The Truman Charities Podcast
Truman Charities is the only podcast that donates $250 to each of our guests' charity of choice.
Jamie Truman, connects with individuals who are making a significant impact in their communities. From New York Times bestselling authors to innovative farmers, we share the untold stories of those who are shaping the world around us. We feature trailblazers, influencers, and innovators who are driving positive change, such as the lawyer who fought Dupont for two decades to protect our water and the vital work of an organization dedicated to supporting women who have been trafficked within the United States.
Jamie Truman is the co-founder of Truman Charities, an entirely volunteer-run organization. Since its inception in 2010, Truman Charities has successfully raised over $2 million for a variety of charitable causes.
In addition to her work with Truman Charities, Jamie is also the author of the bestselling book "Vanishing Fathers: The Ripple Effect on Tomorrow's Generation." This book has generated over $80,000 for charities supporting at-risk youth, as 100% of the book's proceeds are donated to these vital organizations.
The Truman Charities Podcast
Why Your Child’s Fundraiser Might Be Failing—And How to Fix It | Plus 15k Raised at Our Just TRYAN It Fundraiser Ep. 152
$2.5 million raised and still going! Truman Charities continues to make an impact, and this time it's children that take center stage in our fundraising efforts. Their courage, energy, and teamwork show how giving back can inspire growth at every age.
In this episode, host Jamie Truman recaps the JUST TRYAN IT Kids Triathlon that raised $15,000 to support families fighting pediatric cancer. From the fun atmosphere to a nerve-racking start to the race, you'll hear how the kids challenged themselves and found joy in giving back.
Jamie also answers one of your most asked questions: why aren’t my kids’ fundraisers successful? If your child is getting ready for cookie sales or school campaigns, you’ll learn what can help them get more donations and gain confidence along the way.
Join Truman Charities at our annual Halloween Party on October 25 at Tommy Joe's in Bethesda, MD to benefit the Salute Military Golf Association. Register for the event at https://www.trumancharities.com/
Connect with Jamie at Truman Charities:
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Email: info@trumancharities.com
This episode was post produced by Podcast Boutique https://podcastboutique.com/
Welcome to the Truman Charities Podcast. I am Jamie Truman, your host. I know we have a lot of new listeners. So I want to tell you a little bit about Truman Charities. Trum Charity started in 2010. We are a 100% volunteer-based organization. We raise money by hosting three different events per year for various charities. Since 2010, we've raised a little over, well, no, we just hit. We just hit$2.5 million that we've raised since since 2010. So we're very excited about that. We do that, as I said, by hosting three events per year. And we have an annual Halloween party, which is coming up October 25th. It's benefiting Salute Military Golf Association. And our registration is open now. So make sure to go on termcharities.com and register for our upcoming event. And then we also have our annual derby party, which is always the first Saturday in May. And we are still finalizing our plans for 2026. So we're not sure who that is going to be for. And the event that we just finished was for our family fun event, which is benefiting just trying it. Just trying it raises money for local families who have a child in treatment for pediatric cancer. They do this by hosting a kids' triathlon once a year. And this year, which was really exciting, is that both of my boys participated in. So it was really wonderful. So we're going to go over the recapping of the fundraiser and the triathlon. And then also I want to kind of dive a little bit into a lot of questions that I get on why my kids aren't able to have successful fundraisers and how it's a lot more difficult to raise money for your, say, like Girl Scouts or some, you know, or their sporting team or something like that. And so I'm going to talk about that and what you're doing that is definitely not helping your child raise as much money as he or she possibly could for that particular cause. So first, let's go back to our fundraiser. We had our family fun event, and that was on September 7th. So what I did is I had my son ask a lot of his buddies who wanted to be on the team. So my son created a team. This year it was the Dechannel crew, and there was 12 kids on it. That was including Dominic and Antonio. And it was really fun and exciting because Dominic and Antonio are through the process of the event, like setting it up, cleaning it up. We plan out the event. We go through, you know, how many people are registered, how many waters they're going to need, how much pizza are we going to have, you know, Marazzi pizza track make, how much, you know, clay boy shaped ice are we going to have? Like all of these things. So it's really fun to sit down with them and create these different, you know, spreadsheets and have them really involved and participating in our event. We were really lucky this year because Allison Collection, which is Pete and Britt Allison, they are realtors in the area and they were nice enough to sponsor a moon bounce. So that was fantastic. The kids really loved it. And then we also had XL Fitness with Jeremy Patton. He does after school programs for kids and he also does camps for kids on like days off and things like that. And so he had his team there, and all the kids were playing, you know, like dodgeball and flag football and all the fun stuff, soccer. And of course, we had Jenny No Shoes and he was doing some live music for everybody. So it was a really great event and that catered to families, but also we have, you know, sponsors that came to enjoy, you know, the fun event as well. And they have grandchildren, their kids are grown, and so an adult can go there too and still have a great time. We had the commander's game on and you know, live music open bar, the whole, the whole thing. And then of course the triathlon was on the 21st. When the triathlon began, we were just shy of$15,000 that the boys have raised. Oh, plus