The Criterion Institute is an activist think tank which works to “disrupt traditional power dynamics” by shifting investor and tax dollars towards international non-governmental organizations and businesses which support left-of-center social movements. Criterion focuses on how finances can be used to shift towards a society which prioritizes social movements such as feminism, environmentalism, and gender-ideological movements and supports small organizations disrupting larger organizations that do not support left-of-center social views. ^{1 2 3 4}

History

Criterion was founded as a consulting firm in 2004. In 2008, Criterion launched the Charlie Project which was created to help Lutheran churches use their financial and community power to influence urban education policies and economic development within their communities. In 2009, the term “gender lens investing” was coined, and Criterion worked to develop programs to support it. In 2012, Criterion finished a medical debt research program funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2021, Criterion launched “Disrupting Fields: Addressing Power Dynamics in the Fields of Climate Finance and Gender Lens Investing,” which works to disrupt power in the environmental and feminist social movements. In 2022, at the G7 summit, international institutions and investors adopted Criterion’s Roadmap for Development Finance Institutions: Strategies to Address Gender-based Violence, which Criterion made in conjunction with UNICEF. ⁵

Campaigns

Child Lens Investing

Criterion proposes that investing in children is the way to bring about systemic change. Criterion proposes that children have their own “voice and agency” in society and as such investors should cater to their desires. Criterion claims that teaching young children about climate change is a powerful tool which can be used to force businesses and governments to make environmentalist movements a priority, once investors believe in the same causes as the children supposedly do. ⁶

Criterion asserts that there is not yet a formal coalition to connect all the groups which currently invest in youth programs, so the groups cannot work to disrupt traditional power effectively. Criterion believes child lens investing intersects with climate movements and LGBT movements, meaning Criterion wants all these social movements to work together to push social changes. ⁷

Feminism

Criterion asserts that investors should be fostering a feminist financial imagination. Criterion proposes that feminist originations should have an influential role in redesigning current economic systems, which it claims is not occurring in the present because of neoliberalism and capitalism. It claims that capitalist economies only look for profit and cannot take care of the general well-being of citizens. Criterion argues feminist organizations do not currently have the finances to hold meaningful power in society and that investors must invest in feminist organizations in order for them to become more powerful and influential. ⁸

Blueprint

Criterion created a blueprint which details how to move power away from current governments and financial institutions and give it to international non-governmental organizations which can use their newly found connections to force the hands of investors and governments into investing in social movements. Criterion’s blueprint seeks to channel resources to organizations which contribute to left-wing social change movements, shift power by making their ideas seem correct and traditional ideas wrong, and advocate for business to shift their financial value to include social movements. ⁹

1. The Criterion Institute, Form 990, 2022, Part III.
2. “A Blueprint for International Non-Governmental Organizations.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/blueprints/a-blueprint-for-international-non-governmental-organizations.
3. “Child Lens Investing.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/campaigns/future-modeling.
4. “A Blueprint for Grassroots Organizations on Using Finance for Social Change.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/resources/a-blueprint-for-grassroots-organizations-on-using-finance-for-social-change.
5. “About Criterion Institute: Leaders in Social Finance.” About Criterion Institute: Leaders in Social Finance. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/about#Our-History.
6. “Child Lens Investing.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/campaigns/future-modeling.
7. “Child Lens Investing.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/campaigns/future-modeling.
8. “Fostering a Feminist Financial Imagination.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/resources/fostering-a-feminist-financial-imagination.
9.  “A Blueprint for International Non-Governmental Organizations.” Criterion Institute: Finance for Social Change. Accessed March 16, 2024. https://www.criterioninstitute.org/blueprints/a-blueprint-for-international-non-governmental-organizations.