Founded in 1967, the organization's mission is to educate students and young adults about leadership, the principles of limited government, and free-market economics.

Concerned about an eroding confidence in the American system of government, Edison recruited Walter H. Judd, David R. Jones, Marvin Liebman, and William F. Buckley Jr. to build a program that would educate college students about American government, politics, and economics.

To honor him and carry on his mission, the organization was renamed the Charles Edison Memorial Youth Fund.

In the summer of 1970, the Edison Fund organized the inaugural Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems.

[4] In 1993, The Fund for American Studies established overseas institutes in countries such as Prague, Chile, and Hong Kong.