ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 28, 2006
Thrivent Foundation Awards ELCA Organizations $3 Million
06-198-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Foundation awarded 75 grants totaling $4,838,960 through its
Charitable Gifting Initiative program -- approximately half to
congregations, schools, camps and other agencies of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). ELCA
organizations received 36 grants totaling $2,247,883; another
nine organizations supported by two or more Lutheran church
bodies, including the ELCA, received grants totaling $766,000.
The Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation is a private
foundation funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a
Minneapolis-based nonprofit financial services organization. The
grants -- ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 -- are meant to
generate more than $160 million in immediate and deferred
monetary gifts to the recipient organizations, according to a
Thrivent news release.
"We believe this funding will assist many ELCA
congregations, schools, social service agencies and other
organizations in generating additional funding for their
ministries," said Brad Hewitt, president, Thrivent Financial for
Lutherans Foundation. "As grant recipients become more effective
in informing potential donors about the roles that charitable
gifts play in supporting their work, they will be better
positioned to grow their organizations," he said in the news
release.
The foundation's Charitable Gifting Initiative program has
four goals: to provide opportunities for people to respond to
charitable gift options; to equip church leaders with skills to
open charitable giving doors; to increase the amount of
charitable giving solutions among Lutherans and others; and to
develop relationships that bring Lutheran institutions together
with financial services organizations.
"Helping organizations communicate the benefits of tax-
advantaged charitable giving to their potential donors is what
this program is all about," said Karen Coonen, executive
director, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation. "We know
these grants will multiply the support that nonprofits receive
from people who care about their work," she said in the Thrivent
news release.
-- -- --
The full list of grant recipients through the Charitable
Gifting Initiative program is at http://tinyurl.com/y7mzaa
on the Web site of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Foundation.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
