The Community Foundation is excited to continue our Leaders of the Future series, highlighting the work and experiences of incredible individuals and organizations from across our community of philanthropic, community, professional advisor, corporate, and nonprofit partners.
In honor of National Make a Will month, we’re pleased to feature Aimee Griffin, a member of our Professional Advisors Council and a valued member of our Prince George’s County Advisory Board.
For Aimee Griffin, Principal of Life & Legacy Counselors (formerly The Griffin Firm PLLC), estate planning is more than just part of her career – it’s part of her mission.
“Estate planning isn’t about the money,” Griffin explained. “It’s about deciding to care about the people we care about – whether we know them or not – preserving our legacy, especially for those who will come after us.”
“I Can’t Prosper if Others Can’t Prosper”
The daughter of two Civil Rights activists, Griffin’s passion for serving other people – specifically the Black community -- was instilled in her from an early age. Her parents both participated in the famous March on Washington and often took their daughter to community meetings in her hometown in Massachusetts.
Aimee Griffin’s parents at a Civil Rights March
“My parent’s life mantra was ‘I can’t prosper if others can’t prosper,” Griffin explained. “If God opens my eyes to fill a need and I am uniquely positioned, than I should do that.”
On one particular occasion, while working at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, overseeing Contracting and Procurement at the Department of Disability Services, Griffin became aware that the Black community wasn’t being given access to growth opportunities within her department.
“I realized that if I, as a woman who is conscious of this barrier, wasn’t able to help people overcome it and have access to opportunity, that meant that there was something systemically wrong.”
Building Black Legacy – From Entrepreneurship to Estate Planning
Griffin decided to take action. At age 40, Griffin enrolled in law school at Western New England University. She founded the New England Black Chamber of Commerce – which she led for seven years before moving to the DC area to serve as the General Counsel for the National Children’s Center. She also served as General Counsel and Incorporator for the US Black Chamber of Commerce.
Through her time at the Black Chamber of Commerce, Griffin enjoyed working closely with Black entrepreneurs and small businesses. She provided legal and business advice to help hundreds of businesses explore new opportunities for growth and development.
But amidst the success stories, Griffin also witnessed heartbreaking and powerful stories of entrepreneurs whose legacies were sadly cut short due to lack of resources, information, and expertise.
“I remember one small business I worked with lost everything when the owner passed away unexpectedly, without establishing an estate and succession plan for his business” Griffin recalled. “Whether he just didn’t know how or never really thought about it, it really opened my eyes to the importance of estate planning.”
Aimee Griffin with one of her estate planning clients
A short time later, Griffin attended the Heckerling Institute of Estate Planning – one of the country’s largest conferences for estate planning professionals. Out of more than 3,000 participants, Griffin said she was only one of a few dozen Black estate planners at the event.
“It was such an insightful conference, with awesome information,” Griffin recalled. “But it was also painfully clear that very little of it was going to find its way to my community.”
Tackling the Estate Planning Gap
Estate planning has long been a field that studies show few Americans give proper attention to. A 2021 poll by Gallup found that less than half of adults in US have a will – the essential documentation that provides the roadmap for estate planning.
Recent polls by Consumer Reports found that those numbers are even more striking for communities of color. Nationwide, just 23% of Black adults and 18% of Hispanic adults have wills. Griffin points out that this lack of planning plays a significant role in widening the racial and multi-generational wealth gap.
Members of the Association of Black Estate Planners post with President and CEO Tonia Wellons at The Community Foundation's 50th Anniversary Celebration.
“We have 400 years in which we have invested in the dominant culture’s wealth instead of investing communally in the Black community,” Griffin points out. “It’s a lack of capital; it’s a lack of opportunity; but it’s also about a lack of institutional knowledge – of helping people realize why this is important.”
In 2017, Griffin founded the Association of Black Estate Planning Professionals to empower generational wealth in Black families and communities. The group works with organizations nationwide to promote estate planning in Black communities including churches, veteran’s groups, and neighborhoods at-risk of gentrification.
“If you do something in estate planning, you can change the world,” Griffin shared. “It may not overcome the impact of institutional racism, but it’s an important step to shaping what our future and our children’s future will look like.”
Life & Legacy Counselors hosts a free weekly workshop on estate planning at Oxon Hill Library.
Griffin also founded her own law firm, Life & Legacy Counselors (formerly The Griffin Firm, PLLC) which primarily focuses on intergenerational wealth transfer through estate and succession planning.
Griffin explains that one of the most common misconceptions in estate planning, especially in Black and Brown communities, is the idea that estate planning is only necessary for those who are older or inherently wealthy.
“Estate planning isn’t about the money — It’s about setting goals about what we want to happen with our assets and how we want to do it.”
“Estate planning is for anybody who has somebody that loves them and that they love,” Griffin continued. “We do so much in our lives for those that we care for. Providing a clear and specific estate plan is the least we can do for them.”
Griffin explained how the lack of a clear estate plan often causes unrest in families, leading to lawsuits and discord among surviving members. Defaulting to the legal system doesn’t help, as it prioritizes expediency over the well-being of family members.
“It’s not about today; it’s about tomorrow,” Griffin said. “If we can preserve that which we have through estate planning, we can build a better future for our posterity.”
The Community Foundation is proud to partner with estate planners and professional advisors like Aimee to promote estate planning and help clients fulfill their philanthropic legacies. For more information on how to partner with The Community Foundation, contact our Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Tiffanie Purvis at [email protected].