Since our founding in 2002, we’ve created various tools and resources focused on transforming relationships of power in finance. We connect with social change leaders across different sectors, to bring people together to reframe and demonstrate new ways to shape our financial systems.

Below we’ve highlighted some of these and we will continue to add to this as new resources are created.

We hope you find these useful in your work and encourage you to reach out to share your thoughts at info@criterioninstitute.org.

Roadmap for Development Finance Institutions: Strategies to Address Gender-based Violence

This Roadmap lays out strategies for development finance institutions (DFIs) to incorporate gender-based violence (GBV) risk assessment and mitigation as well as GBV prevention and survivor support lenses into their investments. In addition to being a barrier to sustainable development, GBV also poses investment risks at the operational, reputational,...

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Roadmap for Christian Denominations to Use Finance to Reduce Gender-based Violence

Over the last few decades, there have been significant innovations in faith-based investing. However, social investment strategies by Christian denominations have not yet extended to the issue of gender-based violence. Criterion Institute, drawing upon longstanding partnerships with faith-based organizations, has developed a roadmap that provides a starting point for...

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Translation at the intersection of gender and finance: Recommendations for improving analysis in gender lens investing

  Gender lens investing has become increasingly dominant within sustainable and impact investment approaches in Australia and globally over the last few years. The demand from asset owners for gender lens investing products has increased pressure on fund managers to build them. Finance organizations and intermediaries often lack the...

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How to Engage Finance to Enable Survivors of Violence to Build Economic and Financial Freedom

    How to Engage Finance to Enable Survivors of Violence to Build Economic and Financial Freedom By Tia Subramanian and Erin Puglia Introduction Gender-based violence has significant consequences for the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities, businesses, states, and countries. While violence prevention and response have often...

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Q&A with Gender Equality & Social Inclusion Specialist, Amy Haddad: Analyzing Power and Opportunities for Influence

In this issue of Criterion Connections, Erin Puglia, Project Manager of the Power of Policy Program at the Criterion Institute, speaks with Amy Haddad, a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Specialist and the Chair of Criterion’s Power of Policy Advisory Committee, about systems of power, opportunities for influence in...

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Gender as Material to Infrastructure Projects: Reaching Better Outcomes by Applying a Gender Lens from Project Inception

This paper argues for the application of a gender lens at the earliest stage of developing better infrastructure projects, both in terms of development outcomes and risk-adjusted returns for investors. Gender is material throughout the project lifecycle, as it influences long-term stability at both a project level and in...

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Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis with a Gender Lens: An Opportunity for Gender Lens Investors in Southeast Asia

The COVID-19 health crisis has caused unprecedented impact on global supply chains and capital flows. These changes are having, and will continue to have, a negative impact on SMEs and microbusinesses, particularly in developing countries. Women and other marginalized communities who are disproportionately impacted by shocks are most at...

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Q&A with Candide Group’s Jasmine Rashid: Bringing a Social Justice Lens to Finance and Investment

In this issue of Criterion Connections, Tia Subramanian of the Criterion Institute speaks with Jasmine Rashid, Director of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships at Candide Group, about investing for social change, from creative and collaborative approaches to structuring deals to her work disrupting the financing behind private prisons and detention...

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Q&A with SEIU’s Secretary-Treasurer Gerry Hudson: Valuing Worker Health and Safety in the COVID-19 Recovery 

In this issue of Criterion Connections, Christina Madden of the Criterion Institute speaks with Gerry Hudson, Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union about his work advocating for essential workers, the investment risks of valuing efficiency over worker safety and rights, and his views on what the future of...

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Recovery Investing to Reimagine the Gender-Based Violence Pandemic

By Catherine Poulton, UNICEF, and Tia Subramanian, Criterion Institute    Criterion Institute and UNICEF have partnered to create a due diligence tool for investors to identify and mitigate the investment risks gender-based violence poses. It is well documented that rates of gender-based violence (GBV) have risen around the world as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we wrote in a blog post in...

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A Blueprint for Grassroots Organizations on Using Finance for Social Change

The Blueprint is a document about social change, written for change makers. The focus of the Blueprint is to show how individuals working within grassroots organizations can use finance as a tool in their work, whether by disrupting or influencing current systems, forging new alliances or partnerships with individuals...

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Reflection: Beyond Borders Forum – Building the Runway for Young Women to Enter the Global Workforce

By Amy Chen Last month, I had the privilege of attending the second annual Beyond Borders Forum, hosted by Women’s Education Project (WEP), in New York City. The Forum focused on two compelling issues: preparing young women for fulfilling careers in the global economy and creating a corporate climate...

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Gender Lens Investing Tool: Designing an Action Plan

Gender lens investing is the incorporation of a gender analysis into the systems of investing to make better decisions. A gender analysis is a disciplined approach to understanding how differences in power impact the advantages or oppression people experience based on their gender. An intersectional gender analysis considers how ethnicity, socio-economic status,...

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Criterion Connections: Building the Field of Gender Lens Investing with Oxfam America’s Laté Lawson-Lartego 

This issue of Criterion Connections, featuring Oxfam America’s Laté Lawson-Lartego, is adapted from a Conversation for Change led by Criterion Institute’s Director of Engagement, Christina Madden, at Opportunity Collaboration. Oxfam America partnered with Criterion on the recently released Blueprint for INGOs on Using Finance for Social Change. The Blueprint provides...

