The Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund is a non-profit organization led by a group of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Maine. The purpose of the Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund is to alleviate economic inequality and hardships in the UMaine community by supporting networks, acts, and norms of mutual aid and community care. Our goals are:

To establish a fund where members of the UMaine community can place any disposable dollars or money they do not feel they need, in order to make that money accessible when community members do feel they need it.
To practice community care by using this fund to facilitate mutual aid.
To use the presence and impact of the fund to assist in modeling norms of mutual aid and community care.

Here is a space for community members to donate their disposable dollars or money for redistribution to community members in need of financial assistance. Through mutual aid, we emphasize solidarity in community. Donating funds is not a hierarchical position of power-over, but rather an expression of care and solidarity for our fellow community members who we stand with through the ups and downs of life.