One of the meanings of the noun ため is “objective” or “purpose”.

学費がくひため貯金ちょきん
Savings for school fees.

Literally: “Savings for the purpose of school fees”.

将来しょうらいのための計画けいかく
A plan for the future.

Often the hiragana will be used instead of the kanji.

当社とうしゃ留学生りゅうがくせいのための奨学金しょうがくきん提供ていきょうしています。
Our company provides scholarships for foreign students.

We can link it to a verb with に.

家族かぞくのために努力どりょくします。
Try hard for your family.

ため can be added to the dictionary form of the verb with に to indicate that the preceding clause is “towards the purpose of” the following clause. This structure translates to English as “in order to”.

節約せつやくするために自炊じすいします。
Cook for yourself to save money.
飛行機ひこうき定刻ていこく到着とうちゃくするかどうか確認かくにんするために空港くうこう電話でんわする。
Call the airport to check whether or not the flight will arrive as scheduled.
第一志望だいいちしぼう大学だいがくはいために一生懸命いっしょうけんめい勉強べんきょうした。
I studied like never before in order to get into my first-choice university.
銀行口座ぎんこうこうざひらためには、印鑑いんかん必要ひつようです。
In order to open up a bank account a personal seal is required.

Note the use of the topic particle to make “for the purpose of opening a bank account” the topic of the sentence. Without it the topic of the sentence would default to you and a faithful translation might be.

銀行口座ぎんこうこうざひらために印鑑いんかん必要ひつようです。
In order to open up a bank account you will require a personal seal.

When used with the adverbial noun 必要 then ため is often omitted.

銀行口座ぎんこうこうざひらくには印鑑いんかん必要ひつようです。
In order to open up a bank account a personal seal is required.
学校がっこうてるためにかね寄付きふする。
Donate money to build a school.
卒業旅行そつぎょうりょこうのために、バイトをさがす。
Search for a part-time job for your graduation holiday.

Used with the negative, past, past negative tense or with adjectives it becomes a more formal way of giving a reason for a current state. In this respect, it is close to “due to” in English. Very often the target particle is omitted in this case.

事故じこ発生はっせいしたため電車でんしゃが1時間じかん往生おうじょうしました。
The train was at a standstill for an hour due to an accident.
授業中じゅぎょうちゅう使つか可能性かのうせいたかため授業じゅぎょうはじまるまえ携帯けいたい回収かいしゅうしています。
Due to the high probability of mobile phones being used during class they are collected at the start.
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