WAVERLY -- Wartburg College recently received a $250,000 grant to help fund Commission on Mission, the college's three-year planning initiative.

The money comes from the Franklin and Irene List Saemann Foundation of Morrison, Ill., which has given more than $5 million to Wartburg since 1995. The funds supported building projects, including Grossmann Hall, Vogel Library and Saemann Student Center.

The Saemann Foundation also underwrote Commission Wartburg, a yearlong constituent-based planning process that preceded the $90 million Campaign Wartburg fundraising initiative. In addition, the Saemann Foundation has provided student scholarships and support for the college's annual fund and the endowment.

Through Commission on Mission, the Wartburg will engage constituents across the country and explore the college's central concepts -- leadership, service, faith and learning.

Irene List Saemann is the granddaughter of Wartburg's founder and first president, the Rev. Georg Grossmann. Her niece, Joann Kilgus of Morrison, is a member of the Saemann Foundation board of directors and the Wartburg College Board of Regents. Kilgus is Grossmann's great-granddaughter.

Commission on Mission is also funded in part by a $50,000 grant from the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation of Minneapolis.