ImpactPHL is accelerating Greater Philadelphia’s impact economy.
ImpactPHL envisions Greater Philadelphia as a leader in the emerging, global impact economy. We support forward-minded leaders and practitioners that are aligning their financial assets to drive social, environmental, and economic solutions in our region and beyond.
Our Future Will Be Determined By
How We Invest Today!
What is the Impact Economy?
a thriving, multi-stakeholder economy powered by the creation of and investment in social and environmental solutions
The problem
Capitalism is failing many communities and our environment. Philanthropy alone won’t solve the problems.
Despite Greater Philadelphia’s $490 billion economy, contemporary capitalism has created negative externalities that include poverty, racial and gender inequities, environmental vulnerabilities, education shortcomings, and more. Creating and financing solutions cannot be an afterthought relegated to governments and philanthropy.
An opportunity
Capitalism is evolving to advance 21st-century solutions.
Forward-minded business and investment leaders are modeling new leadership, culture, systems, and tools to divest from harmful business practices and invest in positive solutions. Global and local adoption of tools - such as impact investing, ESG investing, corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, and more - lay the groundwork for the growth of impact economies.
Our solution
Greater Philadelphia can and should transition to an “impact economy.”
A pathway to achieve this includes engaging diverse stakeholders - investors, asset managers, entrepreneurs, businesses, philanthropy, and government - to align our full economic power with social and environmental solutions. In doing so, we can address longstanding, systemic issues while creating a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient regional economy.
What to read
Signals of a mainstream shift toward the impact economy are everywhere.
“Our investments push forward an agenda – whether we intend them to or not – so it makes sense to put our money where our mouths (and minds) are.”
Mark Pinsky, Founding Partner of CDFI Friendly America, Former President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, and Author of "Organized Money"
What is ImpactPHL’s role?
ImpactPHL is a 501(c)3 nonprofit community-builder and cooperative platform that supports individuals and organizations building Greater Philadelphia’s impact economy. Given the critical role that capital plays in building a successful impact economy, we primarily focus on how a spectrum of financial assets are aligning to create positive impact outcomes.
Perspectives
Local leaders and practitioners are sharing fresh perspectives on everything from new tools to case studies from the field. ImpactPHL amplifies the voices of those building the impact economy via our multi-part content series.
Events
Events build community, advance thought leadership, and share actionable knowledge. ImpactPHL convenes regional events throughout the year from informal socials to our flagship conference, Total Impact Philadelphia.
Action
Building a successful impact economy requires many individual and collaborative actions from a diverse set of stakeholders. ImpactPHL primarily supports action that aligns capital with solutions creating positive impact.
What we’re doing
In addition to our recurring events and content, ImpactPHL advances a number of impact-focused initiatives and resources including: .
Moving Minds & Money to Transform Arts & Culture Investment is an investor’s primer for catalyzing capital into place-based, arts & culture-driven impact
OptImpact is an online platform that simplifies discovery and connection to a pipeline of investable impact opportunities in Philadelphia.
The Investable Impact Toolkit supports enterprises in identifying, tracking, and articulating impact.
PAGE Hurdle Fund - managed by ImpactPHL & The Economy League - launched with $125,000, aiming to eliminate barriers for Black & brown businesses pursuing institutional contracts to grow businesses & build wealth.