Aixa Beauchamp’s idea of philanthropy is creating opportunities for others. To Beauchamp, this means that every child should have a quality education and an equal opportunity for success.

She kept this philosophy at heart as she developed her professional career of more than 20 years in philanthropy, beginning as a program officer at the New York Community Trust, and later developing a thriving philanthropic consultant business.

Most recently, Beauchamp became a proud co-founder of the Boston Foundation’s Latino Legacy Fund, the first Latino-focused fund in the Greater Boston area. With the Latino Legacy Fund, she said that she aims to use a permanent endowment to strengthen and advance the socio-economic status and leadership capacity of the Latino community in Boston, and to contribute to the region’s civic vitality.

Beauchamp believes that strategic, organized Latino philanthropy can make a difference in creating, “new philanthropic resources, and new ways to tackle complex problems in our communities.”

As a consultant, Beauchamp has facilitated dialogues to advance funder relations in diverse communities, and promoted sustained, strategic philanthropy among African American, Latino, and Asian American donors. She has worked with groups such as the Association of Community Trusts, the Coalition for New Philanthropy, the Rockefeller Foundation, Puerto Rico Community Foundation, the Barr Foundation, the Hispanic Federation, and Hispanics in Philanthropy.

Additionally, Beauchamp sits on the grantmaking committee of The Hestia Fund, and on the boards of The Philanthropy Connections, Board of Overseers at Children’s Hospital, and The BASE, a transformational program for inner city youth.

She first learned the value of strategic investment in the community from her father. A native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, she and her family did not have much, but her father, she recalled, would give his last dime to relatives and neighbors so their kids could buy books and supplies for school.

“He did this because he believed strongly that education leveled the playing field, and decided that was the investment he was going to make in his neighborhood,” she said.

Beauchamp firmly believes that, although there is a, “complexity of issues that are affecting our community,” we also have the, “ability to create the next generation of leaders.

“That’s why we need to invest in our community,” she added.