The ELCA Institutional Pension Plan is designed to help sponsored employees achieve financial security in retirement. Employers make contributions to each eligible employee's pension account, and the employee makes important decisions about how the account is invested. Employees choose from seven different funds, including social purpose funds for those concerned with social and investment criteria. The plan offers employees considerable flexibility in the payment of pension benefits.
Employees decide when to begin receiving specified monthly pension payments after they retire.
Employees also have opportunities to make limited withdrawals from the vested portion of their pension accounts before starting pension benefits. The employer determines the contribution rate for the pension plan, which must be at least 3 percent of the eligible employee's salary. The rate must be the same for all eligible employees. When an eligible employee is enrolled in the pension plan, the employer remits contributions to the Board of Pensions for each pay period that the employee is regularly scheduled to work. The contributions are credited to the employee's individual pension account and invested at the employee's direction.