The Global Assets Project was created out of shared vision of a world in which millions of poor women, men, and children in developing and developed nations permanently escape poverty and achieve financial security across generations. Its mission is to advance public policies that build savings and assets for poor, low- and moderate-income persons, tackling poverty and financial exclusion, around the world. The Project also aims to serve as a bridge across the key elements of microfinance, financial education, social policy, and commercial financial services. The Global Assets Project will work to inform and stimulate innovations to achieve this integration.

With support from the Levi Strauss Foundation, the Global Assets Project was launched in 2006 as a joint effort of the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis and the Asset Building Program of the New America Foundation (NAF) in Washington, D.C.