Our Values
Lumina Foundation's mission—expanding access and success in postsecondary education—is based on a passionate belief that an education beyond high school is the best investment that individuals can make in themselves and that a society can make in its people. We believe that access to education is key to individual opportunity, economic vitality and the social stability of our democracy, and we place special emphasis on helping those who have been traditionally underserved by postsecondary education.
While our focus is domestic, our vision is borne of global awareness. The drive to increase dramatically the number and diversity of college graduates affects our values and the ways in which we conduct ourselves and our work, as follows:
Integrity
- As stewards of the public assets we hold in trust, we hold ourselves accountable to each other and the public; we disclose relevant information forthrightly.
- As a nonprofit, private foundation, we subscribe to the requirements and acknowledge the privileges that accompany our legal status.
- We strive to achieve effectiveness and impact while also operating efficiently.
- We value our employees and our external stakeholders; this belief drives our desire to build productive relationships, develop capacity, and demonstrate civility when we engage in constructive disagreement.
Collaboration
- We operate cooperatively (across skills and disciplines) to accomplish our work.
- We welcome the open exchange of diverse ideas, both internally and externally, to develop creative, well-informed approaches to our work.
- We trust in the value of colleagues and partners who work together on shared objectives that are too large for any party to accomplish alone.
- We understand that the work is carried out by grantees and partners; we remain humble about our role to ensure the best interests of the work.
Excellence
- We believe that, to achieve excellent results, we must expect high-quality work from ourselves and others.
- Our drive to be results oriented in fostering change is tempered by patience and persistence in pursuing solutions to complex, long-term problems.
- To achieve excellent impact, we commit to continuous learning, research, evaluation and communication of knowledge.
