
Joan Bavaria Award
About the Joan Bavaria Award
The Joan Bavaria Award, presented by Trillium Asset Management and US SIF, recognizes leaders in the investment and nonprofit sectors who are transforming capital markets for social and environmental impact.
Named in honor of Joan Bavaria, a pioneer of socially responsible investing, the award celebrates individuals advancing sustainability, corporate accountability, and ethical finance.
Call for Nominations
Joan Bavaria Award 2025

About Joan Bavaria
Joan Bavaria was a pioneer of socially responsible investing whose vision and humanity helped catalyze positive change in the capital markets.
Beginning in the late 1960s, she recognized that many investors wanted to integrate social and environmental values into their investments, that investment firms could leverage their funds to press for corporate social responsibility, and that such investments could be profitable.
Joan was a co-founder of US SIF in 1981, and founded Trillium Asset Management in 1982, establishing an investment firm to provide a space for clients to invest their money in alignment with their values.
In 1989 Joan co-founded Ceres, a nonprofit with a mission to move companies, financial markets and policy makers to find solutions to sustainability challenges. Joan was a founding, and long-time member of the boards of Ceres and US SIF, serving as Chair of each organization, respectively.
Joan served as Trillium’s CEO until her death in 2008 and she is often referred to as the “Founding Mother” of Socially Responsible Investing.
Following her death, Trillium and Ceres continued to present The Joan Bavaria Award to honor her trailblazing spirit and impact.
The 2025 Award

Nominations for the Joan Bavaria Award 2025 are open to people in the investment and non-profit / NGO communities who are working to transform capital markets.
Judges for the Joan Bavaria Award 2025 are leaders of two organizations that Joan Bavaria founded or co-founded: Maria Lettini, CEO of US SIF and Matthew Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management.
The 2025 Joan Bavaria Award will be awarded at the US SIF FORUM 2025 conference, which will take place in Washington, DC from June 25 – 27, 2025.
Eligibility

To be considered for the Joan Bavaria Award 2025, nominees must have experience in the investment industry or the NGO / Non-Profit community and share the spirit of collaboration and coalition building demonstrated by Joan Bavaria and the organizations she founded.
When submitting a nomination or self-nomination, please include a description of initiatives or accomplishments that have been the most impactful. Sharing information on the nominee’s individual accomplishments that are especially visionary, groundbreaking, or otherwise unique will be helpful to the people reviewing nominations. Nominations, including self-nominations, for the Award are being accepted through April 11, 2025
Current employees of US SIF and Trillium will not be considered for the Joan Bavaria Award 2025.
If you have questions, please e-mail [email protected]
Last Year's Winners

Joy Anderson, Suzanne Biegel (posthumously), and Jackie VanderBrug were joint winners of the 2024 Joan Bavaria Award in recognition of their influential work in developing the field of Gender Lens Investing.
Previous Joan Bavaria Award Recipients


















Call for Nominations: Joan Bavaria Award 2025
Nominations for the 2025 Bavaria Award are open to people in the investment and non-profit / NGO communities who are working to transform capital markets.
