How to Apply for a Thrivent Action Grant

Have you ever applied for a Thrivent grant? Yes? Good for you! I am so glad you are taking advantage of this seed money for special projects. No? Well, then, I am here to explain how easy it is for all Thrivent members to apply for a Thrivent action grant.

Let me preface this by saying – I am not a Thrivent representative nor am I receiving any compensation for writing this post. This is my personal understanding of how the process works, after having applied for and received several grants.  I am simply a frugal Lutheran who hates to see free grant money go to waste by the many Thrivent members who are not applying for Thrivent grants each year!

If you are Lutheran and a Thrivent member – yes, I’m looking at all you teachers, church workers and fellow church members out there – you need to know about Thrivent grants.

This is my attempt to explain the process clearly so more Thrivent members apply for Thrivent action grants! 

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. You can read more in my disclosure policy.

What is a Thrivent grant?

A Thrivent action grant is a $250 grant given to fulfill a need within your community. From the time of application, you have 120 days to lead a fundraiser, service project or education activity within your school, church or community.

Who can apply for a Thrivent grant?

Any Thrivent member can apply for two $250 grants each calendar year. (Benefit members can apply for 2 grants and associate members can apply for 1 grant.) That applies to every Thrivent member. If you and your spouse are both Thrivent members, you can each apply for two grants – for a total of four in your household. Note, you must be over the age of 17 to lead an action team.

The most common way to be a Thrivent member is by holding a policy or product with Thrivent. For example, my parents purchased a life insurance policy for me when I was a baby through Aid Association for Lutherans (which is now Thrivent). Later, I increased that life insurance policy and also opened a Roth with Thrivent. I had a fabulous Thrivent rep, Libby, when I was single in Ohio. She did a great job helping me prepare for the future and I am very pleased with how my Roth is growing, slowly and steadily, 12 years later.

What types of activities can be applied for with Thrivent grants? 

So many activities can be covered by Thrivent grants! As their website explains, the grants are intended to be used for one time fundraisers, service projects or education activities. 

Some ideas that my husband and I, and my family members have used for grants include:

  • Purchasing Resurrection Eggs to give free to families who attended a Lenten workshop at church on how to use Resurrection Eggs within their family
  • Hosting an appreciation room for workers at the Lutheran grade school state basketball tournament
  • Covering food and meals for a weekend of Family Friendly Partners network meetings
  • Buying the food for a teacher appreciation meal (I really loved this recent one! I bought all the fixings and cooked the meat for taco soup and sent a bag home with all the teachers at my husband’s school so they could all have a night off from cooking. What better way to show appreciation for hard working teachers?)
  • Purchasing crafts for Vacation Bible School
  • An adoption fundraiser to purchase books that were auctioned off to raise funds for an international adoption of 4 kids
  • Buying supplies to start up the Box Tops program at our school and purchasing classroom incentives for the program
  • Purchasing bilingual Bible storybooks for an inner city mission
  • Creating care packages for the homeless – mainly socks, underwear and tee-shirts
  • Making fleece blankets with a home school group to donate to a women’s shelter
  • Buying serving dishes for the school fish fry fundraiser

You can view more ideas from current and past Thrivent action grants on the Thrivent Action Team Hub here. 

There are endless ways to use a Thrivent grant! It is important to think of this grant as seed money, to supplement any cost you may occur. Sometimes the grant will cover everything but sometimes it may supplement your cost.

I encourage friends to think of needs within their church and school and how they can supplement that need with a Thrivent grant. What fundraisers is your school hosting? What outreach activities is your church planning? Is there a need for a parenting class at church / school? Be creative and come up with an idea!

If your idea focuses on fundraisers, service projects or education activities, it most likely will be approved.

When in doubt? Go ahead and apply! You always have the chance to reapply for a new project if (for some reason) your project is denied. I have had 1 project denied and 8 approved. It is easy to apply and be approved. Once you have your idea, it is time to go ahead and apply.

