Truliant Gives Back More Than $550,000 to Member-Owner Communities

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (February 6, 2020) – Since 1952, Truliant Federal Credit Union has been dedicated to improving the lives of its member-owners and the local communities in which they live, work and play. In 2019, Truliant invested more than $550,000 in community engagement and philanthropic activities to support more than 30 local communities located in the Carolinas and Virginia where Truliant has Member Financial Centers.

“Being a strong partner is critically important to Truliant. We recognize the support that nonprofit organizations provide in the communities that we serve each day,” said Sherri Thomas, chief human resources and organizational development officer.

“We continue to increase our expression of gratitude each year by offering financial and volunteer resources to ensure that these amazing local institutions are able to expand their services and create responsive programs that help individuals and families,” she added.

Truliant made significant contributions through several programs in 2019, including charitable giving, community engagement and an updated employee-volunteer program:

Charitable Giving

Truliant’s Employee Charitable Contributions Committee reviews and makes decisions on donation requests. Among those organizations receiving charitable contributions in 2019:

Bennett College, Greensboro. $10,000. To support fundraising efforts for the women’s HBCU to retain its accreditation in 2019.

Think Orange Campaign. Pledge of $12,500. To support initiatives to address food insecurity among school children in Winston-Salem.

One of Truliant’s most far-reaching contribution programs is the Community Mini Grant program. This year, Truliant awarded $1,000 each to 27 nonprofits to help their long-term sustainability and enhance their capacity to serve their communities. Winners were determined by crowdsourcing on social media. In 2019, the grant program captured more than 25,000 votes in a 10-day period. Grant highlights include:

Bright Blessings (Matthews): To provide books and learning supplies to support academic success for transient children and low-income students.

Samaritan Ministries (Winston-Salem): To replace 10 mattresses in the men’s dorm room. The program serves men with substance-abuse disorders.

Experiment in Self-Reliance (Winston-Salem): To provide low-income members of the community with the tools – financial education, continuing education, free tax preparation and more – needed to be self-reliant.

Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival, an affiliate of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra (Roanoke): The program in Floyd County offers children the opportunity to study classical music on stringed instruments with a certified Suzuki instructor.

In 2016, Truliant created the Financial Education Grant program for public school teachers, grades 6-12, who want to incorporate financial education in their classrooms. Since 2016, Truliant has awarded $162,000 toward its initial pledge of $200,000 to local teachers in five years.

In 2019, Truliant gave more than $40,000 through its Financial Education Grant program. This program was once again awarded a first place Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award by the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation (for the third year in a row). Grants are reviewed by former educators and classroom volunteers annually. The 2019 grants were awarded to teachers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and in Randolph County Schools. Here are three of the schools that received grants:

Garinger High School, Charlotte. $5,000. For “Project Revive Wildcat Pride,” a multidisciplinary effort to launch a small-scale screen printing business on the campus of the high school, merging three career pathways (Business, Marketing and Game Art Programming).

Walter G. Byers, Charlotte. $3,500. For “Let Me Lead: Bulldog Student Store” to boost academics and social skills through the entrepreneurial student-led school store.

Randleman High School, Randleman. $4,275. For “Mobilize Your Future” Career Truck Fair, as a career development initiative for students to be exposed to multiple career opportunities, explore costs of higher education and understand potential benefits for career choices.

Truliant awarded $1,000 in scholarship funds to 20 high school seniors in the spring 2019, to be applied to their fall enrollment at the two- or four-year college or university of their choice in fall 2019. Students have to be member-owners of Truliant to be eligible to apply. Students in 13 counties received scholarships in 2019, including three students in Guilford County, three in Forsyth County and two in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County.

Community Engagement

During 2019, Truliant sponsored more than 324 community events – a 34 percent increase from 2018. These events reached more than 735,000 people throughout Truliant’s corporate footprint. Some of these corporate sponsorships included the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville; local Pride festivals in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Charlotte; the Mebane Dogwood Festival in Alamance County; the Greensboro Holiday Events in LeBauer Park and community shred events in Wytheville and Radford, Va.

Truliant invests in community events as a way to interact with member-owners, raise awareness of the Truliant brand and to support the efforts of local nonprofits and organizations. Community events allow Truliant to demonstrate its mission of improving lives, while also showcasing our commitment to the credit-union philosophy of “people helping people.”

Employee Volunteer Program

In 2019, to more formally recognize volunteerism as a key component of its community outreach, Truliant implemented an updated Employee-Volunteer Program, offering its 700 employees up to 16 paid hours of volunteer time for full-time employees (eight hours for part-time) to support any school or 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of their choosing.  The core strength of this program is that this enables Truliant’s talented employees the opportunity to offer their high-level skills to critical community organizations that are enhancing the lives of thousands of people.

In its first year, Truliant employees contributed more than 800 volunteer hours in local communities. As this program gains traction, Truliant expects more employees to participate.

Each year, Truliant identifies priority areas for investment in community engagement and philanthropic activities. For more information about Truliant’s key focus areas for 2020 and the process by which to request support, visit: https://www.truliantfcu.org/About-Us/Community-Involvement.  

About Truliant Federal Credit Union
Truliant is a mission-driven, not-for-profit financial institution that promises to always have its member-owners’ best interest at heart by improving their lives through providing financial guidance and affordable financial services. Truliant was chartered in 1952 and now serves more than 250,000 members. Truliant has more than 30 Member Financial Centers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.