Hello, True Texans!

I don’t even know how to express to you our joy at the overwhelming response to our gala.  We put heart and soul into making it a fantastic night for you, and you certainly let us know you loved it!  I’ve received so many messages of gratitude from people.  Here are a couple faves:

I needed last night so much. It recharged my soul and heart to know that True Texas Project is leading the Conservative Christian movement here in Texas.  I got to give you a quick hug on the way out, but I would have thanked you for an hour. Beautiful night with my like-minded friends.  God bless you and the True Texas Project. Your work touches more people than you will ever know.
~ M.R.

Julie & Fran,
My guest and I had an absolutely fabulous time. My wife could not go, but I called her just 30 minutes into the event before it was even 7:00 and told her that we have to budget $ to come to this every year, VIP tickets. It’s THE place to be around amazing conservatives. Many blessings to you both. Thank you for putting on such a wonderful event.
~ M.W.

There are so many pictures to go through on our Flickr account.  You can do that here.  You’ll find 3 tabs: candids gathered from social media + pro pics from 2 sources.  But here are a few that will help tell the story.

The night began with the county fair activities…

During the program, I invited up several True Texans to tell brief stories about how our organization has impacted them.  While some of our guests started the night wishing we had an expensive, famous speaker, by the end of the evening everyone was talking about how great it was to hear these personal stories.  They said it really felt like a family.  I love that!  You can hear the presentation here.  (Unfortunately, the beginning of the presentation was recorded without sound, so this jumps into things in the middle. All but 2 of the guest speakers are there. We’re missing Fran and Susan). We even heard TTP testimonies from Representatives David Lowe and Shelley Luther!  I really hope you’ll take the time to listen. It’s about 25 minutes.

Next of course we did the “money pitch.”  Here’s how it went down:

• To make our budget this year, we had increased our goal by $10,000 from last year.
• We had to increase it $36,000 more due to the loss of one of our donors.
• We saved a lot because we didn’t pay for a speaker.
• In the end, we were $11,000 short of raising everything we needed!

I’m not sure you guys can fully realize how huge that is. First, it’s a lot of money to raise.  We nearly doubled the net profit from last year.  But more than the money, it was the unbelievable response from y’all — rallying around like the True Texas family that we are — to make sure we stay afloat.  You love what we do, and you love being a part of it.  It is absolutely astounding what we accomplished by everyone chipping in.

Of course, that means we still have to raise $11,000.  It’s totally doable, and it starts now!  I’d said before the gala that we’d give it a month or so to see how the pennies add up before making any drastic decisions, so this is it!

1. Give a one-time donation.  Any amount.  We’ll take it!
2. Begin a recurring donation.  The average is $35/month, but we’ve had youth pledge $2/month and wealthier individuals give as much as $3,000/mo!  All of it spends the same, and we are grateful.  Recurring donations really help us know how to budget.

All the donation options (online, mail, trusts/foundations, wills, c3, c4, PAC, etc) can be found at this link.  I will keep you advised how we’re doing in each Sunday’s newsletter.

After the money pitch, we got to move on to the after-party.  And get this… we’d planned a Hee Haw-style comedy & music show, but folks were having such a great time just hanging out, we nixed it and just had fun!

No matter how you look at it, the night was a complete success.  Thank you!  I want to also take a chance to thank our incredible sponsors.

I talk all the time about the True Texas Army, and I love all that that phrase brings to mind.  But this week I’m keen on the True Texas Family.  Thanks for being a part of it.

For the love of Texas,
Julie McCarty, CEO
True Texas Project