Mission
AQUME Foundation will center economic justice and racial equity in philanthropy.
Vision
AQUME Foundation will be an innovative, sustainable, and trusted philanthropic steward of resources for the advancement of BIPOC communities throughout Michigan.
VALUES
Equity
Equity recognizes that advantages and barriers exist, and that, as a result, we all don’t start from the same place when striving to achieve positive life outcomes and continues to correct and address the imbalance. This is measured by outcomes disaggregated by demographics and change in policy.
AQUME Foundation is committed to using our influence to promote equity within the community to benefit communities of color by leading with both racial justice and economic equity in all that we do.
Financial Investment
In our nation, intergenerational wealth has been a luxury only few people of
color have been able to attain due to systemic racism and limited access to the
social, political and professional networks where wealth resides. Our goal is to
provide tools that will grant communities of color access to these networks and
change their relationship to wealth for generations to come. AQUME Foundation will invest in our BIPOC communities on a meaningful scale.
Accountability
AQUME Foundation rejects the notion of inferiority that is far too often placed on communities of color. Out mantra is to “Operate in Excellence!” Excellence is not perfection. Excellence is a journey through an ever-changing landscape of possibilities and opportunities.
AQUME Foundation knows that excellence in serving our community is essential and will operate our organization with the highest degree of integrity and transparency.
Community Transformation
A process that fosters power (that is, the capacity to implement) in people, for
use in their own lives, their communities, and in their society, by acting on their
own authority in relation to issues important to them. AQUME Foundation works to empower communities of color with financial knowledge, services and support.
Far too often the financial system has been a tool of oppression instead of an instrument of empowerment. We will use our grant making to place power and resources into the hands of the BIPOC community.
History
WHO ARE WE?
In honor of the Black culture’s history of creatively changing the spelling of common words, ‘AQUME’ [pronounced /ack-me/] stems from of the word ‘acme’ which means the highest point at which someone or something is best, perfect, or most successful. Excellence is exactly what we strive for when serving our BIPOC communities.
Founded in 2021, AQUME Foundation is a Black-led foundation established as a systemic level response to the glaring national disparities in wealth and resources between white and BIPOC communities. As a result, we focus on economic justice by providing opportunities for the BIPOC community to learn about and establish intergenerational wealth through philanthropy, estate planning, workshops, and networking while integrating our core values of equity, financial investment, accountability, and community transformation.
WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?
AQUME Foundation will provide grant funding and extensive resources to benefit the BIPOC community as we experience severe and pervasive disparities in quality of life outcomes due to generations of systemic oppression via racially biased policy and resource allocation. AQUME Foundation will also work with government and community leaders to develop viable solutions to these issues.