NEW YORK — Five sports stars gathered here this week for Mission Product Holdings’ launch of The M Foundation, a nonprofit organization to promote healthy athletic performance and recognize charitable achievements of young athletes.

Mission is the company behind Mission Skincare, which is billed as the first athlete-engineered skin care line.

"I’m very excited with the launch of The M Foundation. It’s our opportunity to make an even bigger impact on young athletes today, and future generations of athletes in years to come," Mission president and founder Josh Shaw said at the launch event on Monday. "With the support of our co-founders, like Serena Williams, David Wright and Mia Hamm, and our strategic retail partners, like CVS/pharmacy and Duane Reade, we will impact hundreds of thousands of athletes all over the United States — not just with great product innovations, but now with research, awareness and recognition programs. ‘Get Your Mission On’ has a whole new dimension now."

Wright and Williams attended the launch along with mixed martial arts champion ­Georges St-Pierre, former pro basketball star Alonzo Mourning, and softball gold medalist and Women’s Sports Foundation president Jessica Mendoza.

With the foundation’s launch, Mission is striving to raise the bar for socially conscious companies. The beneficiary of Mission’s "blended value" enterprise, the organization fulfills the social impact objective of the brand with the endorsement of athletes including Steve Nash, Billie Jean King, Amanda Beard, Sergio Garcia and Gretchen Bleiler.

At the core of the foundation are athletes "on a mission" to educate and inspire America’s youth.

"It’s an honor to be part of this groundbreaking cause," states King. "We are excited to inspire the next generation of athlete role models, and The M Foundation is set up to do just that."

Mission is committing $1 million of initial funding to help meet the organization’s two main objectives: educate young athletes about healthy performance and inspire them to conduct charitable work. On an ongoing basis, the company will be contributing 10% of its operating profit to help fund the foundation and, for the launch, Mission’s co-founders agreed to donate 100% of the profit from sales at Missionskincare.com for 60 days.

On the research and awareness front, the foundation will fund surveys, studies and research to better understand health risks affecting young athletes, and how to address them. The research will be overseen by sports dermatologist Brian Adams, and it will cover a wide variety of concerns ranging from propensity of melanoma in outdoor athletes to staph and related infections due to locker room and hygiene habits.

The foundation will also identify and reward young athletes who embody the core values of the Mission Athletes through community service. The first M Awards will go to high-school varsity athletes.