Celebrating Three Years of Investing, Giving, Educating, and Growing: The Hoperation Fund Story
Updated: May 26
Three years ago, on May 18, 2023, the Hoperation Fund began with a simple but ambitious idea: to empower students with financial literacy and investing skills while creating positive social impact through charitable giving. What started as a small student-led charitable investment fund has since grown into a vibrant and mission-driven community.
Over the past three years, the Hoperation Fund has experienced amazing growth in both scale and impact. What began with just $880 in initial capital has grown into a portfolio managing more than $30,000, excluding capital already donated to nonprofits. During the same period, our investment portfolio achieved a time-weighted compound annualized return of 33.4%, significantly outperforming the 22.5% compound annualized return of the S&P 500 Index. Guided by our commitment to responsible giving, we continue to dedicate 80% of annual investment profits to charitable donations while reinvesting the remaining 20% to sustain future growth and impact.
Our community has grown just as meaningfully. From fewer than 10 founding members, the Hoperation Fund has expanded to 152 members today, representing 24 U.S. states and 4 other countries. Our members include 104 students and 48 adults. Our leadership structure has also grown from a solo president to a team of 6 vice presidents, 3 market briefing leads, and 4 advisors, making the organization more active, organized, and impactful.
Beyond growth in numbers, the Hoperation Fund has remained deeply committed to education. Since our founding, we have delivered more than 100 educational lectures, workshops, study sessions, and guest talks covering topics such as investing, financial literacy, portfolio management, artificial intelligence, and quantitative finance. Through both online and in-person programs, our educational activities have reached more than 3,000 students and adults, helping bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world financial knowledge.
At the same time, fundraising and charitable giving have always remained at the center of our mission. Over the past three years, we have organized 6 major fundraising events, including financial courses and STEM tutoring programs, public reading clubs, and sales of books, bookmarks, and gifts. All proceeds were used to support charitable causes.
Through fundraising activities and investment profits, the Hoperation Fund has supported 13 nonprofit organizations focused on education in underserved regions, children’s and women’s welfare, environmental conservation, animal protection, nonprofit student organizations, and other meaningful causes. In particular, the Hoperation Fund made a donation to Libuton Elementary School in the Philippines to support the construction of a new, high-quality concrete wall after the school’s old fence was damaged by flooding. This project helped improve campus protection and student safety during a time of urgent need.
Perhaps most importantly, the Hoperation Fund has grown into far more than an investment club. It has become a student-led community where members learn together, exchange ideas, build friendships, and discover how finance, technology, and service can come together to create meaningful change.
Looking back over the past three years, we are deeply grateful for every member, family, advisor, guest speaker, donor, and supporter who has been part of this journey. Every contribution, whether through time, knowledge, encouragement, or financial support, has helped shape the Hoperation Fund into what it is today.
While we are proud of what we have achieved together over the past three years, we believe this is only the beginning. The next chapter of the Hoperation Fund is still being written, and we look forward to continuing our mission of investing, giving, educating, and growing together.
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