girl. There was one girl on the team. We have a couple more checks coming in. So we're definitely going to hit that$15,000 mark in the next few days. So very excited about them raising that amount of money. And on the triathlon day, just so people, if you're on the fence about wanting to do this or not. And I know a couple of my friends have have kind of gone back and forth if they want their child to participate, you know, with us next year. But it really is so exciting for these children to watch them because they're all the night before, like a little bit nervous. And the day of actually, Antonio was excited up until the point where they were about to start. And because he was the youngest of like all 400 and some kids that were doing it, he was number one. So he was the first group to go. So he started crying. And I thought, you know what, he's not gonna, it's it's not gonna work. He's not gonna make it. But thankfully, Jerry came in, and you know, I think dads are a little bit better at this because around me, they cry a lot more than they do around Jerry. So Jerry kind of gave him pep talk, and you could see in the beginning he was like really nervous going to his swim. But after Antonio, we saw him, you know, it was really, really cute because what the all the kids did in the team. So when Antonio was done swimming and he ran up to go bike, all the kids had little posters and they were like screaming his name. And then down the last stretch of when he was running, all of the kids from his team were like running with him alongside. And just to see how proud of himself he was after he had finished, there's nothing better for a parent to see like your kid just like overcome a fear and then just be really happy and excited and really proud of themselves of what they did. And he was the whole day, he kept saying he was number one because he thought he won the race, but really people were calling him number one because that was his bib number. But, you know, details, right? Or let him let him think that he won the entire triathlon. And you know, Dominic, you know, he gets a little bit nervous every single time before, even though he's done this for a few years. But, you know, every single time that I used to, you know, run marathons forever ago, and you still get nervous before every race. And then the endorphins come in during the race. And it's always like such a great feeling when you're done. And there was something that I had the children do during their fundraiser, which I thought was, you know, really important for you to do with kids. And I only know this because if you don't know, I have a 22-year-old stepson. So he's part of Truman Charities, he works with Jerry, uh, with Truman Worth Management. So we kind of know from experience how important getting children to speak in front of adults and in front of groups as early as possible. We had Zach start doing that when he was about six years old. And uh, so now he can get in front of anybody. He's, you know, runs his fraternity. They're at the all of these different types of events and just always speaking and and helping raise money and and very big and to he actually just won an award for his fraternity, won the philanthropy award. So that was exciting for him. So he flew down to down to Florida and they had like this whole event, and it was nice to see how he's really evolved from the six-year-old, like shy boy that will get in front of, you know, a room of people and kind of look down at the ground to really being able being such a great public speaker. So we want to do the same thing with Dominic and Antonio. So during the fundraiser, I emailed out to the other moms. I said, you know, I want them to say a little something. I will send you the sentence that they'll say. And it was really simple. It's like, you know, welcome to our fundraiser. We're the Deshaunal crew, you know, and then another one would be like, Thank you, Marasi pizza. I like, you know, pepperoni pizza or whatever it is that you like. And some of the moms were a little bit hesitant about doing it or wanted them to have some sort of paper to look down to. And I was really adamant about that, you know, not having them on some sort of paper to read and having them look into the crowd and telling them, you know, if you mess up, that's fine. Nobody knows what you're gonna say, anyways. So if you say something else, that's fine too. You don't have to be perfect. But that was also another chance during the fundraiser to watch the kids kind of get through being uncomfortable and pushing through that and then feeling really great about themselves and that they've like accomplished something that they didn't think that they could do. So that is kind of where I'm going to talk about why the kid, a lot of your children's fundraisers aren't as successful as you would like them to be. What I've noticed, and I think this is especially since social media has has become, you know, so popular and everything is through like social media and electronics, and there isn't a lot of face-to-face. And honestly, I've noticed to people that are a lot younger than me, probably like, I don't know, wasn't even people five years younger than me, they never talk on the phone anymore. And like if someone calls, they're like, oh, it kind of like is like, oh, why is someone calling me? Right. So everything's through text, everything's through, you know, Instagram and all the other social media platforms. So when I was younger, Brownie Troop, Girl Scouts, all that good stuff. I'll give Girl Scouts an example. When I was younger, you would go around to your neighborhood and you would have to go door to door and knock on the door and speak to different people and ask them to buy your cookies. And you think, oh, that's like not that big of a deal. Yes, it is. You have to get the best thing you can do for a child, in my opinion, you know, watching and having a 22-year-old stepson and watching him grow up and watching his friends grow up is making them uncomfortable, like making them push through that uncomfortability and getting up and you're having to sell these people. So people are gonna tell you no, people are not gonna answer the door, all of those things. And we've taken that opportunity for children to overcome their fears away from them, and