Resources and Publications

#51: Reimagining Resourcing for Social Transformation - Part One

Part one in a two-part series on this topic - Joy and Yifat Susskind (Executive Director of MADRE) discuss the importance of a feminist financial imagination in the context of social transformation and funding for women's rights organizations.

#50: Celebrating 50 Episodes: Joy & David Bank on Impact, Media, and the Future

In this celebratory 50th episode of the Criterion Institute podcast, Joy engages in a heartfelt conversation with David Bank, CEO of Impact Alpha. They reflect on the power of voice in impact investing, the importance of language, and the role of media in shaping community narratives.

#49: When Optimism Meets Uncertainty: Finding Grace on a Monday Morning

Joy reflects on the role of hope in times of uncertainty. She shares how the practice of acknowledgment at the recent Convergence conference created space for courageous conversations about power, privilege, and resilience.

#48: The Future We Demand: Organizing, Mobilizing, and Resisting Together

Joy discusses the critical role of organizing and mobilizing in creating transformative change within finance. She reflects on insights gained from recent conversations...

#47: Spelling it out: Gender Lens Investing Deserves Words, Not Acronyms

Joy discusses the significance of acronyms in communication, particularly in the context of finance and social change.

#46: Challenging Toxic Masculinity: Is there a Business Case for Investing in Good Men?

Joy explores the complex relationship between masculinity and finance, emphasizing the need for a business case for good men.

#45: Making Sense of Complexity: Frameworks That Work (and Those That Don’t)

Joy discusses the significance of frameworks in understanding and driving social change.

#44: Four Futures: Reimagining Gender Lens Investing in a Changing World

Joy reflects on the future of gender lens investing, discussing the barriers and opportunities within the field.

#43: Building Resilient Economies with Lilian Mramba: The Power of Funky Banking

Joy engages in a deep conversation with Lilian Mramba, the Chief Investment Officer at Grassroots Business Fund. They discuss the challenges and opportunities in transformative finance, particularly in the context of gender lens investing and the needs of small businesses.

#42: 10 Years On: Reflecting on the State of Gender Lens Investing

Joy reflects on the 10-year anniversary of the State of the Field report on gender lens investing, co-authored with Katherine Miles in 2015. She revisits the report's framework, which categorized the field into three key areas: ideas, activity, and people and organizations.

#41: On Being Christian: Identity and Action Through Investments

Joy discusses the intersection of faith and finance, particularly in the context of addressing gender-based violence. She reflects on her Christian faith and its implications in a world where many voices misrepresent Christianity.

#40: Gender Lens Investing in a Time of Backlash: Why it Matters Now More Than Ever

Joy discusses the implications of the recent U.S. elections on transformative systems change, emphasizing the need to look beyond government solutions. She advocates for gender lens investing as a crucial strategy in the current socio-political climate, urging listeners to analyze gender norms and structural inequities in investment decisions.

#039: Financial Tools for Social Change: Ending Gender-Based Violence

Joy reflects on her 57th birthday, exploring the themes of aging and the paradox of limitations versus possibility. She discusses societal perceptions of aging, the desire for permission to embrace limitations, and the importance of hope in driving transformative change.

#038: A Birthday Reflection: Embracing the Limitations and Possibilities of Aging

Joy reflects on her 57th birthday, exploring the themes of aging and the paradox of limitations versus possibility. She discusses societal perceptions of aging, the desire for permission to embrace limitations, and the importance of hope in driving transformative change.

#037: Making the Invisible Visible: Advocating for Widow Rights in Africa

Joy shares a profound conversation with Roseline Orwa, a champion for widow's rights in Africa. They explore the unique challenges faced by widows, particularly the cultural stigma and financial exclusion that render them invisible in discussions about gender and investment.

#036: Advanced Practices to Address Gender and Power Dynamics in African Finance: A Conversation with Dr. Ola Brown

Joy chats with Dr. Ola Brown and they discuss her journey from founding Africa's largest emergency services company to her current work in venture capital focused on empowering women and addressing systemic barriers in finance.

#035: The Core Pillars of Our Strategic Plan: Valuing the Future of Equality

Joy discusses how to reimagine investments to support a future of equality. She explores the Core Pillar of the Criterion Institute's Strategic Plan: Value the Future of Equality

#034: Disrupting Fields: How to Build Frameworks for Analyzing Power Dynamics

Joy discusses the Criterion Institute's paper "Disrupting Fields", and the power dynamics that shape the development of ecosystems and fields of thought.

#033: The Core Pillars of Our Strategic Plan: Inviting Financial Imagination

Joy explores the reasons for the importance of inviting a financial imagination, and the concept of a feminist financial imagination.

