Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (marketing name Thrivent) ( ), is an American Fortune 500 not-for-profit financial services organization headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Appleton, Wisconsin, and founded by Lutherans. As a member-owned fraternal benefit society, it operates under a chapter system, serving nearly 2.3 million members.
Operating through its local chapters nationwide, Thrivent and its subsidiaries offer financial products and services including life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, disability income insurance, credit union products, money management, brokerage services, and retirement planning.
The organization and its members provide volunteer services to charitable organizations and schools. For example, Thrivent members reportedly volunteered more than 8.6 million hours in 2013 and contributed $182.7 million in that year to organizations and activities that aim to strengthen families and communities.
In June 2013, members voted to allow non-Lutheran Christians to join, and as a result in March 2014 the marketing name for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans was shortened to Thrivent Financial. In the summer of 2020, the marketing name was changed to Thrivent.
Predecessor groups
Thrivent Financial was officially formed on January 1, 2002, with the merger of Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) and Lutheran Brotherhood (LB), which had been established in 1902 and 1917 respectively. The merger formed the largest fraternal benefit society in the United States.
Aid Association for Lutherans
History
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod forbade its members to join fraternal societies because these required initiation rites and secret oaths. Life insurance was also frowned upon in some quarters since Martin Luther had written against similar enterprises in his day, as the practice could be considered a form of usury and it reflected a distrust in God.
In 1899, Albert Voecks, a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Appleton, Wisconsin, broached the idea of creating an insurance society for Lutherans to fellow church members Gottlieb Ziegler and William Zuehlke. They each gave $13 to the fund, and found several hundred others willing to contribute $5 each. In 1902, the founders of the society recruited the 500 applicants necessary to receive a charter from the State of Wisconsin for their group. It was chartered on November 24, 1902, as the Aid Association for Lutherans in Wisconsin and Other States.
Like most fraternal benefit societies of the time, the AAL operated on the actuarially unsound graded assessment system. In 1905, it began a move to the legal reserve system, a transformation that was completed in 1911. Women were also admitted as members in 1905. Most of the early business was conducted in German, until this was discontinued in 1927.
Membership was open only to members of the Missouri Synod and other Lutherans who were in fellowship with it until the mid-1960s, when it became open to Lutherans of all denominations. In the late 1960s, the association had 792,000 members which increased to about 1.2 million members in 5,019 branches in 1978. By 1979, it was the largest member of the National Fraternal Congress of America and ranked 13th among the 1,800 insurance firms in the country.
Rituals
Neither AAL, Lutheran Brotherhood, nor Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has (or had) initiation rites, oaths or other rituals.
Non-profit organization
The association was organized on two levels: the local branches attached to Lutheran congregations and the national level, which consisted only of a board of directors that met four times a year. The AAL was particular about its locals not being called "lodges" because that was too similar to the nomenclature of oath-bound, ritualistic groups such as the Freemasons or the Oddfellows. The AAL was headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Philanthropy
The AAL was also involved philanthropically, giving money to scholarships, support for educational institutions and training for church workers. Grants were made to agencies, boards and homes for the aged, disabled and to minorities. The association also had its own family health program and sponsored blood drives and family health workshops. It also joined the National Center for Voluntary Action.