that creates these more anxious children. So, what they have done now is so now if you have a girl and Girl Scouts, you take a video of them asking to participate in their fundraiser from your cell phone, you plug it into like their personal website, and then the moms that I know will send you a link. So you then you just see this like 30-second or 60-second clip of their daughter saying, Hey, I would like you know, you to participate in blah, blah, blah, girls got cookies and all this stuff. That has taught them nothing. That fundraiser has done nothing to help their personal growth at all. So I had a girlfriend, and of course I have all boys. So I have a couple girlfriends with girls, and they'll send me the link. And I make sure that I say, 'cause I just get so tired, and I think this is where people could agree with me. You just get so fatigued by getting emails and text messages from parents about their kids' fundraisers. So I've told all of my friends, if they're so the two girls that usually send for for cookies each year, if they would like cookies, they can call me or they can stop by and ask. But I don't want you to ask for them. And that goes for when we've had friends that have emailed us about their kids, like fundraiser, and they're on a football team and they need new uniforms or whatever it is, baseball, football, whatever it is. Like, hey, you want to buy the square, you want to buy this. No, I'm not. I'm not buying, I'm not giving you money to a fundraiser where you have done all the work and your child has done nothing. The whole reason for these fundraisers, obviously, we have to raise money for different causes and different things, but it also is personal growth for the child. And then everybody wonders why their kids are growing up and they're so they can't even look in the eyes of adults and have a conversation, and all they can do is stare at a screen. Like you never put them in uncomfortable situations where they have to interact with people. And sometimes when you interact with people, they say things you don't want, like they tell you, no, I'm not going to give your money money for your fundraiser. Thanks, but sorry. Like, thanks for coming, but sorry, we can't help you. These are things that they have to learn how to deal with. So if you are doing that, and I get it, you're so busy, everybody's so busy. So it's not a dig on parents at all, because I get it. Like you're so busy and you're thinking, like, oh gosh, now I gotta stop what I'm doing and take my girl around the neighborhood to like have her sell cookies. Like, I don't have time for that. Unfortunately, you're just gonna have to make time for that. At the very least, at the very least, you have them write down on a piece of paper or you help them write down you have the friends and family members that they would like to ask to participate in their fundraiser. And then they have to individually call them, either FaceTime them or call them and ask them. Because I personally want to know, hey, why are you doing the fundraiser? Why does your team need new uniforms? What kind of new uniforms are you gonna get? Blah, blah, blah. It's very good for the kids to be able to, they have to be very much involved with that. And it's gonna help them build relationships, be better at building relationships with people of all different ages. And that's just gonna help them when they're older. And uh again, I understand that so many parents are busy, but this is something that you really have to carve out time if you would like your child to really benefit from these fundraisers that they're participating in. And trust me, like I I've seen it. I have my again, I have the older, I'm not talking without any experience, I have our older stepson. And I've seen kind of the way that we've been able to do that with him and and other children and just kind of the pros and cons of each way. And uh, so that I think is my one thing people don't think about because it is so easy. We've made it so easy that people don't need to communicate, that the everybody wants to bypass all kind of human connection to get to the end result faster. But a lot of times that's just not the best way, even though it's the quickest way, it's not the best way. So I hope that helps because I know Christmas and Hanukkah and everything is around the corner. I can't believe it, but it is very close. It'll be here before we know it. And that's kind of where all the kind of giving and a lot of the fundraising happens. So trust me, do what I'm suggesting you do, and you will see such an increase in how much you're able to raise for your children, and you'll also see the benefits that it gives your child. Okay. All right, so again, I want to thank everybody that was part of the Family Fun event. And do not forget to go into Trumancharities.com, register for a Halloween event. We are going to have live music. It's at Tommy Joe's, it's from 6 to 10 p.m. Right now we have uh Salamaners Resort and Spa trip, Keswick Resort, and uh press eyewear, Boone and Sons jewelry, gosh, trip to MGM and a show, and uh gosh, so many other great, great items. We have some great live auction items, great raffle items, and 100% of the proceeds goes directly to Salute Military Golf Association, because we are 100% volunteer-based organization. Jerry and I cover the cost of the event. So every single dollar that comes in goes directly to the charity. If you'd like to follow us, you can follow us um social media, Instagram at Jamie underscore Truman Charities, Facebook at Truman Charities. You can follow me, LinkedIn, Jamie underscore Truman Charities. And if you liked this episode and you like what we do, please make sure to rate and review this podcast. It means so much to us and it really does help grow this podcast. So please go to Truman Charities Podcast, scroll down, click the subscribe button so you don't miss any future episodes, and then write a short review on why you enjoy listening to our podcast. And if you go into trumandcharities.com, you can sign up for a newsletter so you don't miss any of your future events that we have coming up, and also any of our Bethesda's best happy hours that we have about four times a year. All right, thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Truman Charities Podcast. Till next time.
