A chapter and its service teams may choose to conduct activities in collaboration with other organizations or multiple service teams to meet a mutual goal. "Collaboration" means that the organizations involved join together and truly share (equal participation) in planning and sharing resources and responsibilities to meet the goal.

Before the activity, it's important for the service team(s) and the organization to determine, together, each group's "fair share" of activity results so the chapter service team knows what to report to the chapter after the activity is completed. A good rule of thumb to determine fair share is to ask how much more was raised as a result of the chapter involvement – perhaps based on the number of volunteer hours contributed by Thrivent chapter members.

When Can Care Abounds in Communities® Funds Be Used for Cohosted Activities?
When a community service team collaboratively cohosts a fund-raising activity with another organization for the Care Abounds in Communities® program, supplemental funding can be provided as long as:

1. The activity was preapproved by the chapter leadership board.
2. The chapter service team is able to provide information to the chapter leadership board to support their involvement and the service team's fair share of the activity results.

The chapter leadership board votes on how much to supplement the service team's fair share of funds raised at the activity. Funds raised can be supplemented up to $1-for-$1, up to the recipient maximums for the recipient type as long as the chapter does not exceed its remaining allocation.

Important: Funds raised solely by another group or donated from the chapter or another organization are not eligible for supplemental funding.

When Co-hosting an Activity, Who Do Donors Issue Checks To?
Who donors make their checks payable to is a question the chapter service team will want to discuss with the co-hosting organization early in the planning process. Chapters are encouraged to do what makes the most sense and is the least cumbersome for those involved.

Effective January 1, 2012 chapters conducting a fundraiser no longer need to make sure that money raised comes through the chapter checking account. When donors write checks for a third party, then that third party should receive the check and does not need to write the chapter a check for the total amount raised. Chapters would not deposit checks from churches or organizations that are for the total amount raised at a fund-raiser.

Helpful Hints:

• If chapter is co-hosting an event with another not-for-profit where that not-for profit is the recipient, checks at the event should be made payable directly to the not-for-profit and stay with that not-for-profit. Those dollars should not be sent to the chapter.
• If the chapter's service team is working with other organization's to benefit a third party, such as the chapter service team joining forces with the church and another not-for-profit to benefit a local food bank, it might make sense to have all donor checks issued directly to the recipient food bank or to the church. If those working on the event feel they'd like to use the chapter's account to collect all the funds raised, they could ask donors to issue their checks to the chapter and the chapter would then deposit those funds.
• Chapters should not ask churches or organizations to send one check for proceeds raised to the chapter.
• Individual donor's checks made payable to the chapter should continue to be deposited into the chapter's account.
• Regardless of whether donors' dollars are made payable to the chapter, the chapter service teams still need to complete paperwork and provide an estimate of the service team's fair share of the dollars raised at the event (the amount attributed to their participation), volunteer hours worked, etc., at the event. Refer to CHIP about how to determine the chapter's fair share.
• A check for the Care Abounds in Communities' funding is sent to the recipient, along with any fundraiser proceeds that were deposited into the chapter's account, when applicable.

Reporting a Cohosted Activity (Fair Share)

• If multiple chapter service teams host an activity, each service team reports only its fair share of net funds raised and deposits it appropriately.
• If a chapter service team cohosts an activity with an organization instead of another chapter service team, the service team should report what it feels is its "fair share" of the attendance (i.e., the attendance that the service team feels was a direct result of its members' involvement in the activity).
• If multiple chapter service teams host an activity, the attendance total should be split among all participating chapter service teams. For example, the service teams may want to divide the attendance total by the number of chapter service teams involved so that each chapter receives equal attendance credit.
• The chapter service team should report only its share of volunteer hours that it contributed toward the activity.
• If multiple chapter service teams host an activity, each service team reports only its fair share of the volunteer hours.

Additional Topics
Attendance – Tracking and Reporting
Care Abounds in Communities®
Depositing Funds Raised – Guidelines and Requirements
Funds: Net Funds Raised – Calculating and Reporting
Volunteer Hours – Tracking and Reporting