NASD Investor Education Foundation Fact Sheet
(Archived Press Kit Material from 2006 Campaign Launch) The NASD Investor Education Foundation's mission is to provide investors with high quality, easily accessible information and tools to better understand the markets and the basic principles of saving and investing. The Foundation was established by NASD in December 2003 in response to both the current environment in the markets and a survey conducted by NASD that showed that investors still have a number of fundamental questions and misunderstandings about important investment issues. Grantmaking
Through its grantmaking, the Foundation funds programs that provide information and resources to audiences typically underserved by financial education programs. More than $3.7 million dollars has been awarded to organizations for educational programs and research projects that reach out to, among others, minorities, young investors, Native American communities and the elderly.
Research grants offer experts a chance to provide insight into how investors make decisions, what information they need to make better-informed decisions and how to create better learning environments. Recent grants include:
- University of Connecticut is conducting experiments that manipulate the visual display of Web-based disclosure information to determine investor preferences, and the effect on comprehension and retention of disclosure information.
- Princeton University is examining psychological biases that play a role in poor investment decisions and developing and testing a set of interventions to promote wise investing by mitigating these biases.
Grants awarded to educational projects aim to create and expand investment resources for populations most in need. Recent educational grants include:
- Collaborating with the University of Florida, Kansas State University, and the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee will develop a workplace investor education program for young adult workers in Florida, Kansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
- WISE Senior Services of Santa Monica, in collaboration with AARP, is examining the susceptibility of the elderly to fraudulent investment solicitations.
- As part of its successful Building Native Communities financial education series, First Nations is producing an educational curriculum called Investment Skills for Families and training an initial pool of Native Americans to deliver the new material.
In addition, the Foundation is launching multi-faceted programs and public awareness activities to educate members of the military and their families about financial preparedness as it relates to saving and investing.
For more information on the NASD Investor Education Foundation visit www.nasdfoundation.org.
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