As the founders of Plum Alley Investments, Andrea Turner Moffitt and Deborah Jackson don’t like it to be thought of as a women’s investing network. In fact, 20% of their members are men. They also don’t want to be lumped in with “impact investors.” Plum Alley looks to invest in women-run startups that are focused on such issues as climate change, health care and education. But Plum Alley’s principals say they also want to change the whole experience of investing.

Unlike traditional venture capital firms, Plum Alley allows its more than 350 members, most of whom are individual investors, to choose in which companies they invest. Ms. Turner Moffitt, 40, and Ms. Jackson, who is over 60, both former Wall Street bankers, usually comb through 30–50 companies for each one they choose to present to their members.