Meet Joe

J oseph N. Sanberg is a progressive entrepreneur who is working through both the public and private sectors to make people’s lives better.
Joe believes that business can be a force for good, and that entrepreneurs have an important role to play in improving public policy and encouraging public service. He founded the Golden State Opportunity Foundation to expand economic security to the millions of Californians who work hard yet experience constant financial stress. Joe has been the leading advocate for the state’s new earned income tax credit for low-income families. Joe not only lobbied California to pass the credit, but when the state didn't allocate enough money for outreach, Joe created CalEITC4Me to connect California families with $1 billion of state and federal tax refunds.
He is Co-Founder and Chair of Aspiration.com, an online financial company built for everyone. Aspiration serves people at the heart of their financial lives - their banking account - in a trust-based model that empowers people to choose whatever fee they think is fair (even zero) and enables them to bank, invest, and spend in accordance with their values. Aspiration's approach has made it the fastest-growing and most beloved consumer financial company in America.
Joe understands that businesses should be tools for solving problems. He is a leading investor in a number of industry changing companies including: Blue Apron, the largest fresh meal-kit company in the United States; IVY, the leading social university; and Bright Funds, a next-generation charitable platform that’s empowering everyday donors to have an impact on the causes they care about.
Joe also serves on the board of the Sierra Club Foundation, the Economic Innovation Group, and the Jefferson Awards Foundation, which engages over 1 million young people each year in volunteerism and public service. He serves on Board of Trustees of the University of California, Riverside School of Public Policy and is providing full scholarships for seven graduate students in the program’s inaugural class. Joe also volunteers at Casa Teresa, a homeless shelter for pregnant women in Orange, California.
A native of Southern California, Joe is a graduate of Servite High School in Anaheim and Harvard University. He lives in Los Angeles with his rescue dog Bruce.

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Vision

When we’re living in a constant state of financial stress, we can’t be our best selves and live as we were meant to live.
I know first-hand what financial stress can do to a family. I grew up in a low-income household. My mother worked so hard to create a better life for me and my brother, and I was so fortunate to get a ton of financial aid to go to Harvard at a time when our house was being foreclosed upon.
But there are millions of kids growing up today who will not have the same good luck that I had. The opportunities that people have in life shouldn’t be the result of luck.
That’s why I’m committed to bringing financial security to everyone. If you believe as I do that our lives have meaning, and every human being has value, then we all ought to be able to live to our full human potential.
This is the moral calling of our time, and the charge of our generation. We know how to bring economic security to everyone – all we’re lacking is the will.