and congregational coordinators, we know members turn to you for information. We appreciate you being willing to stay informed about new Thrivent Financial initiatives to help our members.
Be aware of important privacy guidelines regarding Member Lists
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CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
It's important to appropriately use your access privilege to member information
ACTION Required: As chapter leaders and congregational coordinators, you have access to member information (e.g., names and addresses) via an online or paper Member List. Because of this privilege and our commitment to protect member information, we are required to periodically send you a reminder about the importance of following Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' privacy policy and practices as it relates to Member Lists:
Member Lists contain proprietary information that is solely for use by employees, volunteers, and agents of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in connection with fraternal activities of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. They must not be copied or reproduced for unauthorized use, including personal use.
ACTION Required: You must keep this information secure and protect it from any unauthorized access or use. If you become aware of any unauthorized use of the information, you must immediately notify the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 or fraternal@thrivent.com.
ACTION Required: Member Lists must be destroyed if requested by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans or if you determine you no longer have need for the information. Consider confidentiality as you destroy chapter materials and records such as Member Lists and past financial records. If records contain a member's personal information (name, address, phone number, etc.), shred, tear or burn these records when disposing of them.
Complete details about the impacts of privacy on chapters, activity payees and recipients, and chapter leaders', congregational volunteers' and service team leaders' personal information are located in CHIP, your online chapter reference guide. Type "Privacy" in the "Search For:" box.
Accessing Member Lists
Chapter leaders can order chapter member lists via the Chapter Leadership Administration Menu (go to the Reports/Listings area and click on Order Chapter Member Listing). Because chapter member lists can be lengthy and expensive to mail, they should not order a list unless they need to recruit new chapter leaders now and/or they need to contact members to request involvement in volunteer activities.
Congregational coordinators can order a member list for their congregation via the Congregational Coordinator Administration Menu (go to the Reports/Listings area and click on Order Congregational Member Listing). Although these lists are shorter than the chapter member lists, these should not be ordered unless they are needed for recruiting new congregational coordinators or volunteers for activities.
See CHIP for more details about member lists. Type "Member Lists" in the "Search For:" box.
This day is sponsored by America's fraternal benefit societies, including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, and is designed to generate awareness about the impact of grassroots volunteerism. It also encourages youth and adults to come together to improve their communities while building lasting friendships across generations.
The eighth annual JOIN HANDS DAY is Saturday, May 5. As chapter leaders and congregational coordinators, you have a great opportunity to promote this special national day of service to your members, communities and congregations—and support is available to help you in these efforts.
What's new for 2007?
This year, we're looking to build on the strong support our members have shown for JOIN HANDS DAY in the past—we're not only encouraging chapters and members to participate, but to put an additional emphasis on:
Generating awareness about their activities and the impact that is being made in communities through their activities, and
Inviting others to join with them—families, friends, neighbors, congregations, community groups, media and elected officials.
What's your role?
JOIN HANDS DAY is a great opportunity to not only tell and show others what we do, but have them experience the powerful impact we have across the nation—each and every day—through the grassroots volunteer efforts of our members in communities big and small.
ACTION Requested: With this in mind, we ask our chapter leaders and congregational coordinators to:
Support at least two Thrivent chapter JOIN HANDS DAY activities in 2007. Let’s have 100 percent of our chapters participate this year. (The activities must be reported by July 31.)
Promote this opportunity to your members and congregations.
Encourage service teams to:
Get the word out about planned activities—to the community, congregations, the media and elected officials—and invite them to participate.
Look for other chapters, community groups and fraternal benefit societies to join and partner with for activities. This will help increase the chances of the media and/or elected officials coming to the activity.
Hold activities on or near May 5 to strengthen the impact of JOIN HANDS DAY. (This year, eligible Thrivent chapter JOIN HANDS DAY activities still may be conducted between April 1 and June 30.)
Pre-register their activity with JOIN HANDS DAY on www.joinhandsday.org and complete the post-activity report (in addition to the chapter reporting the activity to Thrivent Financial).
We’re here to support you
To help you successfully complete the tasks listed above, we’re supporting you in several ways:
$1,000 of JOIN HANDS DAY seed money will be deposited into your chapter checking account on March 1. This money can be used to purchase supplies, T-shirts, refreshments or other promotional materials.
Mark your calendars — a teleconference (PDF, 56K) for chapter leaders and congregational coordinators will be held on March 13 to provide ideas and best practices for getting members involved.
Many tools, promotional materials and forms have been developed to help you and service teams plan, promote, conduct and report JOIN HANDS DAY activities.
Complete information about the support available, as well as links to the materials, tools and forms are located online:
Chapter leaders: Join Hands Day page in the For Chapters Leaders section.
Congregational coordinators: Join Hands Day page in the For Congregational Coordinators section.
An envelope that includes JOIN HANDS DAY tools and forms is scheduled to be mailed to all chapter presidents, vice presidents, congregational service team directors, community service team directors, communication directors and youth directors during the week of Feb. 12. Please share the materials from this envelope with your congregational coordinators and those who might be interested in conducting a JOIN HANDS DAY activity.
Questions?
If you have questions, please see your online pages and/or contact the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 or fraternal@thrivent.com. For more information about JOIN HANDS DAY, see its Web site at www.joinhandsday.org.
