Current endowment funds have been created through the generous philanthropic support of friends, families, congregations, LHS staff, corporations, foundations, and fraternal benefit societies such as Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Donors may either fund an existing endowment or create a new named endowment fund to underwrite a special program or service or fulfill a critical LHS need. With the guidance of LHS Foundation staff, you may choose the fund's name, designation, restrictions, and other use criteria. In the past, donors who have created named endowment funds have designated annual distributions be used to fund scholarships, purchase special equipment, or help underwrite a specific affiliate ministry or essential service area.

You can create a named endowment fund with a gift of $25,000 or more. This amount may be given as one outright gift or as a pledge payable over a period of three-to-five years. All installment gifts are invested until the endowment is fully underwritten at the minimum level. At that time, the fund will begin annual distributions after one full year of investment. Planned gifts and bequests are often used to grow the fund corpus significantly. Donors enjoy creating their funds while living to see the results of their giving and will add to them later through bequests or other deferred gifts.