How do I apply for a Thrivent grant? 

It really is simple to apply for a Thrivent grant. The process takes about 5 minutes.

1. Visit www.thrivent.com/actionteam.

Click here or go directly to www.thrivent.com/actionteam to begin the application process.

2. Log in with your user name and password.

This is the hardest part if you don’t know your information! If you don’t recall your user name or have never set one up, you can request your information via the links on that page. You can also call in and speak with someone to get your information. Just follow the prompts on that page. I know this is what holds most people back! Just make the call and get your user name so you can apply for your Thrivent grants. It’s worth $250! It’s worth the inconvenience to get your name set up once and for all.

3. Apply for your grant.

Simply follow the prompts to apply. The entire application process only takes 5 to 10 minutes. Some of the details you will need to provide include:

  • Date of your project
  • A short title and project summary
  • Explanation of what the grant money will be used for
  • Number of volunteers involved (I always estimate low)
  • Whom the grant will benefit (Individual, church or school)

4. Select any free materials you wish to use.

Thrivent has a great variety of free promotional materials for you to use with your grant. Every year, Thrivent has a different colored “Live Generously” shirt. They really are amazingly soft shirts, and I think I have one in every color now.

Thrivent also offers name tags, stickers, thank you cards and notebooks and pens. You are able to see what is currently available as part of the application project. Just select anything you would like to use for your project, but you do not have to select anything.

5. Submit your grant and wait for approval. 

When you are finished filling out the form, click submit and wait to hear if you approved. You should receive a response via email within 5-7 days. I have heard back as fast as 2 days. If you are approved, your kit is automatically mailed to you. If you are denied, you will not receive a reason why you are denied. You can start from scratch with a new application on the same project (from a different approach) or apply again with a new project. Again, if you follow the guidelines above, most projects are easily approved. I simply don’t want you to be surprised by the slim possibility that some projects are denied.

6. Wait for your Thrivent Action Grant Kit to arrive in the mail! 

Depending on what promotional materials you ordered, this can be a large envelope or a box. Your $250 Visa check card will be attached inside a notebook with instructions on how to activate it.

Thrivent summarizes the process in this handy pdf printable guide.

What do I do after I receive my Thrivent grant? 

Now comes the fun part – using the grant and leading your project! Thrivent has made it very simple and gives you the seed money on a Visa check card that can be used anywhere Visa is accepted. I have used the cards to shop in grocery stores, craft stores, and online. You simply have to hold onto your receipts after the project is complete, in case Thrivent wants to see them. At this point, I have not had my receipts ever requested by Thrivent but it is always a possibility.

Since you can apply for a grant within 120 days before the project date, you may hold onto your card before you do anything. That is okay! It is always better to apply early rather than too late. Lead your project when it is time and have fun doing so! If your project date changes, that is also okay! Thrivent understands. Just note that when you report.

When you are finished leading your project, you must submit an official report to Thrivent online. Thrivent will send you an email reminding you to report on your project. Just log back into your Thrivent grant page and look for the button that says, “Report on your project.”

Again, this is a very short form that takes all of 5 minutes to complete. Names of other participants are required, and pictures are encouraged (but not required). Answer the couple questions and give a short summary of your project for Thrivent. Click submit and you are finished with this particular grant!

I hope this post has made the process of applying for Thrivent grants less intimidating. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments. Remember, I do NOT work for Thrivent but I will do my best to help because I’d love to see your school and church benefit from this great grant opportunity!

If you found this post helpful, please share with other Thrivent members you may know and help spread the word about Thrivent action grants!

Have you applied for a Thrivent grant before? If so, I’d love to know what you have used your grants on! 

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23 Comments

  1. Can a grant be used for me (I’m a benefit member) to go overseas to help refugees start businesses? Or does it have to be money used in my home community? Thanks for helping us navigate through this.

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      No, it cannot be used for travel expenses but it could be used as a part of a fundraiser to raise the start up money. Ie, baking desserts to sell at a bake sale for donations. That would be the angle I would use when applying!

