Thrivent Financial Scholarship

The story for this endowed scholarship may not require many words, but the length of time required to bring the scholarship up to an endowment would indicate otherwise. It is a challenging story, as the reader will soon realize.

In 1983 Lutheran Brotherhood announced its Endowment Challenge Grant program for Lutheran colleges. Each college could set its own goal and design its own program, but the program was basically a way to help Lutheran colleges increase their institutional endowments. For California Lutheran, the challenge was this: If CLU could raise $200,000 for general endowment, the Lutheran Brotherhood would grant $100,000 for an endowed scholarship fund. This was an exciting opportunity for the 24-year-old college.

At this point in CLU’s history having an endowment was more dream than reality, especially for scholarships. There were too many other demands on its wish list. But CLU accepted “the Challenge” and fortunately, CLU’s supporters did likewise. With the help of many donors, Cal Lutheran raised the needed funds. And so, during the 1987-88 fiscal year, the Lutheran Brotherhood Endowed Scholarship fund reached its full stature of $100,000.

To qualify for the Thrivent Financial Scholarship, students must be Lutheran and must meet all other requirements for financial aid from CLU. The first awards were made on Honors Day of 1988. Since that time, countless Lutheran students have been and will continue to be blessed by the faithful generosity of donors who responded so willingly to this Challenge.