Indiana Wesleyan University has announced a $5 million commitment by Thrivent Financial to the Ron Blue Institute for Financial Planning at the Marion, Ind., university. Thrivent Financial is a financial services organization that helps Christians be wise with money and live generously.
For more than 30 years, Ron Blue has elevated a biblical view of financial stewardship and generosity. In 2012, Blue licensed his intellectual property to IWU to create the Ron Blue Institute. The Institute is positioned to move forward with plans that will help it change the way Christians think, act, and communicate about financial stewardship.
Blue sees tremendous value in the partnership. “Thrivent Financial is one of the great stories in America over the last hundred-plus years. It’s a story that too few people know about, and I am so excited about partnering with Thrivent and Indiana Wesleyan University to bring a message of financial stewardship and generosity to thousands of churches and individuals who need to hear it.”
Funding from Thrivent Financial will allow the Institute to hire executive and academic leaders to begin fulfilling initiatives with Indiana Wesleyan (IWU) and other universities, seminaries, schools, churches, and professional financial planners.
“The wise use of money is one of the Bible’s most common themes,” says Dr. David Wright, president of IWU. “The Ron Blue Institute is dedicated to becoming a national center of research and teaching about biblical principles for the use of money. A task of this magnitude requires strong partners. We are delighted to welcome the partnership of Thrivent Financial in this great work.”
Thrivent Financial will give $2 million to fund the operations of the Ron Blue Institute over the next four years, provide an initial gift of $1 million to the Institute’s endowment, and match $2 million of additional giving to the endowment.
“Thrivent is excited to provide support for this transformational work,” according to Knut Olsen, senior vice president at Thrivent Financial. “It’s an honor to be part of the effort to bring both academic research and rigor to an emerging field that educates financial professionals on biblical principles with respect to the use of money in our increasingly complex world. At Thrivent, our mission is to help our Christian members be wise with money and live generously. This gift allows us to help even more Christians have a healthy relationship with money and in turn, we anticipate it will help create a world where more individuals, families and communities thrive.”
IWU will match up to $5 million of giving from Thrivent Financial and other donors to the Institute’s endowment.
“The matching-gift opportunity Indiana Wesleyan University and Thrivent Financial have provided is tremendous,” says Brian Gardner, vice president at IWU. “We look forward to helping others leverage it.”
