Fraternal Advantage - April/May 2007

Fraternal Focus - Guest Column

Fraternal “Membership” Driving Innovation

By Teresa J. Rasmussen, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

What does “membership” really mean?

As leaders of fraternal benefit societies, many of us have considered that question. Since membership groups define our societies more than any other single attribute, understanding what membership means is important in everything we do.

At Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a strategic focus on membership is sparking creativity and innovation to help us better serve our Lutheran members.

The fraternal foundation from which to build

Of course, innovation is the attractive cousin of what some consider a very ugly word: change. So at Thrivent Financial, we first determined what would NOT change before innovation could begin.

Thrivent Financial’s mission and values form the foundation of our organization. They articulate who we are, what we do and how we do it.

Our mission is unique because we’re a fraternal benefit society. We believe that being a fraternal benefit society enables us to serve Lutherans in a way no other organization can.

And our values represent the heart of what has made Thrivent Financial an asset to the Lutheran community. Stewardship, accountability, integrity, growth and community – values that transcend goals and timelines, trends and transactions. They speak to how the organization relates to its members, and the important responsibilities it assumes in that relationship.

Together, our mission and values represent the very core of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. And, as chairman, president and CEO Bruce Nicholson so simply stated, “They will not change.”

 
The challenges we’re confronting

But we know some things do have to change. This isn’t 1902. Society has changed. Families’ needs have evolved.

Three societal trends have particular significance for Thrivent Financial: the rapidly aging population, increasing public and private debt, and the declining role of religion in everyday life.

At the same time, fraternal benefit societies and other life insurers find themselves in the midst of several challenging long-term developments. For instance, life insurance is decreasing in importance as a financial product, and distribution has shifted away from career agents to independent financial planners.

An exhaustive and sobering examination of the facts has led us to embrace transformational change as the necessary and next leg of our journey.

 
How we’re doing it

Transformational goals have to provoke people to think differently, to approach what are seemingly the same old questions in new and innovative ways. That’s why, when it comes to growing our organization, our goals are focused on engaging our members in new ways and serving them better than ever.

That means we’re challenged to approach things very differently than a commercial company would. For instance, our definition of “engaged member” recognizes the full range of ways – from serving as a chapter leader to seeking financial security products – that are important indicators of member engagement in a fraternal benefit society. And we’ll continue to look for new and innovative ways to engage our members in our nationwide chapter system through which these members last year dedicated nearly 22 million volunteer hours helping to build better communities.  

Crafting a strategic vision from a member’s perspective already has influenced us in profound ways. Initiatives like Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity and our new Financial Fitness Clubs demonstrate that. And whether it’s supporting their congregations, addressing the pressing societal needs they care about most, or learning more about their financial needs – we’re striving to serve our members in diverse and unique ways.

This is an important and challenging time for the fraternal benefit system and at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. We are more committed than ever to growth in order to better meet our members’ needs and the fraternal mission and values that have served our members so well for more than a century.

And despite the societal and industry trends influencing the world around us, the concept of membership – the cornerstone of our very existence as a fraternal benefit society – will have the greatest influence over how we change, grow and succeed in the years ahead.

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Teresa J. Rasmussen is senior vice president, secretary and general counsel of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and a member of the NFCA Board of Directors. Click here for a full bio.

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