The SIFMA Foundation provides acclaimed and proven education programs that increase individuals’ understanding of and access to the benefits of the global marketplace. The organization prepares young people academically and experientially for college and careers and equips them to plan, save and finance their dreams, from education to their first home, to retirement. The Foundation’s high-tech educational resources immerse young people (and their teachers) in the global economy as problem solvers and decision makers and connect them to business, government, nonprofit and education leaders.
Since the 1977 launch of its flagship investor education program, The Stock Market Game™, the SIFMA Foundation has engaged 17 million students grades 4-12 in learning about the capital markets. The eager adoption of The Stock Market Game program in schools across the country seeded the Foundation’s development of additional investor education opportunities like the InvestWrite® national essay challenge, the invitational Capitol Hill Challenge™ national portfolio competition matching schools to congressional leaders, and the Invest It Forward® volunteer initiative, which connects financial industry volunteers with local classrooms to provide first-hand industry and career insights and lessons on the capital markets.
WHAT WE OFFER
- The Stock Market Game™ Program
For 40 years, our Stock Market Game program has been introducing students in grades 4-12 to investing and the financial markets. For many students, The Stock Market Game is the first time they have responsibility for managing their money and making investments – It’s the first time for many teachers too! In The Stock Market Game, students are given a hypothetical $100,000 to build an investment portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. As they do this, they apply a variety of content knowledge, including ELA and math, and practice essential academic and life skills. The Stock Market Game prepares grade 4-12 students for college, careers, and financially independent lives through hands-on activities and firsthand experiences of the financial markets. More than 600,000 students across all 50 states and around the world take part every school year with support from hundreds of financial firms, corporate and private foundations, and individuals. Visit www.stockmarketgame.org for more information or register for our April 16 or our summer sessions to experience The Stock Market Game firsthand. - InvestWrite®
Now in its 15th year, the InvestWrite national essay competition gives students in The Stock Market Game program an opportunity to win great prizes and enables teachers to assess their students’ learning through writing. InvestWrite features three competitive divisions organized by grade level. Students on each level are challenged to evaluate a real-world investment scenario, analyze its causes and opportunities, and propose a solution. This spring students are being asked what makes a company a great place to work, what company they’d like to work for and how they would advise the company’s investment manager. They are expected to conduct research, evaluate data, and share their thoughts in an engaging essay that will be judged by thousands of financial industry professionals and educators. Local and national prizes are awarded to the best essays each semester –including a trip to New York City’s historic financial district. Since it debuted, more than 200,000 students have submitted essays. This spring’s competition is generously underwritten by Wells Fargo for the SIFMA Foundation. The deadline for submitting essays is April 11, 2018. Visit www.investwrite.org for more information. - Capitol Hill Challenge™
The Capitol Hill Challenge is also celebrating its 15th Anniversary this year! The Capitol Hill Challenge is a national invitation-only portfolio competition that matches Stock Market Game schools with their Members of Congress. Just like in their local Stock Market Game, teams invest a hypothetical $100,000 in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds with the goal of building a successful investment portfolio. They are challenged to actively manage their portfolio over the course of 14 weeks, balancing and rebalancing their investments for maximum performance. The top-performing high school and middle school teams earn a trip to Washington, DC to meet their Members of Congress, tour financial landmarks, and learn first-hand about financial policymaking. Since its inception in 2004, more than 103,000 students across the country have been invited to participate in the Capitol Hill Challenge. This semester’s Capitol Hill Challenge is presented by the Charles Schwab Foundation. For additional information visit https://www.stockmarketgame.org/capitol-hill-challenge.html - Invest It Forward™
Our newest program, Invest It Forward, connects financial industry professionals with Stock Market Game teachers to bring the curriculum to life through their firsthand experience in the financial industry. Lessons and activities specifically created for Invest It Forward and developed in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ensure productive and engaging discussions between financial industry volunteers and Stock Market Game students. Invest It Forward is an industry-wide initiative encompassing hundreds of financial firms that are committed to giving young people a solid understanding of the capital markets and the tools to achieve their dreams. Since it began four years ago, more than 85,000 industry professionals have volunteered. For more information visit https://investitforward.sifma.org/
WHAT WE NEED
Please join us in our mission to foster an understanding of the financial markets for individuals of all backgrounds.