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Congregations Stories: Emmanuel Lutheran’s Micro-lending Initiative Part II

From Mountaintop through the Valley of Implementation   Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Naples, FL conducted its first 1K micro-lending retreat in April, 2018. The retreat lasted 7 hours on a Saturday at the church. Although we had never done any project like the IK micro-lending initiative, especially using a one-day retreat...

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Congregational Stories: Youth and Adults Combine to Complete 1K Bible Study in a One-Day Retreat

Leaders from Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Naples, Florida, report this month on their highly successful intergenerational retreat, during which they completed the entire five-session 1K Bible study on a single Saturday, engaged significantly across generations and cultures, and planned how to move forward with two micro-loans in their community....

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Video: A Spiral Of Change: Understanding The Investment Impact Of Sexual And Gender-Based Violence

  From Cornerstone Capital: Recently, Cornerstone Capital’s Head of Impact Strategy, Katherine Pease, sat down for an in-depth discussion with two leading figures in the field of gender-focused investment and philanthropy, to discuss the role that investors and finance can play in addressing gender-based violence in companies and society....

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Reflection: Finance and Gender Experts in Vietnam Shape a Growing Community of Practice in Gender Lens Investing Across Southeast Asia

Over 40 gender and finance experts came together with community leaders in Ho Chi Minh City for a two-day workshop on gender lens investing. This event provided an opportunity to frame, identify and debate a shared vision for how to include gender in investment decisions. As investments across Southeast...

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Implementing A Gender Strategy: Grand Challenges Canada’s Story

Following four years of engagement with Grand Challenges Canada, an initiative funded by the Canadian government, Criterion is excited to share insights and learning in “Implementing Grand Challenges Canada‘s Gender Strategy.” The white paper demonstrates how a thorough gender analysis—one that documents patterns in how gender and its relationship with other factors like race, ethnicity,...

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Growing the Field: Finance and gender experts brought together in Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia, 2 February 2018 – Over 70 investors, business and finance leaders, and gender experts from Southeast Asia came together at the Australian Embassy for two days to identify, and debate opportunities for success in gender lens investing – the practice of using capital to advance gender equality and...

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Reflection: Gender Lens Investing Field-Building Event in Jakarta

This re-cap of the gender lens investing field-building event hosted in February by Investing in Women partners was contributed by ANGIN (Angel Investment Network Indonesia). Gender Lens Investing Field-Building Event in Jakarta contributed by ANGIN (Angel Investment Network in Indonesia) Criterion Institute held a two-day Gender Lens Investing workshop...

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Reflection: Finance as a Tool to Address Gender-Based Violence Workshop, January 22-23, 2018

This was contributed by Nina Weissberg. Nina Weissberg, CEO of Weissberg Investment Corp (WIC), guides a diverse portfolio of long-term real estate commitments in the Greater Washington, DC community. In 2017, she joined the board of the Criterion Institute to focus energy on gender and social change through capital markets.   Last...

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Video: Ideas to Action: Accelerating Gender Lens Investing – Joy Anderson

On November 28-29, 2017, Wharton Social Impact Initiative presented an invitation-only event convening for investors and advisors who are moving capital with a gender lens in Philadelphia for a day and a half of highly interactive action-oriented workshops, discussion, and collaboration. Wharton Social Impact Initiative and Suzanne Biegel presented a generous group...

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Congregational Stories: Micro-loan Curriculum by University United Methodist Church

In 2016, University United Methodist began offering interest-free micro-loans of up to $1,000 to existing small businesses and start-ups in greater Austin, Texas. Through their experience, they developed this two-Sunday curriculum and PowerPoint to introduce church members to church-based micro-lending. They’ve made these resources publicly available congregations. Here is their...

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Design Session: Finance as a Tool to Address Gender-Based Violence

In July 2017, we partnered with InFaith Community Foundation and Futures without Violence to bring together a group of over 30 leaders from women’s rights organizations, philanthropy, and finance to think together about strategies to affect gender-based violence. The session was inspired by our partners at InFaith Community Foundation’s recent announcement of a...

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Reflection: Experiencing TOOLKIT

Since 2016, Criterion Institute has been delivering our signature workshop, TOOLKIT for Using Finance for Social Change to audiences throughout the globe. Participants come from a wide variety of backgrounds and sectors, including foundations working to end domestic poverty, women’s rights organization promoting gender equality in government policy, t...

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Report: State of the Field of Gender Lens Investing

Criterion Institute’s President, Joy Anderson, and Katherine Miles authored the State of the Field of Gender Lens Investing report documenting a comprehensive history of the field and strategies for the road ahead. The report, published in October 2015, narrates the history of Gender Lens Investing, offers several strategic road maps for the...

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Reflection: Gender Lens Investing – From Margins to Mainstream

In this article, Stephanie Marton, Associate Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, presents a practical and strategical perspective to approach Gender-Lens Investment. Distinguishing the philanthropic cause of gender equality from pure market opportunities, Stephanie emphasizes that the message of gender-lens investing needs to be reframed in order to attract...

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Reflection: Gender Lens Investing by Linda Scott of Double X Economy

After a conversation with Criterion’s Joy Anderson about gender lens investing, Linda Scott, the DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Saïd Business School at Oxford, wrote this compelling blog post about gender lens strategies in finance. In it, she discusses developing a system for valuing investments along gender dimensions. Check...

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Reflection: System Changers Meeting in London

Inspired by a meeting in London with Criterion’s Joy Anderson and other leaders engaged with systems change, Linda Scott, the DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Saïd Business School at Oxford, wrote a blog post looking at women’s gendered role in economics throughout history. In her post, Scott examines the...

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