What was that about building on a foundation of shifting sand?
Thrivent Financial cuts outreach funding, offers buyouts
The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by Katharine Grayson Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is cutting the amount of money it spends on outreach programs and offering buyouts to some employees who support related efforts.
Minneapolis-based Thrivent, a not-for-profit financial-services firm with a large operations center in Appleton, will spend $125 million on tax-exempt activities in 2010, down from about $172 in the prior year.
The decision was partly driven by the downturn in the financial markets, said Tim Lehman, senior vice president of member experience strategy for Thrivent. The company expects to restore funding to tax-exempt activities in the coming years.
About 260 employees work on tax-exempt programs. Lehman declined to disclose how many of those workers have been offered voluntary severance packages. The deadline to accept buyouts is today.
Thrivent’s outreach programs range from offering financial education programs to matching donations. Along with budget changes, Thrivent will eliminate two of its giving programs, Care and Congregations and GivingPlus, which provides a 50 percent match for donations members make to Lutheran organizations, Lehman said. The programs will be replaced with a new offering, Thrivent Choice, which allows members to direct funds to organizations of their choice.
The Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal is a sister publication of The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee.
