The National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) is the only private, nonprofit, national foundation wholly dedicated to improving the financial well-being of all Americans.
Vision
A world where people make informed, thoughtful and beneficial financial decisions that are aligned with their values.
Mission
NEFE inspires empowered financial decision making for individuals and families through every stage of life.
Guiding Principles
NEFE’s guiding principles are stated in eight initiatives.
These initiatives:
- Describe how NEFE achieves its mission, and
- Outline the goals and standards that guide the foundation’s activities.
Every project or program undertaken by NEFE must fit within the scope of at least one initiative.
NEFE accomplishes its mission primarily by partnering with other organizations to:
- Provide practical, reliable, and unbiased financial education to members of the public.
- Accomplish research in the field of financial literacy education.
- Create demand for financial education.
NEFE’s activities place special emphasis on those who face financial challenges that are not being addressed by others. Among our target audiences are:
- Youth,
- Low-income individuals and families, and
- People in difficult or unusual life circumstances.
NEFE’s partnerships and the foundation’s own efforts result in a wide range of free and low-cost activities and materials, including:
New activities are covered in each issue of the foundation’s newsletter, NEFE Digest, and in the New at NEFE section.
Organizational Structure
The National Endowment for Financial Education is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees and led by president and CEO Ted Beck. A staff of fewer than 25 individuals guides NEFE’s public-service work at its headquarters in Denver, Colorado. To learn more, visit the History section of this website.
NEFE organizes its activities into four action areas, which flow from the foundation’s mission and initiatives.
NEFE defines its action areas as:
- Education Programs. Although not restricted to a particular age group, the Education Programs area has been oriented primarily to providing financial planning information to youth, including NEFE’s longest-standing public service effort, the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP).
- Strategic Programs and Alliances. This action area works to help Americans improve the quality of their lives through financial education provided in cooperation with other nonprofit organizations and foundations, and occasional corporate sponsors.
- Multimedia Access. This action area represents NEFE’s commitment to sharing its expertise in financial planning education with all those who might benefit from it, including consumers, educators, and the media.
- Innovative Thinking. The goal of this action area is to inspire creative ideas and new perspectives on personal finance, to communicate them broadly, and to assist in their actualization where appropriate. This action area supports fellowships programs, grantmaking, and research and strategic activities.