The first page has space to add the date, time, location and other details about the event.
The second page has space to include one of the following:
More information about your election event.
A "form" for members to complete, tear off and send back to the chapter to notify you they are coming (for example, some chapters ask members to send in the form along with a check to help pay for the meal).
A chapter leader election ballot that members can complete and bring with them to the event. Remember, voting must occur in person at the election event. Note: A preformatted ballot that you can copy and paste to page 2 is available in the Common Articles section of the Chapter Mailing Service.
The election invitation is sent via first-class postage. Allow one to two weeks for delivery.
There is no charge to the chapter for sending this specific invitation, and it does not count as one of your 10 mailings for the year.
Important: Please note that the template automatically includes a paragraph at the bottom of page 1 about the national board of directors election. [See paragraph]
Therefore, it's important to use the "Print Preview" function before submitting your election invitation template to make sure none of the chapter election information you entered has been cut off.
You also can use this wording to promote the national election via your chapter Web site and other correspondence with benefit members.
A news release template. This release:
Announces your election event.
Brings awareness to your chapter and the Care Abounds in Communities® program.
Provides space for you to list examples of how chapter activities helped your community in the past year.
Invites people to join in a chapter activity hosted by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
Click on the fillable Word document link below, fill in the information related to your event, and send to your newspaper.
The news release (item number 24828) also is available from the Order Chapter Supplies page (Chapter Supplies folder) on your Chapter Leadership Administration Menu online.
An election bulletin insert template. Use this to invite Thrivent Financial members from area congregations to your election event. Remember to get permission from congregations before using the bulletin insert.
Choose one of the versions below and fill in the appropriate information:
A Microsoft Word version that you can fill in electronically and then print. (Fillable Word, 382K) This version (item number 24827) also is available from the Order Chapter Supplies page (Chapter Supplies folder) on your Chapter Leadership Administration Menu online.
A PDF version that you can print and fill in manually. (PDF, 65K)
Many other supplies available The tools above are specifically designed for your election event. We encourage you to review the Order Chapter Supplies page in your Chapter Leadership Administration Menu or The Store for other great publicity materials you can use at your election event such as name tags, posters, signs and much more.
Action Item: Remember to report JOIN HANDS DAY activities by July 31
—·FOR
CHAPTER LEADERS
Unused funds will be pulled August 11
The time period to hold JOIN HANDS DAY activities that qualify for funding from the chapter ended on June 30. We look forward to hearing about the projects that your chapter service teams conducted this year to help their communities.
Share your activities with us!
Don’t forget to share your chapter’s JOIN HANDS DAY activity stories. Encourage service teams to use the Submit Your Story page at www.thrivent.com/stories to share these stories with us.
Action Required:Report the activities If you haven't already, now is the time to report those activities. The deadline for reporting your chapter's 2008 JOIN HANDS DAY activities is July 31. On Aug. 11, any funds not reported from the $1,000 of JOIN HANDS DAY seed money provided to your chapter earlier this year will be withdrawn from your chapter's checking account.
Remember, reporting JOIN HANDS DAY activities is different from reporting Care Abounds in Communities® activities. Here are important reporting reminders:
The guide will help you to quickly, easily and correctly complete the six simple steps for reporting JOIN HANDS DAY activities. It also includes important reminders such as only reporting those expenses covered by the $1,000 of JOIN HANDS DAY seed money available to your chapter. (Do not report expenses that were paid by someone else.)
The guide is on the Join Hands Day page in your For Chapter Leaders section online (www.thrivent.com > Members/Chapters > For Chapter Leaders).
An online report is available for your chapter to verify that the amount of JOIN HANDS DAY funds you reported is correctly recorded on our records. You can access this report, titled Join Hands Day, under the Reports/Listings category of the Chapter Leadership Administration Menu (www.thrivent.com > Members/Chapters > For Chapter Leaders > Chapter Leadership Administration Menu).
If you aren’t sure how to report the activity, call the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 before the Aug. 11 deadline and before entering information online.
Reassigning a congregational coordinator to a ‘lead’ now can be done in one click
—·FOR
CHAPTER LEADERS
Based on many requests from chapter leaders, you now can reassign a congregational coordinator to a lead congregational coordinator position with one click of the mouse.
