Criterion Institute

In Their Own Words

Criterion Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to expanding what is seen as possible for using finance to create transformative social change. At our core, our focus is on power. We examine power within financial systems, the structures, processes, and functions within finance that dictate how the system operates and how capital flows in society. We honor the power that diverse social change actors possess – which is often overlooked – to be able to influence and shift financial systems. Focused on using finance for social change, we have been at the forefront of the sustainable investing movement since our founding in 2002. We have played a central role in defining the field of gender lens investing field and catalyzed the involvement of thousands of people in the space, with a focus on engaging gender experts, philanthropists, and feminist movements to understand and claim their role in building the field. We continue to push the field of gender lens investing to engage in more rigorous gender analysis, and to ground their investment practices in an understanding of structural inequities around race, ethnicity, age, class, ability, geography, and sexual identity.