Teachers:
- Submit your students’ essays to our InvestWrite national essay competition. Visit www.investwrite.org for rules and submission deadlines. This spring’s deadline is April 11, 2018. For complete information visit: www.investwrite.org.
- Submit a request for a financial professional to visit your classroom or connect with one online via video chat or email. Additional information is available at https://investitforward.sifma.org/
- Visit www.stockmarketgame.org and register your students in our April 16 session. The session runs until June 8. You can enter anytime during this period.
- Share our information with your students’ parents. Ask them to consider registering their family in our Summer session.
Financial Professionals:
- Judge our InvestWrite essay contest. The process occurs entirely online and was designed to be time-effective and rewarding.
- Register to be an Invest It Forward volunteer and share your industry knowledge with our eager students. Sign up at https://investitforward.sifma.org/
- Share our information with your colleagues, family, or friends with school-age children. Ask them to consider registering for our April 16 session or our Summer session that begins June 18. They may join any time during the session period. The April 16 session runs until June 8 and the summer June 18 runs until August 10.
WHAT’S NEW
- Submit An InvestWrite Essay
Each semester InvestWrite challenges students to persuasively respond to thought-provoking questions firmly rooted in real-world investing situations. This semester’s question asks students to consider what makes a company great, what company they would want to work for and how that company can invest its financial resources to stay great. This semester’s InvestWrite essay competition is generously underwritten by Wells Fargo for the SIFMA Foundation.Visit www.investwrite.org for more information and submission instructions. The submission deadline is April 11, 2018. - Register For Our April 16 Stock Market Game Session
This Financial Literacy Month we’ll be offering teachers an opportunity to try our Stock Market Game program with their students. A special enrichment session has been created, starting April 16 and ending June 8. This is an opportunity for you to try our flagship financial education program with your students to determine how you can use it in the fall. Visit www.stockmarketgame.org to register today! - Register For Our June 18 Summer Stock Market Game
You can prevent the summer learning slide by registering your students for our summer Stock Market Game. It runs from June 18 through August 10. The Stock Market Game is an interdisciplinary activity. Asking your students to evaluate their holdings once a week may exercise their math, ELA, and critical thinking skills enough to keep them in shape when school begins again in the fall. Visit www.stockmarketgame.org to register today! - Special StockTalk Newsletter Editions
This Financial Literacy Month we will be publishing special updated editions of our out-of-print StockTalk newsletter. The StockTalk newsletter was created to provide elementary school Stock Market Game students with an understanding of fundamental market concepts through engaging creative narratives. Topics include explaining stock ownership, the purpose of ticker symbols, and when stock prices were expressed as fractions. These newsletters will only be available to Stock Market Game teachers, so register today to access these issues and more. Register at www.stockmarketgame.org. - Invest It Forward
If you are a teacher, request a financial industry volunteer for your classroom. If you are a financial industry professional register as a volunteer to visit a classroom learning about investing, the capital markets, and the financial industry. In both instances, students benefit from first-person accounts of the material they’ve been studying as they play The Stock Market Game. To get the process started visit https://investitforward.sifma.org/
CLEARINGHOUSE RESOURCES
SPREAD THE WORD
Like and follow our social media pages for the newest announcements about our programs. Share your Stock Market Game, InvestWrite, Invest It Forward, and Capitol Hill Challenge moments with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Google+
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sifmaFoundation/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sifmafoundation/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/sifmafoundation
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/110729834042312553884
Be sure to use to tag @sifmafoundation or use our program hashtags: #stockmarketgame, #investwrite, #capitolhillchallenge, #investitforward so we can engage with you.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Vincent Young
212-313-1296
vyoung@sifma.org