An “Assign as Lead” button has been added to the Manage Congregational Volunteers page on your Chapter Leadership Administration Menu online. You no longer need to delete the coordinator name and then re-enter the coordinator as a lead.
Reminder: A lead congregational coordinator is required to have a valid e-mail address and Internet access.
One additional change to Manage Congregational Volunteers page
The functionality to add a congregational coordinator or Thrivent Builds congregational champion with a future start date has been removed. When adding these positions online, the start date must be the date you are posting or before.
Top of pageThe following articles also are posted for congregational coordinators.
Thrivent Builds Worldwide options make it easier to help families around the world
—·FOR
CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity is trying some new things this year, and we encourage our members to be part of some innovative offerings to help build decent affordable housing around the world.
If you or members you know like to travel and have a passion for helping to improve the lives of others, then a Thrivent Builds Worldwide trip may be the perfect link to connect these two interests.
Action Requested We encourage you to share the following information with your chapter members. Remember, prewritten articles about Thrivent Builds Worldwide are available that chapters can copy and paste to your chapter newsletter or Web site.
For additional materials (e.g., bulletin inserts) that can be used to promote Thrivent Builds, please contact a member of your regional Lutheran Community Services (LCS) Team.
Exciting Thrivent Builds Worldwide options to consider
There are two exciting options to consider for participating or leading Thrivent Builds Worldwide trips. Both give our members and others the opportunity to positively impact the issues of poverty and substandard housing—either in the United States or around the world.
Following are brief descriptions about each option. For complete details about these options, click on the links below and/or visit our Web site at www.thriventbuilds.com/worldwide.
Thrivent Builds Worldwide Communities Build whole communities and build life-long relationships with other Thrivent Financial members through recurring, targeted trips to a specific location. You ultimately participate in building an entire community, not just one home! Choose from the Gulf Coast Community or El Salvador Community.
El Salvador Community schedule alert:Because of the success we’ve had with the Gulf Coast Community trips, we’re moving forward with a second pilot community location in El Salvador, where nearly half of Salvadorans live in substandard housing. Team members still are needed for five trips this July and August. If you or someone you know has the interest and schedule flexibility to participate, please register today!
And now, it’s even easier to lead a trip and make a profound difference in a family’s life with the addition of Destination of Choice Package Trips!
When leading one of these pre-packaged trips, all the details like hotel accommodations and ground transportation are taken care of for the leader. Plus, team leader training is as easy as completing a four-hour online training session. This allows leaders the time to focus on what’s really important—recruiting and guiding participants—and working with partner families to build simple, decent, affordable homes.
The “ready-to-lead” trip destinations are Bolivia, Honduras, Hungary, Poland, Macedonia and Romania.
And remember, Gulf Cost Community trips also offer a ready-to-lead trip experience for 2008 with minimal training required.
Congregational coordinators can have supplies shipped to home address or to congregation
—·FOR
CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS AND CHAPTER LEADERS
When ordering supplies, congregational coordinators now have the choice to have the supplies shipped to their home address or directly to their congregation.
A new screen called “Select Shipping Address for Supplies” now appears when a congregational coordinator clicks on the “Order Congregation Supplies” link from the Congregational Coordinator Administration page. The coordinator then selects which address to ship the supplies.
Action Requested
If the coordinator chooses to ship the supplies to the congregation, the coordinator should type the congregation’s name in the ATTN line on the Shipping Screen, which displays after the coordinator selects the items to order. The Shipping Screen shows:
Attn [Church name]
Thrivent
Church Address
Church City, State, ZIP Code
USA
The actual Shipping Address label that appears on the box or envelope is formatted with the congregational coordinator’s name first, then ATTN [your church] and your church's address. For example:
Dale Lutheran
ATTN: Zion Lutheran Church
1201 Church St
Brighton, CO 80601
Thrivent Financial will appear in the return address on the box and envelope.
Questions?
Contact the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 or fraternal@thrivent.com.
National Chapter Response under way to help those affected by Midwest Floods
—·FOR
CHAPTER LEADERS AND CONGREGATIONAL COORDINATORS
Here are updates to the information communicated to all chapter leaders and congregational coordinators via the special Chapter Alert e-newsletter on July 1:
Here is a copy of the July 1 special Chapter Alert e-newsletter:
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and its members are always there to help in times of great need. Unfortunately, we are experiencing one of those times right now as the recent flooding in the Midwest has impacted many Thrivent Financial members and their neighbors.
