ICIEF Awards Additional Metro DC Investor Education Grants

Washington, DC, April 8, 2010 - The Investment Company Institute Education Foundation (ICIEF) has announced two additional grants to advance investor education within the greater metropolitan Washington, DC area. The grant program was launched last fall with the first set of three grants.

“We are pleased to be pursuing this program at such a crucial time in our country’s economic history, when the need for investor education has never been more apparent or widespread,” said ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens. “Our objective is to identify, inspire, or replicate best practices in investor education that build knowledge and create confidence, starting in the national capital region.”

The two new grants have been awarded to:

• UNCF (the United Negro College Fund). UNCF’s Financial Scholars program, a partnership with EverFi, Inc., provides personal finance education to thousands of young adults in high schools across the country and on the campuses of historically black colleges and universities. The ICIEF $25,000 grant will support the development of a Financial Scholars Program in five Prince George’s County, MD high schools. Each participating student will take part in a rigorous personal finance e-learning program, which measures, assesses, and certifies students in core concepts of saving and investing.
• SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education. SIFMA Foundation’s online Stock Market Game Program has introduced more than 12 million students to investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds since its inception in 1977. The ICIEF grant of $25,000 will underwrite two professional development days for Washington, DC area school teachers. This in-service training will include a personal finance component as well as instruction on how to implement the Stock Market Game Program in the classroom. An independent study funded by the FINRA Foundation and released last year found that students using this program significantly improved their financial literacy scores.

The first three grants were awarded in Fall 2009 to STRIVE DC, the Arlington County Office of Virginia Cooperative Extension, and Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area.

ICIEF is soliciting additional grant applications from schools and other nonprofit organizations which are looking to add investor education to existing financial education courses, programs, or activities within the Washington, DC area. Applications are accepted continuously and reviewed quarterly; upcoming quarterly deadlines are June 30, 2010 and September 30, 2010. For more information about ICIEF and the investor education grant program, including eligibility requirements, please see www.icief.org.

ICIEF is the educational affiliate of the Investment Company Institute, the national association of U.S. investment companies, including mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and unit investment trusts (UITs). Founded in 1989, ICIEF has partnered with schools, nonprofits, and government agencies to develop, deliver, and promote investment education programs to underserved Americans.