Philanthropy and volunteerism
Financial well-being for everyone
We envision a future where every person—regardless of background or income—can use investing as a bridge to build lasting wealth and financial freedom. Our philanthropic work focuses on expanding access to the knowledge, tools, and opportunities that help people move toward that future.
Foundations & Futures: Expanding pathways to financial well-being
Foundations & Futures brings together Vanguard’sfinancial education programs, philanthropy, crew volunteerism, and expertise to advance financial well-being in our communities. Building financial well-being takes time. It requires consistency, discipline, and a focus on lasting outcomes—the same principles that guide our approach to investing and shape how we think about creating impact in our communities.
Through Foundations & Futures, we partner with organizations that help people:
- Build the knowledge, confidence, and readiness to participate in the financial system.
- Access more pathways into investing.
- Accumulate and sustain wealth over time.
Video transcript:
Salim Ramji, Vanguard CEO: At Vanguard, our mission has always been clear, to give all investors the best chance for investment success.
So when we think about how we show up in our communities, we start with the same goal.
We're excited to launch the next chapter of our community stewardship work aimed at helping more people get the knowledge, confidence, and access they need to achieve greater financial well-being.
Our new flagship program called Foundations and Futures will expand the work we've been championing for a decade through targeted grant making and philanthropy, community centered partnerships, crew volunteerism, and other efforts to help underserved communities build long term wealth.
Aldustus (AJ) Jordan, Vanguard Head of Community Stewardship: Financial well-being matters and it should matter to everyone. It's about creating opportunities for, pathways to financial freedom, pathways to economic mobility, particularly for those who have come from communities that may not have had access to wealth building opportunities.
Rashanda Perryman, Vanguard Senior Manager, Philanthropy and Community Stewardship: Financial well-being is freedom. It's the ability to chart the path that you want for your life and build out the hope that you want for your family and your community.
What if everyone, right, like not just, you know, those of us who can afford to have financial advisors or those of us who grew up in houses where we had some financial learning or acumen, but all of us were able to hope for tomorrow, to plan for what's next in our lives, and take care of ourselves today. That really changes our community, it changes our country, and it really puts us on a totally different trajectory.
Aldustus (AJ) Jordan, Vanguard Head of Community Stewardship: Financial well-being and the approach that we're taking as we think about this work over the next decade for Vanguard, the most exciting thing, the most inspiring thing is it will have a transformative impact in the lives of of kids and young people and families. To collectively create, new pathways and opportunities and partnerships that will lead to ensuring that a young person today, regardless of zip code, regardless of background, regardless of personal circumstance, has the resources and support to meet their high aspirations to achieve big things and ultimately to become an investor and create long term wealth building opportunities for communities for many, years to come.
Financial readiness programs that bring learning to life
My Classroom Investor enables high school students to explore how investing works in a safe, practical environment. The program is unique in its approach because it rewards responsible decision-making over quick returns, helping students develop long-term thinking and stronger financial habits through and engaging simulation.
My Classroom Economy turns the classroom into a real-world learning environment for financial literacy. Through everyday scenarios, students learn how to earn, save, spend, and budget—seeing firsthand how their decisions shape outcomes.
Since its introduction in 2011, My Classroom Economy has reached 1.3 million students across the United States and is now available globally.
Crew's passion to serve
Vanguard supports causes and nonprofit organizations worldwide that are meaningful to our crew. We extend this support though a host of individual philanthropic and volunteer programs, including an annual Vanguard Community 365 workplace giving campaign, year-round volunteer time off, a generous matching gift program, and Dollars for Doers, which enables crew to direct mini-grants to nonprofits where they volunteer.
Stewarding generosity
Vanguard strategically designs global programs and effectively deploys our crew’s time, talent, and treasure to strengthen communities.
$94M
in early childhood development grants has been committed by Vanguard’s Strong Start for Kids program over nearly 10 years
73%
of Vanguard crew in 12 countries participated in a community program in 2025
113K+
hours of global volunteer service by crew in 2025
1.3M
children have been served through our financial literacy program for children, My Classroom Economy, since inception