Bethel University Community Impact Report

Everence® has partnered with Bethel University for more than three decades, supporting a wide variety of campaigns and initiatives.These have included historical gifts, the task force fund, capital campaigns, the annual fund, athletics, scholarships, the endowment, music and arts and the Give Back Gala. “Everence is a financial services [organization] rooted in shared faith values,” says Brent Miller, Managing Director for Everence, located in Goshen, Ind.“We help individuals and organizations connect their faith with their finances in ways that are meaningful to them.” Miller explains that at Everence, the goal is to encourage people to be good stewards, to think about their legacy and impact, regardless of wealth. “Estate planning impacts our churches, our nonprofits; we feel it’s necessary and a part of peoples’ legacy.We find creative ways to have conversations with folks about how to leave a legacy and what their impact [will be]. Everyone feels it’s wealthy people that need to do estate planning—but it’s everyone.” Miller himself is a Bethel graduate (2000) who says his education was integral in preparing him for his career and life.Though he didn’t know as a student that he would one day work for a faith-based financial services organization, important seeds of faith were planted and doors opened at Bethel that helped direct his career path. “Bethel and Everence have faith as a root of our ministries, and it is a very natural partnership between us,” says Miller. As an employer, Everence has looked to Bethel to fill important positions. “Our partnership [with Bethel] really developed out of the career fair— in recruiting students,”Miller says.“It is not always easy to recruit and find the right person for a position, but it makes it extra challenging that we want to make sure that our employees are rooted in faith and are a match to our values. We have had tremendous success with Bethel over the years of not only finding graduates that are highly capable in their fields of study, but who are also a perfect match to have values that are in alignment with our faith-centered mission.” Everence has strong Bethel connections— in fact, 19 graduates currently serve as employees. Additionally, 15 employee spouses and 13 employee children also graduated from Bethel. “We have a similar mission and we help similar people,”Miller says of Everence and Bethel.“We can come alongside each other and do more together.” In the future, Bethel University is looking to Everence to help expand planned- giving capabilities. “The Everence teamwill provide valuable expertise for Bethel’s planned-giving initiatives,” says Matt Lentsch, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Bethel University.“Their faith-based values and customer focus serve their constituents and Bethel well.Together, we can do a lot more than we can do separately.” A PARTNER IN FAITH AND FINANCES By Lissa (Grashorn) Diaz ’07 Founded in 1945, Everence is a faith-based, member-owned financial services organization with Anabaptist roots. They offer banking, insurance, investments, asset management, financial planning and other financial services with community benefits and stewardship education. Everence serves individuals, organizations and congregations that share the stewardship principle that all we are and all we have are from God, and they live out this principle themselves on a daily basis. Since 2013, they have given back over $250 million to their community through grants, community development investing, charitable services and other methods. Learn more at everence.com . Everence offers credit union services that are federally insured by NCUA. Investments and other products are not NCUA or otherwise federally insured, may involve loss of principal and have no credit union guarantee. Some Everence products and services may not be available in your state. ABOUT “WE CAN COME ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER AND DO MORE TOGETHER.” T H I S C O M M U N I T Y R E P O R T I S S P O N S O R E D B Y E V E R E N C E