Thrivent members vote on $1 million for charities
Members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a nonprofit financial services membership organization, recently voted on where to distribute $1 million among 10 national charities through a new program called Thrivent Choice (SM). Funds were distributed to the organizations based on the percentage of votes they received.
Organizations, and the total funds they received, were:
• LCMS World Relief and Human Care – $192,122
• Lutheran Disaster Response – $147,242
• ELCA World Hunger – $145,345
• Habitat for Humanity International – $114,212
• LCMS World Mission – $112,315
• Feed My Starving Children – $ 99,465
• American Heart Association – $ 67,854
• WELS Committee on Relief – $ 57,281
• WELS Humanitarian Aid Committee – $ 32,987
• Lutheran Malaria Initiative – $ 31,176
A total of 150,199 members voted in the inaugural Thrivent Choice Voting (SM) Event. The voting took place April 19 to May 21, 2010.
“We are grateful to every Thrivent Financial member who participated in this voting event,” said Brad Hewitt, Thrivent Financial president and CEO. “Thrivent Choice gives members a voice in how the dollars they help generate are shared with the causes they care about.”
Thrivent Financial will launch a second aspect of Thrivent Choice later this summer called Choice Dollars (SM). (See “Coming Soon: A new way to help Metro Lutheran,” page 13.) Here, eligible benefit members will be able to help direct funds to thousands of Lutheran nonprofit organizations, including Lutheran congregations. Eligibility for this program will be based on benefit members’ involvement in Thrivent Financial through their fraternal benefit society product ownership and/or Thrivent Financial volunteer leadership.
In 2009, Thrivent Financial provided $113 million to help congregations, communities, and nonprofit organizations. Thrivent Choice is one of many ways that Thrivent Financial gives back, according to Hewitt.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is a nonprofit, Fortune 500 financial services membership organization helping approximately 2.6 million members achieve financial security and give back to their communities. Thrivent and its affiliates offer a broad range of financial products and services including life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, disability income insurance, bank products and more. As a nonprofit organization, Thrivent Financial creates and supports national outreach programs and activities that help congregations, schools, charitable organizations and individuals in need. For more information, visit Thrivent.com. It also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter.
