When True Sky Federal Credit Union launched in the Oklahoma City metro area back in 1946, it had one clientele: the Federal Aviation Administration. Over the years, the not-for-profit, member-owned financial institution has greatly increased its scope.
Today, True Sky is open to employees of True Sky’s business partners, immediate family members of True Sky members, and others who belong to or become a member of the American Consumer Council.
Although True Sky has a long history of giving back to the communities in which its branches are located, only recently did the credit union formalize this commitment with the establishment of a foundation whose mission is to enrich its communities, empower families, and serve people with physical and financial needs.
Julie Gamblin, True Sky Federal Credit Union's senior vice president and chief administration officer, recently shared information about the fledgling foundation and its scope.
Q. What area nonprofits do the True Sky Foundation collaborate with, and what are their main causes?
A. We have donated $80,000 in the past two years to Children’s Miracle Network; they have been very helpful in providing us with ideas and suggestions on how to continue to develop and grow our foundation, including grant opportunities. True Sky Foundation is still very young. We received our 501cs status in 2020, but due to COVID, we did not start our fundraising efforts until 2021. Our foundation has been a grassroots effort, as we started with a balance of zero and our employees have supported us via payroll deduction and by volunteers.
Q. Can you share with our readers some of the recent projects in which the foundation has been involved?
A. We hosted an annual golf tournament the last two years and were able to raise over 100k both years. We also hosted a food drive for the Regional Foodbank, and our volunteers provided 479 hours of volunteer service there as well. We donated over 200 turkeys for the community for Thanksgiving. We gave out five scholarships totaling $7,500 to high school seniors for their education and hosted teacher shopping sprees so they could get supplies for their classrooms. We also supported ACE camp, a camp that teaches seventh and eighth graders about aviation. We also supported the World Credit Union Foundation with matching funds from our employees to support their initiatives around financial inclusion, safety, gender inequality and leadership relevance.
In all we do, we draw on the foundation’s mission statement: To enrich our communities, empower families, and serve people with physical and financial needs. The foundation was developed to help the credit union better serve the needs in our communities.
Q.What is True Sky's philosophy on giving back to the community?
A. The foundation was developed to assist the credit union in serving the needs in our communities. Our mission of SERVE. EMPOWER.ENRICH is how we operate the credit union and the foundation. The foundation is the hands and feet to help support that mission.
Q. What is your role in the foundation?
A. I was a founding member of the foundation and have served as the president and chair of the board since its beginning. We currently have a five-person board for the foundation and they have been instrumental in our fundraising efforts as well as supporting the foundation’s development. Sean Cahill, the current CEO of True Sky, was an advocate for starting the foundation from the beginning, and we would not have been able to start it without his support!
Q. What else, not covered above, would you like our readers to know on this topic?
A. We are passionate about serving and we can’t wait to see how far the foundation has progressed in the next five to 10 years.
Learn more at TrueSkyFoundation.com