Thrivent Financial is initiating a National Chapter Response effort where your chapter members can be directly involved in helping those affected by the devastating floods.
Other response efforts
In addition to the National Chapter Response effort detailed in this article, Thrivent Financial is providing an additional $250,000 of Care in Regions® funds to the regions directly impacted by the flooding.
These funds will be used to support disaster response activities being conducting by chapter service teams in the affected regions.
We expect the regional and national response efforts combined will result in more than $1.5 million to help those affected by the floods: at least $1 million donated and raised by members, and an additional $500,000 provided by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
The Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation also has provided a $20,000 grant, earmarked for disaster relief, to Lutheran Services in Iowa.
National Chapter Response – a $250,000 commitment Through this response effort, your chapter members can form service teams to raise funds that will go to help those in need. For every $2 received by chapters nationally, Thrivent Financial will provide an additional $1, up to a total of $250,000. This effort has the potential to raise at least $750,000 to support recovery efforts.
All funds received will be distributed among these two disaster relief organizations to meet needs specifically related to the 2008 Midwest Flooding Response:
Lutheran Disaster Response, a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) to meet needs related to major domestic disasters.
WELS Committee on Relief, a ministry of the Wisconsin Evengelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) to provide domestic and international disaster aid.
Thrivent Financial will accept contributions for this effort through Oct. 1, 2008.
A simple process The process for planning, conducting and reporting National Chapter Response activities is simple.
The activity
An eligible activity may be a collection/appeal or a fund-raising event.
As with any Thrivent chapter activity, members from six or more different member households must be involved. (For example, the members from your chapter leadership board may be a service team.)
No pre-approval is required for a National Chapter Response activity.
TIP: Ask service teams to keep track of volunteer hours, expenses (save all receipts) and attendance in addition to funds raised. This is needed to complete the reporting form (see Step 1 below).
All checks from donors must be made payable to your Thrivent chapter.
This week, the form and instructions are scheduled to be posted on these three pages on www.thrivent.com:
- The Forms page (www.thrivent.com > Members/Chapters > Volunteer Resources > Forms)
- The For Chapter Leaders page in the Members/Chapters section.
- The For Congregational Coordinators page in the Members/Chapters section.
Important: Do NOT report the results online. This will be done by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans when they receive the forms.
The service team provides the chapter with all funds raised, the completed reporting form and receipts.
A chapter leader deposits all funds received into the chapter's checking account.
From your chapter checking account, write out one check for the total amount of your net funds received to: Appleton Operations Chapter of Thrivent Financial. On the memo line, write "2008 Midwest Flood Response."
Send the completed activity results form, any expense receipts, and your check to:
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Attention: 2008 Midwest Flooding National Chapter Response
4321 N. Ballard Rd
Appleton, Wisconsin 54919-0001
You may complete and submit a form and the funds raised after each activity, or you can compile results and funds raised from multiple activities, then send the form and all funds at one time.
TIP: For a general appeal/collection, we recommend you hold the funds in your checking account until your deadline (no later than Oct. 1) before sending the form, receipts and the check to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
Bulletin insert templates available to announce activities We have developed the following bulletin insert templates to help you get the word out to your chapter members. We encourage chapter leaders and congregational coordinators to work closely with each other so consistent communications are provided to members.
A news release template to announce your activity also is scheduled to be posted to these pages later this month.
Notify members about this effort and how they can help You can use your chapter Web site and chapter mailings to notify your members about the National Chapter Response. Encourage them to form a service team to raise funds for those affected by the floods.
You may use wording from this e-mail and from the bulletin insert templates to provide information about the response effort.
Important: Please be aware that chapter postcards cannot be used to solicit donations.
Members being directed to your chapter A "2008 Midwest Flooding Response" page is soon scheduled to be posted on www.thrivent.com. This page will briefly describe the National Chapter Response effort and how members can help. Visitors then will directed to their local Thrivent chapter and encouraged to contact one of the chapter leaders for more information.
Questions? If you have questions about this response effort, please contact the Fraternal Service Center at 800-236-3736 or fraternal@thrivent.com.