#032: Pioneering Collaboration: The Story Behind the 2024 Joan Bavaria Award

Joy Anderson reflects on her journey to the US SIF conference and receiving the Joan Bavaria Award.

#031: From Cards to Contracts: Innovating Legal Structures for Impact

Joy revisits the pioneering Structure Lab and then has a conversation with Sara Wolfe on the crucial role of legal structures in financial innovation.

#30: You Are Welcome: Hospitality, Strangers, and Family Myths

This episode explores the impact of everyday language and family sayings on our perception of life, money, and investments.

#29: Words of Kindness: Language and Systemic Change

Joy interviews BE Alink. They talk about the power of language and how it can be used with kindness, and delve into the impact of diagnosis in healthcare and the financial systems surrounding it.

#28: Investing in Trust: Creating Safe Containers for Unlearning and Healing

In this episode, Joy's conversation with Vanessa Roanhorse looks at the importance of creating safe containers and building right relationships, friendships, and trust when navigating the complexities of the financial sector and creating transformative systems change.

#027: The Core Pillars of Our Strategic Plan: Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence

This episode explores the journey of creating an investment portfolio intentionally designed to address gender-based violence.

#026: Convergence: Stories of Dialogue and Transformation

This episode begins with a reflection on the inception of Convergence, highlighting its origins as a space for transformative dialogue. Then Sana Kapadia shares her experiences of Convergence, emphasizing its role in fostering meaningful conversations among diverse stakeholders.

#025: Choirs of Change: Harmonizing Finance for Systemic Impact

In this episode, Joy Anderson explores strategies for building movements and the tension between going broad and going deep.

#024: The Power of Informality: Redefining Innovation Over Tea

In this episode, Joy Anderson and Sara Wolfe discuss the concept of the kitchen table as a space for creativity, collaboration, and transformative change.

#023: Systemic Shifts: Rethinking Risk in Investment Strategies

In this episode, Joy Anderson and Teresa Wells discuss systemic risk in finance and the need for different choices to address it.

#022: Navigating Paradoxes: Competition, Collaboration, and Systemic Change

Joy Anderson speaks with Denise Hearn about the role of finance in transformative systems change.

#021: Shifting Power in Investment Practice: Designing an Investment Thesis

Today, we’re going to focus on how standard setters such as governments and other asset owners might disrupt power, privilege and bias within a very specific area of investment practice: investment thesis design.

#020: Shifting Power in Investment Practice: The Costs of Doing Business

Today, we’re going to focus on how standard setters such as governments and other asset owners might disrupt power, privilege and bias within a very specific area of investment practice: how investors manage cost factors, and what is deemed an acceptable cost of doing business.

#019: Shifting Power in Investment Practice: GBVH Risk

Today, we’re going to focus on how standard setters such as governments and other asset owners might disrupt power, privilege and bias within a very specific area of investment practice: how investors manage cost factors, and what is deemed an acceptable cost of doing business.

#018: Shifting Power in Investment Practice: An Introduction

Today we introduce something Criterion has been working on for years in partnership with various funders, but which has only started to really take shape more recently: the system of Standards of Practice, which looks at how to address power, privilege and bias across systems of finance.

#017: A Lens to See (Unintended Consequences) More Clearly

In this episode, we look at two examples of unintended consequences in the field of innovative finance, in which seeing more clearly would lead to better outcomes.

#016: We Made This System Up, We Can Change It.

Criterion is a systems change organization. We have figured out a lot about how to do systems change works. But undergirding that is the assumption that systems can change. Even finance.

#000: Welcome, Here’s What You Can Expect from this Podcast

We invite you to join us on a journey—an audio journey, to explore and expand how to use finance and investments as tools for transformative and equitable change in the world.

#015: The Core Pillars of Our Strategic Plan: Unleashing the Power of Policy

A few years ago, Criterion launched a ten-year strategic plan, which solidified our commitment to direct the power of the financial system to be a positive force against systemic injustice.

#014: The Core Pillars of Our Strategic Plan: Reframing Narratives in Innovative Finance

A few years ago, Criterion launched a ten-year strategic plan, which solidified the organization’s commitment to direct the power of the financial system to be a positive force against systemic injustice.

#013: Stories of Relationships

Today’s episode explores the power of relationships. Having relationships with people from different sectors, different disciplines, different countries, and different cultures can help us make sense of things we haven’t experienced ourselves.

#012: Valuing Expertise

It’s no secret that the finance sector tends to undervalue and even demean non-financial expertise, in particular expertise on gender equality, social justice issues, and local context.

