We work with changemakers, investors, governments, and institutions to shift who has power in financial decision-making.
Our WorkMost Criterion events, workshops and trainings are held online, free of charge.
Criterion is a nonprofit think tank that works with investors, governments and civil society globally to research and reframe new ways to use finance as a tool for social change. We seek to transform whose voices are heard, whose expertise is valued, and whose metrics define success in financial decision-making. We help people see power in the systems around us and imagine how things could be different - whether it’s shifting narratives in impact investing, presenting new visions of an investable future, or proving it’s possible to finance the reduction of gender-based violence.
About UsAs an activist think tank, our day-to-day work takes many forms. Whether via interdisciplinary research, trainings for investors and social change organizations on how to engage finance for change, or the design of strategies and tools that enable actors to incorporate power analysis into existing processes, all our work ultimately furthers one or more of our five strategic pillars.
Our approach to changeOur work spans research, design, training, framing and narratives, influence campaigns, and field-building. Below are a few recent examples.
Explore our extensive library of resources on using finance as a tool for transformative social change. Browse by category and sub-categories to find the most relevant materials for your needs. Our library contains reports, case studies, toolkits, and other content aimed at investors, governments, civil society organizations, and anyone interested in harnessing capital for positive impact. Dive in and discover insights and guidance to help drive progress on critical issues.
Investors’ goals are reflected in a portfolio that is composed of a diversified set of asset classes. In order to build their portfolio, asset holders invest in financial products.
Finance has its own business model. A set of processes define how finance works and those processes have costs. Those processes are paid for by a set of revenue sources based on the functional role(s) played.
Intermediaries are institutions with a particular legal form that use instruments or vehicles to move capital. The instrument is defined by the terms written out in documents.
A power analysis serves as a critical tool to uncover imbalances in decision-making authority, resource distribution, and the prioritization of outcomes.
(Stanford Social Innovation Review; April 2021)
(UNICEF Connect; April 2020)
All our Tools are open source and free to use, repurpose and adapt to your context. If you’d like us to adapt them for you, get in touch.
The Blueprints demonstrate how a variety of social change organizations can design strategies that use systems of finance as tools to create positive social change.
These roadmaps lay out insights for how finance can be used to address gender-based violence in a range of sectors, asset classes, geographies, and investor types.
The TOOLKIT is designed to support your journey as you explore how finance can be used as a tool to create social change.
1K Churches was launched in 2012 to galvanize a movement in the faith-based community and engage US churches to invest in the local economy.
These gender-based violence due diligence tools analyze existing due diligence categories – including political, regulatory, operational, and reputational risks – and show how they can be affected by gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence is ubiquitous. More than 1 in 3 women worldwide experiences physical or sexual violence, and millions of men, boys, and gender-diverse individuals are affected by physical, sexual, and emotional abuse daily.
Criterion partners with investors, governments, and civil society organizations around the world to design financial solutions to advance social justice, gender equality, and economic development goals. If you are interested in working together, we invite you to get in touch with ideas for how our work might overlap.
Contact Us
Join Criterion’s President and Founder Joy Anderson for a series of reflections and discussions on how to use finance as a tool for transformative systems change. Part of the Impact Alpha podcast network.
Listen NowOn June 24 2024, Joy Anderson, Founder and President of Criterion Institute, was recognized with the prestigious Joan Bavaria Award alongside Suzanne Biegel and Jackie VanderBrug for their groundbreaking contributions to gender lens investing.
As GBV can proliferate in complex emergencies, it can also exacerbate the risk of humanitarian conflict or crisis, disrupting states’ stability and economies writ large. This then threatens the stability of financial markets and financial forecasting.
Over the past three years, with support from the government of Canada, Criterion has been able to formalize a system of standards of practice.
Our work depends on an ever-expanding community of team members, advisors, donors, and other partners who help us achieve our mission.
