The Imagine Fund Mission Statement
The Imagine Fund exists to expand equal opportunity to higher education for students based on their race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin and/or other cultural characteristics.
After decades of advancements in promoting equity and inclusion in Michigan, we have been reminded that the work to ensure equal opportunity to higher education is never done. A group of community leaders, building on careers and personal commitment to equal opportunity in higher education, renewed their efforts in a collective response to this new challenge. They realized that it will take continued effort to rise above ignorance and bias to remove barriers that have historically stopped and that continue to threaten some students from fulfilling their potential through the pursuit of knowledge.
This group of leaders formed The Imagine Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax exempt organization those and whose mission is to provide equal opportunity to higher education for students on the basis of their race, color, sex, ethnicity, and/or national origin and/or cultural characteristics. Their vision was later supported by a recommendation in the Michigan Civil Rights Commission report “One Michigan” at the Crossroads: An Assessment of the Impact of Proposal 06-02 issued March 7, 2007 which stated “…a non-profit, private entity or foundation [should] be utilized to distribute and administer scholarships or financial aid based on race, color, sex, ethnicity, and/or national origin.” [Section VIII, Subsection C, #7, page 57]
The Imagine Fund challenges us to value being diversity conscious instead of using diversity to be divisive. In that spirit, it also embraces members of the LGBT, religious, and disabled communities as part of its service mission.
Initial reactions to the recent passage of the State amendment predicted that many donors may be encouraged or inclined to change the criteria of their scholarships. Changing scholarship criteria to be diversity neutral could dilute and diminish the power of these scholarships to effect change while compromising the original philanthropic intention articulated when the scholarships were established.
The Imagine Fund offers donors a way to remain true to their commitment to diversity while encouraging students to attend the public college or university of their choice. The Imagine Fund encourages donors to settle for nothing short of excellence and equity. We pride ourselves on contributing to an equal opportunity for students.
