Funding Liberation

(Illustration by Marcos Chin) 

What does it mean to build wealth with love? Not love in the abstract but love as a practice. A practice built on care, clarity, and commitment. A practice that is holistic and scales with all walks and in all regions.

If we are to build with love, the first step is acknowledging an uncomfortable truth: Our traditional wealth management system was not created for all to succeed. It was not designed for “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” but for the few to manage the many. It is flawed and the fruit it bears is rotten. The industry must start over with a plant rooted in love, fueled by justice, and maintained with peace. A system that desires everyone who pulls from it to become better because of it.

The financial industry has often reinforced the barriers it claims to dismantle, failing to accept accountability for its follies and contradictions. Intergenerational poverty persists not because of a lack of ambition or talent, but because structures have long prioritized color over ingenuity, access over equity, profit over people, and systems over soul. The burden of financial exclusion falls along racial and geographical lines, affecting Black, brown, and white families in rural and urban communities alike. It is a testament to how inequity robs all Americans from experiencing the bounty of this country.

If we are to serve more households, we must recognize the failure of our capital markets to foster shared prosperity. We must not only ask who has been left behind, but why and how we can do things differently. How do we learn from failure to forge a future that recognizes the assets of our neighbors and neighborhoods?

This journey to financial liberation is anchored in humility, a sense of moral responsibility, and aligned systems rooted in love. It is not enough to promote financial literacy in isolation. We must instead invest in a collective impact model that reimagines wealth building as an act of inclusion, infrastructure, and love.

At the heart of this model is a national ecosystem comprised of credit unions, fintech innovators, nonprofit partners, public-benefit corporations, and data-sharing collaborators. Working together, we pursue a singular goal: unlocking access to generational wealth for millions of people long excluded from the conversation. This is not charity or a handout. It is the work of justice.

Three Pillars

This framework rests on three pillars: assets, education, and data.

Asset Forward | Assets are not only financial tools but also instruments of hope. From a child’s first 529 savings plan to community-led scholarships, mutual aid workshops, and new bond initiatives for first-generation college students, each new asset is a declaration: You belong in the economy. We prioritize delivering tangible assets to individuals and families at the earliest stages of wealth building, opening doors to opportunity that compounds over time.

Financial Education | Financial education must meet people where they are. A blanket curriculum is not enough. Our approach connects tailored, life-stage financial education to asset programs, ensuring relevance and resonance for all. Like wealth, knowledge must be shared with purpose. Its teachers must connect with students by using a multipronged, multigenerational approach that is intersectional and holistic. Its tools must speak to different levels of comprehension and different languages, offering a full catalog to equip our neighbors to make informed decisions that position them for generational wealth.

This framework is the reckoning the financial system needs so that every newborn leaves the hospital with resources, each student has knowledge before graduation, and all adults benefit from access to tools while building the equality of opportunity the country’s founding documents proclaimed.

Data Enabled | To measure progress, we must see people clearly. Investments in data infrastructure and community insight tools, such as community-centered performance dashboards and local research partnerships, allow us to understand who we serve, how we serve them, and any gaps that emerge in the process. From Black and Latino entrepreneurs to rural small-business owners, families benefiting from baby bonds, and young people scaling their lemonade stands, data becomes a compass pointing us in the direction of inclusion and impact.

Our commitment extends beyond pillars and platforms, however. We learn—sometimes in uncomfortable ways—that transformation requires proximity and power. It requires listening, releasing control, and reshaping not just what we offer, but also how we offer it. Instead of measuring success only in balance sheets, we count the number of households that can envision and achieve a different future.

Wealth building is often portrayed as the solitary pursuit of chance rather than a dance between racism, nepotism, and classism. True financial freedom is collective. It happens when systems are remade with people and humanity in mind. It happens when institutions name love and radical care for the full human experience as strategic imperatives.

In our next chapter, we hold a bold question at the center of our work: What would it look like if every American, regardless of zip code, background, or inheritance, had a real shot at financial freedom? Our answer, still unfolding, is rooted in relationships, equity, and a deep belief that liberation is not a niche offering. It is the promise that animates our democracy, economy, and shared future. It is the pathway to thriving on which the future of our nation depends and on which legacies are built.

To fund liberation is to commit to the hard work of becoming trustworthy and transparent. It is to dismantle barriers and build bridges. It is to understand that wealth, when rooted in love, is not just a means but also a movement. The industry must ask: Are we funding liberation for all, or are we looting from the future for the gain of a few? We urge you to fund alongside us and others who demand better for all.

Read more stories by David Stiffler.