The USMMA Alumni Association and Foundation shall exist to serve, assist, and perpetuate the USMMA at Kings Point, New York, its Regiment of Midshipmen, faculty, staff, and alumni. It shall support the USMMA's mission of educating and graduating Merchant Marine Officers who will become leaders in the commercial and defense transportation services of the United States. The USMMA Alumni Association and Foundation shall provide financial support for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes by raising and distributing funds, some of which will be maintained in an endowment. The USMMA Alumni Association and Foundation shall also foster and encourage the development of the Academy to meet the future transportation needs of the United States, and shall enhance the prestige thereof by acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of information pertaining to their history, activities, methods, and objectives.