Help members link their values to their finances
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Consider getting involved with Thrivent Financial educational seminars
Looking for a different way to involve more of your members? Your chapter can consider supporting seminars—led by Thrivent Financial representatives (FRs) —that educate participants about financial topics in the context of their values.
If approved by the leadership board, your chapter can encourage members to volunteer and use your operating funds to:
Purchase seminar workbooks, Thrivent Financial pens/pencils and invitations
Provide a meal or refreshments
Announce the seminar in chapter mailings and on the chapter’s Web site
Promote the seminar in church bulletins or mailings, by placing posters in prominent places, and making announcements in their congregation or at meetings of church groups
Register attendees and make follow-up calls to remind those who’ve registered to attend
Benefits to your chapter
For chapter leadership boards, supporting a seminar provides an opportunity to appeal to a different group of members than those who volunteer. It’s also another way you can have a presence in congregations and meet the needs of members in a way that directly connects with Thrivent Financial’s area of expertise.
You may want to consider offering a seminar in conjunction with your annual chapter leader election meeting where you'll have a large group of members coming together.
Seminar topics
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers a number of educational seminars that can benefit you and your chapter members, including:
How to Thrive in RetirementSM
A unique, fun seminar featuring an interactive program that helps participants explore how they can enhance the richness of retirement and meet personal goals regarding their families and giving back to their congregations and communities.
More Than Money MattersSM
A series of 90-minute interactive, values-based, financial education workshops for people who want to manage their money in ways that align with their values and long-term goals. The workshops help participants embrace stewardship as the careful and responsible management of all their God-given gifts, including their financial resources.
From Me … To We: Working Together to Create Your Financial Future
Helps soon-to-be-married couples discover their values, needs and goals. Couples work together to create a strategy for their financial future. It also is helpful for any couple interested in developing a better and more comprehensive plan for their future together.
My Life, My Plan: Creating a Life Path Based on Your Values
Helps people at any stage in life answer the question "so, what do you want to do with your life?" It challenges people to think about whom they are, what they are doing and what they would like to accomplish in their life. The process helps participants create and carry out a plan for their life that incorporates their personal and financial values.
Intermission: Embracing Life Transitions and Planning for the Future
Helps people facing transition in their life discover their values, a preferred future and a process to achieve it. Targeted at the preretired segment, it also is helpful for people going through career change, unemployment, marital change or other changes in life. It helps people look back at their past, live for today and plan for tomorrow.
My Legacy Matters: Living and Planning a Meaningful Legacy
Helps people discover their passions and values. Primarily aimed at the preretired or retired segments, it helps them to live their legacy now and plan the legacy they want to leave for future generations. It deals with what really matters in a person’s life and what needs to be done to achieve a lasting legacy.
Who is Thrivent Financial for Lutherans?
Describes the unique heritage and purpose of our membership organization. It helps participants understand more about the products, programs and services Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers to help members, their families and their communities plan for their financial future and give back in their communities.
Contact your regional Lutheran Community Services (LCS) Team to express an interest
If you want to know more about the opportunity to support an FR-led seminar, contact your Manager of Lutheran Community Services (MLCS) or a member of the LCS Team. Your MLCS or LCSS can connect you with a Thrivent Financial representative who would like to partner with you to offer a seminar to chapter members.
More information
For details about reporting a Thrivent Financial educational workshop/seminar (locally supported activity), and for using and reporting chapter operating funds, see the following pages in CHIP, your online chapter reference guide:
Questions?
If you have questions about educational seminars or roles you can play in offering them to your chapter members, contact the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 or fraternal@thrivent.com.
Providing donor receipts now prevents tax-time requests next year
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CHAPTER LEADERS
Reminder: Encourage service teams to provide receipts to donors at activities
When notifying service teams that your leadership board has approved their chapter and/or Thrivent Builds activities, stress to them the importance of providing receipts to donors.
Beginning this year, all monetary donations require some sort of verification to be tax deductible; however, many donors may not become aware of that until tax time next year. At that time, they may go to your chapter to request written receipts for donations made at this year's chapter and/or Thrivent Builds activities.
Actions Advised: Being proactive now will reduce the likelihood of extra work for you later
Review the January Chapter News article in its entirety [click here to see article] and share it with chapter leaders who do not have Internet access. If your chapter has not done so already, you may want to include this topic on your next meeting agenda.
Advise chapter service teams, Thrivent Builds chapter specialists and Thrivent Builds congregational champions to provide written acknowledgements/receipts for monetary donations made to the chapter and/or to Thrivent Builds at all chapter and Thrivent Builds activities:
Donors should always be provided with a completed Acknowledgement of Donation Received form (PDF, 205K) for all donations of $25 or more made payable to the chapter. This form is located on the Forms page of thrivent.com (Members/Chapters > Volunteer Resources > Forms).
For donations of less than $25, donors should be asked if they would like an Acknowledgement of Donations Received.
Consider having your chapter financial director and Thrivent Builds chapter specialist make copies of each check included in a deposit or keep a written record of all donors, date of donation and amount of donation. This will be helpful to verify a "request for receipt" from a donor if he/she asks for a receipt after the donation was made.
Carefully read the Tax-deductible contributions section in CHIP, your online chapter reference guide, for complete details and examples about guidelines, disclosures, receipts and more regarding tax-deductible contributions, including:
What qualifies as tax-deductible contributions?
When should a written acknowledgement (receipt) be provided to the donor?
Contributions where something of value is received in return
Contributions of $250 and more — special online reporting and recordkeeping required
Questions?
If you have questions, contact the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 or fraternal@thrivent.com.
The following articles also are posted for congregational coordinators.
Inspirational video about Thrivent Financial volunteers soon to be available
—·FOR
CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
Feel free to show at chapter events while recognizing your local volunteers
In the May Chapter News, we announced this year's 13 national Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Volunteer Excellence Award recipients. These recipients—five members, four Thrivent Financial represenatives and four Thrivent Financial employees—are being recognized for their exceptional volunteer work with and through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to make a difference in the lives of others and in their communities.
An inspirational video that showcases these recipients and the additional impact they make through volunteering with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans soon will be available this month on thrivent.com. We invite you to watch this video and also to show it at your chapter election meeting or other chapter events. It may be a great lead-in to recognizing the outstanding volunteers in your area who have participated in Care Abounds in Communities® and Care in Congregations® activities.
Let your feelings be known
—·FOR
CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
New feature allows you to quickly provide comments about articles
After reading an article, you naturally form opinions such as: this was informative and useful to me; this was too long as all I needed was a couple sentences; the information doesn't apply to my role; I'd like to find out more.
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