Updated Visibility Toolkit now live
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CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
New version available on thrivent.com; soon will be available on Supplies page
As announced in last month's Chapter News, the Visibility Toolkit has been updated and now is live on thrivent.com. It can be accessed from several areas:
Members also can access it from the Volunteer Resources page in the Members/Chapters area.
Important Note: New version will be available on Supplies pages later this month; paper version not available
The Order Chapter Supplies and Order Congregational Coordinator Supplies pages in the Chapter Leadership Administration Menu and Congregational Coordinator Administration Menu still show the old version of the Visibility Toolkit, but is scheduled to be updated later this month.
As announced last month, the toolkit no longer is avaialble in a paper version, and cannot be ordered from the Supplies pages. However, you will be able to download the toolkit from the Supplies pages as in the past.
What's in the toolkit?
You can view and print the entire 25-page version (PDF, 298K), or just the section(s) you need or want:
Section I — 4 Simple Tools to Spread the News About Your Activity: A brief one-page summary of the most common tools service teams can use for almost any activity. (PDF, 301K)
Section II — The Basics: 8 pages of short snippets on: why it's important to promote activities; where to start; how to pick the right tools; what to say; using the right logo; using correct terminology; and photo tips. (PDF, 301K)
Section III — Know Your Tools: 4 pages of helpful information about when to use various tools, and the benefits and cautions of using some common tools. (PDF, 301K)
Section IV — Power Tools: 7 pages of tips for using tools that require more time and effort—paid and free advertising, and how to persuade the media to tell your story. (PDF, 301K)
Section V — Media Relations: Beyond the Basics: 2 pages of what to do when you have a BIG story. (PDF, 301K)
Section VI — Inviting Elected Officials: 3 pages containing simple steps for contacting and building awareness among elected officials. (PDF, 301K)
More details/questions?
For more details about the updated toolkit and the importance of generating visibility about your chapter activities, see last month's Chapter News article. We will continually look for ways to improve the toolkit, including an html version that will be easier to download and to link to other helpful areas.
If you have tips for improving the Visibility Toolkit, please send an e-mail to fraternal@thrivent.com and the comments will be forwarded to the appropriate area.
Volunteers can access Care program bulletin insert and news release templates from Forms page
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CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
Templates and much more available to help them plan, promote, conduct and report activities
As you encourage your Thrivent chapter service teams to generate awareness about their Care Abounds in Communities® or Care in Congregations® activities, direct them to the Forms page (www.thrivent.com > Members/Chapters > Volunteer Resources > Forms) for bulletin insert and news release templates:
The bulletin insert templates for both programs have a new look with new messaging that focuses on how these programs, in combination with the volunteer efforts of our members and others, help multiply the good we can do together.
News release templates are available both to announce the activity and to provide the results of the activity to the local media for possible inclusion in the newspaper.
The templates are already written—all volunteers need to do is fill in the information about their activity. It's easy and fast to complete.
Forms page includes other important tools for volunteers
The Forms page also includes necessary forms that service teams need or can use before, during and after the activity, especially for Care Abounds in Communities activities (e.g., Receipts, Funds Raised and Expenses Report; Request for Funding form; Permission to Disclose Information form; Acknowledgement of Donation Received; Activity Result Reporting form).
Action: When working with service teams, please direct them to the Forms page for easy access to forms, promotional materials and other tools that will help them with their activities.
Chapter questions? Ask CHIP!
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CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
A 'wealth of information' about chapter-related policies, processes, guidelines and much more
As a chapter leader or congregrational coordinator, you help make it possible for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and our members, through our chapter Care programs, to join together and multiply the good we can do—-touching countless lives, meeting more needs and making a difference.
To help our members appropriately use the programs and conduct activities, it's necessary for you as volunteer leaders to be aware of and/or have quick access to important chapter- and legal-related policies, procedures and guidelines. When you need information about these chapter-related topics, an excellent resource is available—Ask CHIP! at www.thrivent.com/members/chip.
A wealth of information that's easy to find
This online resource guide contains important information, processes, guidelines and tips about a wide variety of topics and issues that you may encounter during the year.
Many chapters, Lutheran Community Services (LCS) Team members and Fraternal Service Center staff refer to CHIP often for their information. Comments include: "I find myself going to CHIP quite a bit to be sure that I have the most current information;" "CHIP is a great source of information and is very efficient in the searching for information;" "I am amazed at all the information on CHIP;" "I didn't realize the wealth of information CHIP has."
CHIP contains a Search function to help you quickly locate the information you need.
To find some items quicker, use the Hot Topics feature to link to topics that that are most requested during certain times of the year.
Click the What's New feature to review recent updates and additions made to topics in CHIP.
A printer-friendly feature is available so you can print information about a specific topic and share with the appropriate people, including chapter service team volunteers.
All Thrivent Financial members can access CHIP online.
We encourage you to use CHIP as your main resource for chapter-related information. It's easy and fast!
Can't find the information in CHIP?
If you cannot find information in CHIP or question information located in CHIP, please contact the Fraternal Service Center staff at 800-236-3736 or at fraternal@thrivent.com. There's a good chance many other volunteers have the same questions or concerns, and we'll add the answer to CHIP or clarify what's there. Or, if the information is in CHIP, but your "search words" did not provide you with valid results, let us know so we can make sure those "search words" take volunteers to the correct information in the future.