#011: Five strategies for using finance for social change

What if, when we think about finance for social change, we didn’t think solely about the amount of money we can move to a certain impact goal? What if we focused instead on HOW that money moves and who holds the power to influence financial design and decision-making processes?

#010: A Couple Rants on Innovative Finance

At Criterion, we mostly try to focus on positives: possibilities, solutions, insights for how things could work better. But sometimes we need to call out when things just aren’t working.

#009: Wandering Around Wondering

There is a common belief that, when we are creating something, we need to know specifically what to look for and how it will contribute to our end creation.

#008: Silicon Valley Bank Collapse: An Opportunity for Change?

In March of 2023, Silicon Valley Bank suddenly collapsed after its sale of long-term US treasury bonds at a hefty loss triggered investor panic and a run on the bank.

#007: Knowledge and Power. Part One.

In the first segment, Joy reflects on a story when she was fundraising for good capital and a VC put her and her knowledge in its place.

#006: Why the Future Matters in Finance

In this episode, we’ll revisit a conversation Joy had with two amazing leaders in the field of sustainable finance back in September of 2021.

#005: Imagining Alternative Futures and Contingencies

In this episode, we explore imagining alternative futures and thinking through the contingencies in those futures.

#004: Designing an Investment Thesis for Gender Lens Investing

In this episode, we have two segments that we're going to weave together both focused on investment theses. At Criterion, one of the most important levers of change, in our opinion, is to look at shaping, reshaping and creating the investment theses.

#003: Bringing Financial Imagination to the Afghanistan Crisis

In this episode, Joy has a conversation with a colleague, Pablo Freund, who spent several months looking in depth at economic sanctions and investments tied to the realities in Afghanistan at the end of 2021, into the early part of 2022.

#002: Checking Our Power in the Work of Building Fields

In this episode, we’re going to look at some of the power dynamics in field building organizations. Think of the sociology, the medical profession or gender lens investing as fields.

#001: Fix the Capital, Not the Company. Part One.

In this episode, Joy weaves together three segments around one core idea: “how do we design investment vehicles that work for the context in which they're investing?”.

Online Event: Insights and Invitations

We bring together our valued partners, friends and allies, and potential partners to celebrate the generous contributions of our partners while exploring new avenues for future partnerships.

TOOLKIT Workshop - Online Event

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

TOOLKIT Workshop - Online Event

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

TOOLKIT Workshop - Online Event

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

TOOLKIT Workshop - Online Event

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

Systems Change Training - Online Event

Criterion will give participants a peek behind the curtains and expand on the frameworks we’ve developed for innovating in and around systems of finance.

Systems Change Training - Online Event

Criterion will give participants a peek behind the curtains and expand on the frameworks we’ve developed for innovating in and around systems of finance.

Workshop on Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence

Join Criterion Institute as we take a deep dive into how finance can be used as a tool to reduce GBV.

Workshop on Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence

Join Criterion Institute as we take a deep dive into how finance can be used as a tool to reduce GBV.

Workshop on Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence

Join Criterion Institute as we take a deep dive into how finance can be used as a tool to reduce GBV.

Workshop on Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence

Join Criterion Institute as we take a deep dive into how finance can be used as a tool to reduce GBV.

Convergence XXI: Reimagining the Future of Gender Lens Investing

Convergence XXI aims to create an inclusive space for field builders to come together, share their experiences, and collectively reimagine gender lens investing.

Systems Change Training - July 9, 2024

Criterion will give participants a peek behind the curtains and expand on the frameworks we’ve developed for innovating in and around systems of finance.

TOOLKIT Workshop - June 19, 2024

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

TOOLKIT Workshop - June 4, 2024

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

Online Event: Insights and Invitations

We bring together our valued partners, friends and allies, and potential partners to celebrate the generous contributions of our partners while exploring new avenues for future partnerships.

TOOLKIT Workshop - October 14, 2024

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

TOOLKIT Workshop - October 1, 2024

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

Systems Change Training - September 12, 2024

Criterion will give participants a peek behind the curtains and expand on the frameworks we’ve developed for innovating in and around systems of finance.

TOOLKIT Workshop - August 27, 2024

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

TOOLKIT Workshop - August 14, 2024

This workshop will introduce participants to the terminology of finance, familiarize them with the logic of finance, and uncover leverage points and opportunities to influence the system.

Insights and Invitations - May 2024 (Recording)

A virtual event in which we celebrate partnerships in the work we do to expand possibilities for how finance can be used for social change.