  2. I have a question for you. In Stevens Point we have a Laundry Love Ministry. The purpose of this Ministry is to provide our Neighbors (homeless) the opportunity to have clean clothes. this Ministry pays for the cost and the laundromat and also provides the detergent. My question for you would there are many rules on how the grant money can be used. Could grant money be used to pay for public bus passes. May of our homeless use the city bus to move around the city and to get to the laundromat.

    1. Kristen

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      says:

      What a great ministry! It’s worth applying for! I don’t speak for Thrivent so it is up to them to approve the grants. It sounds possible with the bus passes, so I would definitely apply and see what happens!

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      I’m sure you can! There are so many opportunties available! Just go ahead and apply to Thrivent and see what happens!

  3. We are long-time policy holders with Thrivent. I have never applied for grant money so here I am in the comment section asking for help in applying.
    A friend who is involved with Sewing for Babies has asked if I would like to help their project with my
    Action Team grant money. I would very much like to take advantage of your generous program and
    help this group with money to apply toward sewing material and sewing supplies.
    Where do I start in applying for a grant?

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      Hi, Donna! That would be a great Thrivent grant. However, I am not associated with Thrivent. To apply for a grant, simply follow the steps I outlined in my article and that should help you apply for your first grant!

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      Good question, Rick! And the answer, from my understanding and experience, is yes – as long as they are for different aspects of the project. For example, our school has an annual fish fry and we have gotten grants to help purchase tableware and serving dishes (one grant) as well as grants to help with some of the dessert costs for the bake sale (another grant). Does that make sense? Ultimately, it is up to Thrivent that makes the final decision, but as long as they are clearly for different aspects of the project from different members, you should be good. Good luck with applying!

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      You will need to contact Thrivent to get that sorted out. That is the hardest part of the Thrivent grants! 🙂

  4. What is an associate member of Thrivent? I do not have a Thrivent account but my son does since I purchased life insurance for him when he was born and he still has it. I would like to apply for a grant but don’t know if there is a way I can do it. Please let me know. thanks.

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

      Author Kristen acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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      says:

      Only Thrivent members can apply for Thrivent grants. So, if your son has a policy, he can apply for a grant! If your son is still young and you are paying for the insurance, then you might be able to apply for the grant. If he is grown, then he is the one who would have to apply. You can log into your Thrivent account to see if you have the option to apply for an action grant. That is the best way to see! If you have further questions, you might want to contact your Thrivent rep. I am not associated with Thrivent myself…just a Mom with Thrivent accounts who applies for grants! 🙂

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

      Author Kristen acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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      says:

      You do have to be at least 16 to lead an action team, according to Thrivent’s rules.

  5. Due to Covid, we haven’t been able to use the grant we were issued. Would it be allowed to give it to a church to use for a good purpose?

    Thanks!

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      Hi, Gregg. I would recommend checking with Thrivent. They have generally been extending grants without an issue but it generally has to be used for the same purpose. Again, I would check with Thrivent!

  6. I know that it states that I will not receive an action kit if my request is denied, BUT will I at least be told that it is so I will discontinue “waiting?”. I have waited and had no response. I think it is very wrong to simply ignore if that is your policy. Please let me know one way or another. Thank you very much for your time.

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      Hi, Susan. I don’t work for Thrivent or have anything to do with their policies or grants. I am simply a Thrivent member (like yourself) who regularly applies for the grants. You should get an email from them with the status of your progress. If it has been longer than a week and you haven’t heard back, log into your dashboard and you can see if your grant was approved or declined. I hope you hear back soon!

  7. Kristen! This is fantastic. Do you mind if I bookmark this and use it as a resource to share about Thrivent Action Teams? Please free to reach out to me! 🙂

    1. Kristen

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      The Real Person!

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      says:

      Of course, Lindsey! I hope it is helpful to others and encourages them to apply for Thrivent grants. It really is a great program!

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