Know Your Tools

Use the links below to learn about the tools available to you.

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Article in Congregation's Newsletter

When to Use – When you want to reach members in a specific congregation. Be sure to outline the need, activity details and where to go for additional information.
Benefits – It's targeted.
Cautions – Not all congregations will include them. Before submitting the article, ask for permission from the congregation.

Bulletin Inserts

When to Use – When you want to reach members in a specific congregation.
Benefits – They are targeted.
Cautions – Not all congregations will include them (it costs money to print them and time to insert them). You may prefer to provide text that the congregation can put in a newsletter or on its website. Remember to ask permission from the congregation to use the bulletin insert.
Easy-to-use Templates Available – Save time by using prewritten and predesigned templates to support your activities. See the Forms page on Thrivent.com for several bulletin insert templates that you can use to announce Thrivent chapter activities. Just fill in your information, print, make copies and distribute.

Chapter website

When to Use – As often as possible! A website is a great place people can visit again and again, if they know they'll find useful information.
Benefits – It's free, flexible, available to most people and can hold a lot or a little bit of information – including photos.
Cautions – Not everyone likes to rely on websites for information. If people are very busy they may not have time to check a website for time-sensitive news. Plus, someone on the chapter leadership board (typically the Internet Advisor or the Communications Director) needs to take time to update the site, and the board leaders as well as members need to take the time to supply fresh news.

Visit CHIP for more about chapter websites.

Email

When to Use – If you're interacting with a group of people for whom you have email addresses (Thrivent Financial does not have email lists available for chapters to use).
Benefits – It's free to send, and more and more people prefer to receive information electronically. It also allows the recipient to forward the email to another person – grassroots marketing!
Cautions – Not everyone has email.
Important – When sending email to two or more recipients, enter their email addresses in the bcc: field. This protects a person's email from being visible, and then copied to other email lists that are not desired. Be sure to honor the requests of people who ask to be removed from your mailing lists.

Newsletters and Postcards

When to Use – When you want to reach Thrivent Financial members in your chapter, city or ZIP Code.
Benefits – Using the Thrivent Financial chapter mailing service, chapter leaders can easily choose a pre-formatted newsletter or postcard. Postcards are best for events; newsletters work well when you want to share general news or tell stories of great events after they're done. Chapter leaders just choose a template, fill in the text, and select the mailing list. Thrivent Financial does the rest.

Visit CHIP to learn more about the chapter mailing service.
Cautions – Postcards work best when you can keep the information short and simple. People are so busy that newsletters may not be read as much as they were in the past.
How to Access – Ask your chapter leadership board if a chapter postcard or newsletter is a possible tool to promote your activity. Chapter leaders can access the newsletter and postcard templates by logging into their Chapter Leadership Administration Menu and clicking on Manage Chapter Newsletters.

News Releases

When to Use – When you want to reach your community in a bigger way.
Benefits – A great (and free) way to reach a larger audience.
Cautions – You have no control over what the media prints, no matter what you send them in advance. And, there's no guarantee the media will run the news release.
Tips for writing news releases | News release distribution tips
Easy-to-use Templates Available – Save time by using prewritten and predesigned templates for Thrivent chapter activities. See the Forms page on Thrivent.com for the following news release templates to announce your Thrivent chapter activity or report the results of it. Just fill in your information, and either print and send to the local media or email it to the local media.

Fundraiser or service activity announcement (Word, 32K)
Educational activity announcement (Word, 32K) For chapter leader or congregational advocate to use
Fundraiser activity results (Word, 32K)
Service activity results (Word, 32K)

Posters/Fliers

When to Use – When you have a community or congregational event and want to remind people of it repeatedly. And/or when you want to reach a group for whom you don't have mailing or email addresses.
Benefits – They can attract a lot of attention and tell a simple, compelling story.
Cautions – Production costs can be expensive, depending on quantity and type of paper used.
Easy-to-use Templates Available – Save time by using prewritten and predesigned "Please Join Us" poster templates to announce your activities. See the Forms page on Thrivent.com for several poster templates that you can use to announce Thrivent chapter activities. Just fill in your information and print.

Promotional Items (merchandise with the Thrivent Financial logo)

When to Use – At an event where you would like people to be able to see the name Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, and/or where you would like to provide gifts to people.
Benefits – People love to get free things! And if those free things are useful, like a pen, or fun, like a T-shirt, we can achieve more name recognition.
Cautions – Chapter boards need to manage their operating funds carefully, so think about whether the people you are trying to "tell our story to" would appreciate promotional items or not. Some people receive them frequently and don't value them. Others may want us to spend more of our money on helping people rather than handing out mugs, for example.
How to Access – Thrivent Financial promotional merchandise is available from The Store on thrivent.com.

Scrapbooks/Display Boards

When to Use – At events when you want to show people all the great activities your chapter or church has accomplished.
Benefits – Pictures speak louder than words sometimes, and people may become excited to participate in future events when they see all the wonderful things you're doing!
Cautions – These work best at the events themselves, so aren't appropriate for all situations when you need to attract people to an event in the future.

Temple Talks

When to Use – When you want to reach a specific congregation(s).
Benefits – They're free and a great way to reach congregations.
Cautions – Some congregations prefer other formats for sharing news, and people like to have information in writing so they can remember it.

Word of Mouth

When to Use – All the time! Every event should have great word-of-mouth, as chapter leaders, congregational advocates and active members tell others about all the great work going on.
Benefits – Besides being free, people tend to respond positively when they hear about something from a friend or relative. Person-to-person promotion can be the best tool available.
Cautions – Key details can be lost in translation, and of course, there is little to no control over this time-honored grassroots tool.

Tips for Writing News Releases

Use simple language. If you have to look up a word in the dictionary, don't use it.
Stick to the facts and avoid opinions, for example: "A good time is promised to all who attend."
Give the day of the week and date of an event, as well as the time, using a.m. or p.m. The proper order is time, day, date: "The meeting is scheduled for 7 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 31."
Mention how funds for any benevolent activity will be used.
Say if the activity is open to the public and its cost.
Include a phonetic pronunciation for hard-to-pronounce names and cities for the benefit of radio and TV reporters: "Steven Van Lieshout (van-LEE-shout) will be the speaker."
State that the activity is being hosted by the [chapter name] of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

News Release Distribution Tips

News releases can be sent to newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations.
Ask who is most appropriate to receive your news releases.
Ask how they prefer to receive materials (mail, fax or email).
If using email, copy and paste the information into the body of the email, rather than sending an attachment. This helps keep email file sizes down.
Ask about deadlines. When do they need information to get it in the appropriate issue or broadcast?
Always contact the editorial/news department, not the advertising department.
Make one follow-up call.
Don't expect a response regarding when and if your information will be used. They will contact you if more information is needed.
If you are contacted, respond quickly with the information requested.