Gender Search Fund

“What if we had a “gender search fund”? What if we pooled capital for women of all identities who have been systematically stalled in their professional path but have amazing skills? The search fund c

Systems Change Training: March Session

We invite you to join us on Thursday, March 7, 2024 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm EST as we kick off a series of training sessions on our approach to systems change.

Systems Change Training: February Session

We invite you to join us on Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 9:00 -11:00 am EST as we kick off a series of training sessions on our approach to systems change.

TOOLKIT Workshop – March 20, 2023

Whether you are a social change actor seeking to understand how finance can advance your organization’s mission, an investor looking to deepen your social impact...

Insights and Invitations

The holiday season is a busy time for many, so we have decided to offer Insights and Invitations as a video that you can watch on your own time, at your own convenience.

Online Event: What does it look like to design vehicles that disrupt power?

Designing vehicles that start from an understanding of power dynamics in a specific local context offers a tremendous opportunity to drive social change more effectively.

Toronto-TOOLKIT

‍Criterion Institute invites you to join us for our signature TOOLKIT workshop designed to deepen...

Convergence XX: All Things Systems

Criterion’s friends and allies are at the center of these conversations and so we are aligning our next Convergence, our dynamic and unique annual conference, take on ‘all things systems’.

ARISE Closing Session

The ARISE Consortium, supported by Global Affairs Canada, recently awarded grants to Canadian civil

Systems Change Training - October 2023

Criterion Institute has been a sustained experiment in systems change, particularly systems chan...

Systems Change Training - July 2023

Over the last 21 years, Criterion Institute has been a sustained experiment in systems change, particularly systems change in and through market systems and systems of finance and investment.

Systems Change Training - May 2023

We invite you to join us on May 4, 2023 from 7pm - 9pm EDT as we kick off a series of training sessions on our approach to systems change.

TOOLKIT Workshop - January 2023

In January 2023, Criterion Institute hosted a virtual training on “Using Finance as a Tool for Social Change.” Whether...

Insights and Invitations - Nov 2022

Criterion Institute held an interactive discussion in November 2022 about our work expanding what is possible for using finance...

Convergence XVIII: Financing the Reduction of Gender-based Violence

November 1-2 Gender-Smart Investing Summit (London, UK)

Gender Lens Investing Field-Building Event: Jakarta, Indonesia

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).

TOOLKIT Training

Criterion expands who sees themselves in the work of reinventing the economy and what matters...

Systems Change Training

Over the last 21 years, Criterion Institute has been a sustained experiment in systems change, particularly systems change...

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

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

Shifting Power Dynamics to End Sexual Exploitation in Kenyan Supply Chains

Shifting Power Dynamics to End Sexual Exploitation in Kenyan Supply Chains

Tracking Norms Change as Market Risk in Public Equities

Tracking Norms Change as Market Risk in Public Equities

A Roadmap for Private Investors: Investing to Address Gender-based Violence

A Roadmap for Private Investors: Investing to Address Gender-based Violence

Gender-based Violence and Political Risk Analysis

Gender-based Violence and Political Risk Analysis

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

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

Valuing the State of Victoria’s (Australia) Plan to End Family Violence Impact on Investment Opportunities

Valuing the State of Victoria’s (Australia) Plan to End Family Violence Impact on Investment Opportunities

Addressing Gender-Based Violence through Direct Investments in the Safety Sector

Addressing Gender-Based Violence through Direct Investments in the Safety Sector

Incorporating a Gender-Based Violence Lens in Development Finance Institutions and Multilateral Development Banks’ Infrastructure Investments

Incorporating a Gender-Based Violence Lens in Development Finance Institutions and Multilateral Development Banks’ Infrastructure Investments

Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Kenya Through Targeted Investments

Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Kenya Through Targeted Investments

Creating a Holding Company to Bolster Gender-Based Violence Direct Service Providers’ Power

Creating a Holding Company to Bolster Gender-Based Violence Direct Service Providers’ Power

Common Standards on Gender-Based Violence for Private Companies

Common Standards on Gender-Based Violence for Private Companies

Direct investments in media companies that aim to change gender norms

Direct investments in media companies that aim to change gender norms

Reinterpreting Data to Assess the Risk of Gender-Based Violence in Public Equities

Reinterpreting Data to Assess the Risk of Gender-Based Violence in Public Equities

Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence Through a Private Investors’ lens

Financing the Reduction of Gender-Based Violence Through a Private Investors’ lens

Common Standards on GBV for Public Companies

Common Standards on GBV for Public Companies

Types of Violence

Types of Violence

Investment Approaches

Investment Approaches

Geographies

Geographies

Sectors

Sectors

Audiences

Audiences

Types of Capital

Types of Capital

Diversify a Portfolio

Investors’ goals are reflected in a portfolio that is composed of a diversified set of asset classes. In order to build their portfolio, asset holders invest in financial products.

