Our impact is made possible by the generous support of our community. Donations enable our team to stand in the face of power as we work to ensure the power of our financial systems is directed to be a positive force against systemic injustice.
Make a DonationCriterion 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 UsOur podcast shares stories, rants, and reframes from our host, Joy Anderson, founder and president of Criterion Institute. Joy also regularly brings on special guests to talk about their work disrupting how power traditionally operates in finance. Listen to our podcast and let us know if you have something to share with our listeners.
View All PodcastsExplore our news page curated by Joy Anderson, Criterion Institute's founder. Delve into breaking stories and expert analyses on evolving power dynamics. Join the conversation shaping our future.
Explore More NewsOur team is made up of paid and volunteer members who have joined our community from diverse sectors and disciplines at all stages of their careers. View our current opportunities or write to us and let us know how you would like to become involved with our team.
VolunteerOur team is made up of paid and volunteer members who have joined our community from diverse sectors and disciplines at all stages of their careers. View our current opportunities or write to us and let us know how you would like to become involved with our team.
I had been an admirer and champion of Criterion’s work from afar and decided it was time for me to dive in deeper. I spent a few days a month thinking through some sticky issues about the future of markets and finance – it challenged me, tripped me up, forced me to throw out first (and second and third) drafts, and work through some of the most complex sets of questions I have ever confronted. But as we all know, disrupting the status quo is never easy work. Especially alone. It requires a community who knows that our current economic system doesn’t make sense for our long-term prosperity, that it isn’t harnessing untapped opportunities, that it isn’t pulling the systemic levers for change. It requires a platform where we can collectively act on ideas and solutions for an alternative.
And that is precisely what Criterion makes possible.
My time with Criterion exposed me to new frameworks to problem-solve and new methodologies for creativity, but most importantly, it exposed me to a collection of individuals foolish enough to truly believe that they will change the future. And not by one little step at a time, but rather by leapfrogging past “what’s good enough” to “what’s imaginatively possible.”
I volunteer for Criterion because I have a passion for impact. Criterion is about rethinking markets. It is an organization that is focused on imagining new ways to tackle challenges. Criterion dares to design innovative approaches to issues society has accepted as the norm. Criterion is more than a think-tank though, it is a do-tank.
I dedicate my time to Criterion because it has inspired and empowered me to actually change markets. The big, challenging ideas born at Criterion have attracted a community of passionate people like myself. Together we collaborate to implement these big ideas.
Through my time and work at Criterion I have seen the 1K Churches initiative move from an idea, to a verbal commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative, to actual conversations that are happening now in congregations. Soon we will start to see churches investing in microbusinesses in their communities. This is the needle moving. Criterion is empowering people to think about how they can change the world. This is an impact I want to be a part of, and that is why I volunteer for Criterion.
We are excited to know more about you and look forward to being in touch! Our newsletters focus on our social change strategies and efforts to transform relationships of power in finance. Additionally, we send communications related to specific programs or projects, such as our work on gender-based violence as well as our work sharing resources for congregations. Check the boxes below on the topics that interest you.
81 Church Hill Rd Haddam, CT 06438
860 345 3520
info@criterioninstitute.org