Our Philosophy

Giving is Justice

What does ‘Giving is Justice’ mean"?

Giving is Justice means giving is more than generosity—it’s responsibility. It is how we live out our duty to one another and how we strengthen the bonds that hold a community together. When giving is done with humility and care, it becomes a reciprocal exchange that helps both the giver and the receiver.

What we believe:

  • Hope is practical: we focus on next steps that make progress real

  • Dignity is non-negotiable: support should never create shame

  • Respect is mutual: we honor both the giver’s limits and the receiver’s humanity

  • Community matters: people grow faster with belonging

  • Humility is essential: the people closest to the work hold essential wisdom

  • Accountability is care: agreements keep support respectful and sustainable

  • We don’t moralize hardship: struggle is not a character flaw

  • Limits are loving: boundaries keep giving healthy and sustainable

  • We measure what matters: we value real outcomes over perfect stories

We hold these beliefs because we’ve seen what happens when support is offered with dignity, clarity and humility. We want our giving to strengthen—not to shame, complicate or control. That means we show up as partners, set clear expectations and follow through consistently. We believe people change faster when they have belonging and practical tools for real life. Resources carry responsibility, so we give with care so trust can grow and momentum can last.

“It is indeed worthy of great praise, when man treats man with kindness…Nature produced us related to one another…She engendered in us mutual affection, and made us prone to friendships.  She established fairness and JUSTICE.  According to her ruling, it is more wretched to commit than to suffer injury.  Through her orders, let our hands be ready for all that needs to be helped.” –Seneca

Beloved Community

Community as a way of life

Giving is all in service of the Beloved Community.  We draw from the incomparable Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to understand the fullness of Beloved Community.

“The Beloved Community” is a term that was first coined in the early days of the 20th Century by the philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, who founded the Fellowship of Reconciliation. However, it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., also a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who popularized the term and invested it with a deeper meaning which has captured the imagination of people of goodwill all over the world.

“For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was not a lofty utopian goal to be confused with the rapturous image of the Peaceable Kingdom, in which lions and lambs coexist in idyllic harmony. Rather, The Beloved Community was for him a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence.”

-The King Center

www.thekingcenter.org

For The Martin Foundation, Beloved Community is not an ideal—it’s a way of living with one another. It’s what forms when people and organizations meet hardship with shared responsibility, wise partnership, and the steady work of showing up. We support individuals and families when a hard season threatens stability, and we invest in nonprofit partners whose daily work makes strength possible in neighborhoods and homes. We aim to give in ways that are practical, dignifying, and built for real life—support that helps people regain footing and helps organizations stay focused on what they do best. We will sometimes miss the mark, but we will keep pursuing this Beloved Community with partners of goodwill, because the work and the people are worth it.

“There is not a man who, when he has benefited his neighbor, has not benefited himself.”

— Seneca