February 2006

Web Site of the Month quickly gets volunteers to chapter information and forms they need

Congratulations to the leaders of the Twin Peaks Chapter (Colorado), especially to chapter past president advior and Web site administrator Ed Allen, whose site has been named Chapter Web Site of the Month for February.

The site is an excellent source of information for members who want to see what's happening in the chapter or who want to help others by conducting a chapter activity. Features that help make this site a winner include:

• Up-to-date information including a calendar of events and church calendar on the home page. In addition, the chapter provides detailed descriptions of events/activities in the calendar area of the site.
  
  
• An excellent page of links to the most commonly used tools and forms on thrivent.com that service teams will find helpful:
  • ABC 123 tool that includes a checklist to help members plan and conduct an activity.
  • Request for Funding Questionnaire AND a chapter-customized request form if the service team is requesting funds from more than one chapter. The customized form helps service teams calculate how to distribute funds, hours, attendance, etc., between chapters.
  • Attendance sheet.
  • Permission to Disclose Information form.
  • Bulletin Insert to promote the activity.
  • Visibility Toolkit
  • Report Activity Results form including the chapter-customized form if the service team is receiving funds from more than one chapter.
  • Receipts, Funds Raised and Expenses Report.
  • Link to other service team forms on thrivent.com.

    The page also includes instructions of where to send the forms as well as a link to the chapter leader's e-mail address.

    The chapter links directly to the forms on thrivent.com, which means if Thrivent Financial updates any of the forms, the form will automatically be up-to-date from the chapter Web site.

  
  
• Pictures and biographies of the chapter leaders. This page introduces visitors to the chapter leaders in a fun, personal way.
  
  
• Directory of the churches in the chapter. This page includes the church names and e-mails. In addition, it has information about chapter activities that have taken place, the contact information of the board leaders and information about Care Abounds in Communities® program funds available. Note that at the top of this page Ed includes links to the various sections on the page, making it easy for visitors to get to the information they want.
  
  
• Chapter meeting minutes. This keeps members informed about the decisions being made by the leadership board.
  
  
• The list of links to each page in the site at the top of each page—making it easier for visitors to tour the site.

"Having up-to-date information about our chapter, including an easy-to-use calendar of activities and links to requesting funds is a great asset for chapter members," says Ed. "I'd also like to build a request form that resembles the paper form, and eventually include the other activity-related forms that could be utilized as online forms."

Ed also would like to see more chapters take advantage of their Web sites. "The Web sites are valuable tools and should be viewed as such," says Ed. "I encourage chapters to begin with a small task—perhaps their calendar—and get started."

We encourage you to visit the site at www.lutheransonline.com/twinpeakschapter.