Make a difference and see the world with Thrivent Builds Worldwide.
Help families in your own community with Thrivent Builds Homes.
Thrivent Builds Publicity Newsletter Archive
October 2007
- Mark your calendars for Thrivent Builds Homes national media announcement training Nov. 28
- There’s still time to do local media outreach for the 500th Thrivent Builds Home announcement!
- Best Practice from the Indiana Region: More than a Thrivent Builds display booth
- Best Practice from East Bay Habitat: Use a blog to let people know progress of your Thrivent Builds Homes projects
- Congratulations Kelsey!
- September Media Watch: 200+ hits means millions hear our message
- What's new on www.thriventbuilds.com: New Ski & Build opportunity in Colorado and Worldwide Journals
- Feedback
- Newsletter Archive
Mark your calendars for Thrivent Builds Homes national media announcement training Nov. 28
Teleconference times are setWe know many of you have turned in your 2008 Thrivent Builds Homes applications and are eagerly waiting for final decisions. In the meantime, we encourage you to mark your calendars now for the November 28 national media announcement training.
To gain the greatest impact, we would like all Thrivent Builds Homes participants to begin publicly announcing their planned 2008 homes the week of December 1. The Lutheran community services specialist – Thrivent Builds (LCSS-TB) will contact all affiliates in your Thrivent region to plan and coordinate our public announcement. Announcement tools will be made available to you at this teleconference on November 28th.
We strongly encourage you to attend this important national teleconference and Webinar training for the public announcement on Wednesday, November 28:
- For those who are new to the program in 2008: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Central time.
- For those who participated in the 2007 Thrivent Builds Homes program: join the teleconference from 1:15-2:00 p.m. Central time.
- About 5 minutes before the teleconference begins, dial 1 (800) 661-2563.
- Please be prepared to provide the following information to gain access to your audio conference call:
Confirmation Number: 19528354
Host Name: Nicole Doebert
Company: Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
You will be placed on hold until the host opens the conference call. As a courtesy to others, and to improve sound quality, please mute your phone when not speaking. - Click on the link below to access the Web presentation:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/thriventrooms/join?id=TBHAnnouncement&role=attend&pw=1
If you are not able to open the link, please copy and paste the link name into the address bar on your Internet browser and click Enter.
- On the Join Meeting page, by Display Name, type in your name and click Join Meeting.
There’s still time to do local media outreach for the 500th Thrivent Builds Home announcement!
If your RFO or affiliate has not yet sent out the template news release announcing the 500th Thrivent Builds Home milestone, please do so as quickly as possible. We have asked all regional financial offices and Habitat affiliates to work together to share in this process.
Here are some pointers to make this as easy as possible:
- Send your releases via e-mail to the media contacts in your area by end of day, Oct. 31, 2007. Always copy and paste the content of your release into your e-mail; do not send as an attachment. Remember to include an interesting subject line.
- Attach a photo of a local Thrivent Builds home/project and provide a suggested caption. (Note: It is OK to attach photos, but not the release itself)
- Link to the 500th Thrivent Builds Home celebration photos available in the Media Center/Photo Gallery on www.thriventbuilds.com.
- Don’t have a current media list? Contact kelsey.midthun@thrivent.com or cheryl.winget@thrivent.com and they will produce one for you.
- Send information about your local media successes to cheryl.winget@thrivent.com and kelsey.midthun@thrivent.com.
Best Practice from the Indiana Region: More than a Thrivent Builds display booth
LCSS-TB Larry Moore used his Habitat handyman skills to build a unique visual for Thrivent Builds eventsTelling volunteers that they were pounding a nail worth $1,000 was a good way for Larry Moore, LCSS-TB in the Indiana Region of Thrivent Financial, to get people's attention. At the annual Thrivent Financial-sponsored Indianapolis Air Show, where hundreds of Thrivent Financial members gather to volunteer and enjoy a day of high-flying activities, Larry had the opportunity to exhibit a Thrivent Builds display booth. He wanted to create an engaging and interactive visual display, so Larry used wood and posters to create a display of nails for Thrivent Financial members to see the extent of their involvement with Habitat for Humanity. He calculated the funding coming from Lutherans and Thrivent Financial in his region and had volunteers at the event pound hundreds of nails, each symbolizing $1,000 to Habitat for Humanity.
To find out exactly what Larry did to create this display, check out the brief presentation. (PowerPoint, 313KB)
If you have specific questions about any of these best practices, please contact Larry Moore.
Best Practice from East Bay Habitat: Use a blog to let people know progress of your Thrivent Builds Homes projects
Looking for a new way to keep volunteers, Lutheran churches and Thrivent Chapters up to date on the progress you're making on your Thrivent Builds Home? Try blogging! Check out this great example from Habitat East Bay.A Weblog—better known as a "blog"—is essentially an online diary or journal that you can update daily, weekly, monthly - or whenever you like. In this case, Habitat East Bay is writing an article once a month to let people know how things are going on the build site.
There are many sites that will allow you to post your own blog for free. For example, Lutherans Online - a Thrivent Financial sponsored site - has blog software available. Be sure to check it out and take advantage of this trendy way to build awareness for your Thrivent Builds Homes projects!
Congratulations Kelsey!
Kelsey Peterson, Publicity Specialist with the Alliance Strategy Office (ASO), now is Kelsey Midthun as she was married earlier this month. Kelsey's new e-mail address is kelsey.midthun@thrivent.com.September Media Watch: 200+ hits means millions hear our message
September was an excellent month for Thrivent Builds media coverage—we hit 200+ total media hits for the first time in 2007. But the most exciting outcome of all the hard work done by Thrivent regional offices, Habitat affiliates and the Alliance communications team is that millions—literally millions—of people have heard about the need for affordable housing and the great work of Thrivent Builds in addressing that need.
As you scan September's report, keep in mind that every print publication is read by approximately twice the circulation number listed. Also remember that while there were 53 media hits for the Thrivent Builds Mobile alone, this number does not take into account all of the other outreach, such as that done in churches, nor does it include the thousands of people who actually toured the truck.
Thank your for your diligent work to publicize your Thrivent Builds projects, Thrivent Builds Worldwide travelers and the Thrivent Builds Mobile. We look forward to maintaining this momentum through the last three months of the year.
Following is just a sampling of September’s successful efforts:
Sept. 13, Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ, Habitat to build 355 homes, including 2nd in Peoria, 433,731 circ.
Sept. 18, WJRT TV 12 (ABC), Flint, MI, “Mug Shot time now…It’s called the Thrivent Builds Mobile.”
Sept. 19, Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, WI, Fox Cities residents take Thrivent Builds worldwide, 51,509 circ.
If you know of media hits that have not been included in the September Media Report, but should be, please send them to cheryl.winget@thrivent.com.
What's new on thriventbuilds.com: 500th Home
500th Home Photo Gallery
Check out some great new photos from the 500th Thrivent Builds Home event in Pontiac, MI.
Lakeisha White's Story
Read about Lakeisha White, the homeowner of the 500th Thrivent Builds Home.
Feedback
Is this newsletter helpful to you? Do you have additional ideas for articles you'd find helpful? Please send your feedback to Nicole Doebert.
Newsletter Archive
If you would like to read previous issues of the Thrivent Builds newsletter, simply access the Newsletter Archive from this link or from the left navigation bar.