Manage the Business of Investing

Finance has its own business model. A set of processes define how finance works and those processes have costs. Those processes are paid for by a set of revenue sources based on the functional role(s) played.

Facilitate Movement of Capital

Intermediaries are institutions with a particular legal form that use instruments or vehicles to move capital. The instrument is defined by the terms written out in documents.

Invest in Opportunities

Systems of finance assign value. They analyze worth. Finance looks at opportunities and the risks in those opportunities over time. The result of that analysis determines what return is seen as possible.

Assign Value in a Market

Systems of finance assign value. They analyze worth. Finance looks at opportunities and the risks in those opportunities over time. The result of that analysis determines what return is seen as possible.

Let’s make 2025 the year impact investors analyze power

A power analysis serves as a critical tool to uncover imbalances in decision-making authority, resource distribution, and the prioritization of outcomes.

Impact Investors Need to Share Power, Not Just Capital

(Stanford Social Innovation Review; April 2021)

Best Practices: The Power Dynamic

(Invest for Good; August 2020)

Flattening the curve: Finance and the pandemic of gender-based violence

(UNICEF Connect; April 2020)

The women battling coronavirus at the White House

(Women Rule Newsletter (Politico); March 2020)

To Combat Sexual Assault, Women Are Resorting to Electric Shock Underwear

(Wired; March 2020)

Protecting Women Will Make You Money

(Foreign Policy; Sept 2019)

SEAF Launches Gender Equality Scorecard

(Markets Insider; Aug 2018)

Using Data to Link the Status of Women to Peace and Security

(News Deeply; July 2018)

Turning Intentions into Action: How to Boldly Implement Gender Lens Investing

(Next Billion (blog); July 2018)

Capturing the alpha in gender inclusion

(Impact Alpha; April 2018)

How to Put Your Money Where Your Feminism is

(Forbes; December 2017 )

Using tools of finance to address domestic violence against women in the Pacific

(Impact Alpha; September 2017)

Using Finance as a Tool for Social Change

Pacific RISE partnered with femLINK to produce this video capturing the Criterion Institute TOOLKIT and the experience of the participants.

Gender Lens Investing Gains Ground — But Can It Conquer Wall Street?

(Wharton University of Pennsylvania; July 2017)

FemTALK89FM

Sian Rolls and Hannah Hicks speak to Joy Anderson, President of the Criterion Institute, and Kate Nethercott Wilson, gender specialist with Pacific Readiness for Investment in Social Enterprise (Pacific RISE), about a gender lens investment training we ran in Suva. Participants to the event are gender specialists from Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu working in civil society, regional organisations and national governments. (June 2017)

The Double Payoff of Gender Lens Investing

(Forbes; October 2016)

Investment Key To Climate Change Solution

(Forbes; August 2014)

9 Gender Lens Investors to Know About

(Inside Philanthropy; June 2016)

Trailblazing Women: Suzanne Biegel, Founder of Women Effect

(Huffington Post; February 2016)

Why the world must invest in women now

(Financial Times; December 2015)

The Power of the Purse: The Five P’s for Shifting Finance to Help Women and Girls

(Huffington Post; November 2015)

Why India needs more women entrepreneurs

(Forbes India; August 2015)

Sustainability and Systems Change via a Sanitary Pad

(The Globe and Mail; June 2015)

VIDEO: Looking at Gender Makes You a Smarter Investor: Anderson

(Bloomberg TV; April 2015)

Joy Anderson ’89 Discusses Criterion Structure Lab

(The Wesleyan Argus; March 2015)

Bringing an Entrepreneurial Mindset to the World’s Failing Systems

(Harvard Business Review (blog); February 2015)

4 Reasons Women Entrepreneurs are More Responsible Than Men

(Forbes; December 2013)

Gender Lens Investing: From Margins to Mainstream

(Forbes; June 2013)

Nuns on Tractors Can Bring a More Sustainable World

(Huffington Post; May 2013)

Clinton Global Initiatives

At the 2012 CGI America Meeting, Joy Anderson announces a new CGI America Commitment to Action by Criterion Ventures.

Joy Anderson: Social Innovation Rockstar

In 2012, Joy was featured by Yoxi, a media platform to discover and develop Social Innovation Rockstars (SIR)’s.

100 Most Creative People in Business

(Fast Company; May 2011)