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FINRA Investor Education Foundation
WHAT
WE DO: 
The FINRA Investor Education Foundation (www.finrafoundation.org) helps Americans invest carefully, avoid fraud and achieve their financial goals throughout life. FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Foundation's parent organization, is the world's largest non-governmental securities regulator. The Foundation, established in 2003, supports innovative research and educational projects aimed at segments of the investing public that could benefit from additional resources. Our goal is to reach more and more investors each year, educate them on their own terms and in the most effective ways, and protect them in a world that is complex and dynamic.
WHAT WE OFFER:
Our grants allow researchers to explore investor behavior and develop practical ways to help Americans make good financial decisions. Grant funding also helps not-for-profit organizations ensure that reliable financial and investor education is available to all who need it, when they need it—at the workplace, online 24/7, or wherever it works best.
Grantmaking is only part of the Foundation’s core activity. Through direct programming, the Foundation educates and protects specific segments of the investor community. One of the directed programs helps older Americans detect and avoid fraud by understanding and countering persuasion tactics that may lead to financial losses. The Foundation, with state and other partners across the country, raises awareness of the common persuasion tactics that investment fraudsters employ and of the resources available that can help seniors outsmart them. A separate initiative is based on the belief that the financial well-being of the military and their families is a national imperative. To that end, the Foundation reaches members of the armed forces wherever they may serve around the world to educate them on financial matters. For more details on these initiatives visit SaveAndInvest.org.
WHAT WE NEED:
We seek to reach new audiences, especially those long underserved by the financial community. The Foundation welcomes proposals for innovative research and educational projects that give investors the tools and information they need to understand better the markets and the basic principles of saving and investing. We also look for opportunities to partner with entities that share our vision to protect investors by educating Americans to make sound investment decisions.
WHAT’S NEW:
Generation Money: Financial Literacy for Teens is a project developed in partnership with Channel One and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) to reach more than 10 million students in nearly 12,000 secondary schools across the country. Generation Money uses an integrated multimedia approach to help secondary school students understand the power of compound interest and other key financial literacy concepts.
Broadcast news segments, PSAs, on demand video, and Web-based activities are all used to reach the target audience. Instructional materials are also provided for teachers and parents.
Three news segments underwritten by the Foundation cover credit reports and credit ratings, financing a college education, and making wise money choices to keep a budget for the school prom. Others segments explain economic and personal finance topics such as economic indicators, the GDP, the national debt, and mortgages and foreclosures.
Several video features tied to current news topics pertinent to students’ lives and the themes of the program are available on demand. Current offerings include pending changes to Pell Grants, the federal guaranteed student loan program, a pop quiz on the national debt, and a story on teen investors.
Among the educational materials developed for use in classrooms is an instructional poster that presents a visual representation of interest compounding. The first of two animated PSAs created for the program is tied to the instructional poster. The PSA compares the financial fate of a pair of twins – Tyler, a saver and Taylor, a spender - showing how saving and spending behaviors have major consequences over the long term. In the second PSA, Taylor and Tyler are recently matriculated at State University and learn the ins and outs of credit and debt management.
The Generation Money Web site, http://www.channelone.com/generationmoney, also offers numerous features related to compound interest and its implications for saving and credit. A tutorial on the Rule of 72, a smart money sweepstakes with laptop prizes, savings calculators, a credit card simulator, financial knowledge quizzes, and information on basic financial literacy concepts are available to students to help them learn in an entertaining fashion.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Robert Ganem
FINRA Investor Education Foundation
1735 K Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006-1506
Phone: (202) 728-8362
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