
ABOUT US
Croatan Institute is an independent, nonprofit research institute whose mission is to harness the power of investment for social good and ecological resilience by working at the critical nexus where sustainability, finance, and economic development intersect. With initial funding from foundations, sustainable investment groups, civil society, and community development organizations, the Institute’s activities address some of the most complex sustainability challenges of our time, often in close partnership with practitioners in the field and movements for social and environmental change.
The Institute’s team includes a group of committed, interdisciplinary experts, researchers, and critics working on issues such as climate change and energy, environmental and social impact investing, sustainable finance, regenerative agriculture and regional food systems, institutional accountability, social equity, diversity, and inclusion, and resilient community development.
Launched publicly on Earth Day in 2014 in the Research Triangle of North Carolina with an extended team based in Boston, New York, and Geneva, Croatan Institute was initially incubated at Tellus Institute, the Boston-based sustainability think tank where several of the founding team members and advisers began their collaboration. The Institute is governed by a board of concerned citizens and environmental entrepreneurs and counseled by a Board of Advisers drawn from a diverse cross-section of leaders from civil society, business, social finance, and academia.
WHY "CROATAN"?
Croatan Institute’s name draws inspiration from the Native American Croatan people associated with the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke, the first effort at English settlement in the Americas. In the late sixteenth century, families of more than 100 English-speaking colonists settled on an island nestled between the Outer Banks and the inland coast of present-day North Carolina. Within the space of less than three years, the colonists had mysteriously vanished. When the colony’s governor returned to rejoin the settlers, his crew found an abandoned settlement with the word “Croatoan” carved in a gate post and the letters “CRO” on the trunk of a tree. Read more.
FOUNDERS CIRCLE MEMBERS
Archimedes' Point
Christi and Igor Veytskin
Matthew Patsky
Big Path Capital
Richard S. Bookbinder
Breckinridge Capital Advisors
Clean Land LLC
Jason Cooke
Erickson Advisors
Essex Investment Management Company LLC
Dolly H. Gray-Bussard
Praxis Mutual Funds
David and Jocelyn Sand
Trillium Asset Management
Lexie Wolf
Mary Ellen and John Zellerbach
Learn more about the Founders Circle Campaign here.
SPONSORS, PARTNERS, AND CLIENTS
350.org
Archimedes' Point
The Baffler Foundation
Big Path Capital
Bonwood Social Investments
Boston Common Asset Management
Breckinridge Capital Advisors
Burt's Bees Greater Good Foundation
Calvert Investments
Center for Environmental Farming Systems, North Carolina State University
Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
Church Impact
Clean Energy Group
Clean Yield Asset Management
Community Capital Management
Conetoe Family Life Center
Confluence Philanthropy
Delta Institute
Democracy Collaborative
Divest-Invest Philanthropy
Earthwise Organics
Erickson Advisors
Essex Investment Management Company LLC
Farmland LP
Fahe
Fifth Season Ventures
First Affirmative Financial Network
Ford Foundation
Fossil Free Indexes
Friends of the Earth
Global Fund for Women
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)
Good Capital
Green Century Funds
Green Rural Redevelopment Organization (GRRO)
Iroquois Valley Farms
Jonathan Rose Companies
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA)
McIntosh County Sustainable Environment and Economic Development (McIntosh SEED)
Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED)
Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF)
North Carolina Justice Center, Budget and Tax Center
NorthStar Asset Management, Inc.
Organic Valley
Out Leadership
Pathstone Federal Street
Pax World Management, LLC
Rachel's Network
Rainforest Action Network
RBC Global Asset Management
Responsible Endowments Coalition
Root Capital
RSF Social Finance
Saxapahaw General Store
Self-Help Credit Union
SEIU Capital Stewardship
SOCAP
Social Justice Fund NW
Southern Organic Female Farmers Association (SOFFA)
Southern Partners Fund
Sustainable Endowments Institute
Tellus Institute
Thirty Percent Coalition
Tides
Trillium Asset Management
TS Designs
US SIF Foundation
Values Advisor
Walden Asset Management
Wallace Global Fund
Weaver Street Market
Working Landscapes
Yellow Wood Associates