Volume 86: Investing in Arts and Culture for Generations of Healthy Communities

Culture is seen as meaningful dynamics of a community — connections and relationships, rituals and traditions, languages, and well-being. The assets that communities value, yet are often not seen, understood, or mapped in the traditional investment equation, causes enormous underinvestment in culture. The concept of investing in culture and in artists themselves as central articulations of our neighborhoods and communities is a critical piece in transforming a “missing market” to invest in. What if investors saw the worth of artists as key actors in building new markets for community-led climate and health solutions?

Meg De BritoMarch 26, 2025Penelope Douglas, Founder & CEO of CultureBanq

Volume 85: Finanta Credit Union Focuses on Families on the Economic Margins

The creation of financial centers in Philadelphia that will blend the services of a nonprofit loan fund with a consumer-focused credit union, creating a continuum of financial services and access to capital for every need. Finanta Credit Union focuses on creating pathways for the underbanked to enter the financial mainstream, now opening in North Philadelphia with a full suite of established and tested products.

Meg De BritoFebruary 24, 2025Daniel Betancourt, President and CEO of Finanta

Volume 84: Holistic Real Estate Development—A Path to Health, Wealth, and Well-being for All

Barriers to home ownership and property retention have led to vast gaps in wealth, education, and health outcomes in Black and Brown communities. The Growth Collective focuses on real estate assets in divested communities across Philadelphia to create development plans that establish the land and property as valuable impact assets that anchor neighborhoods and accrue to the benefit of long-term residents. Learn about holistic solutions for investing in safer, cleaner, and greener neighborhoods.

Meg De BritoJanuary 28, 2025Sandra Dungee Glenn, The Growth Collective

Volume 83: Good Jobs and Good Food: Infrastructure Investments for Health in Our City’s Future

Institutional food has massive economic, health, and equity opportunities. To envision a centralized meal production facility in Philadelphia that pairs with a workforce development program and values-based food-sourcing practices will build a resilient regional food system that feeds Philadelphia’s future.

Meg De BritoDecember 2, 2024Molly Riordan, Philly Cooks for Philly

Volume 82: Moving from Conventional to Transformative Impact

Attending the Total Impact Summit ‘24, the leader of Transform Finance shines a light on the tensions simmering while navigating the primary topics of the conference. This article lifts a lens on what he sees as primary methods for change at the Summit — the high density of individuals, family offices, and small foundations that are types of asset owners with the most flexible and nimble ability to make changes to their approach for impact investing.

Meg De BritoNovember 4, 2024Curt Lyon, Transform Finance

Volume 81: Rethinking Venture Capital

SustainVC believes that their strategy not only benefits cities with a smaller VC presence, but it also paves the way for more venture investors and entrepreneurs to achieve success, which can be a flywheel for further economic growth in hub regions.

Meg De BritoSeptember 25, 2024Justin Desrosiers and Kendall Bedford, SustainVC

Volume 80: Making Sense of Employee Ownership Investment Opportunities

Whether you care about the vitality of America’s small business economy, the resilience of our manufacturing supply chains, local business ownership, or structural inequality—employee ownership (EO) is an impact investment thesis that offers over-indexed impact returns.

Meg De BritoAugust 30, 2024Alison Lingane, Ownership Capital Lab

Volume 79: Art is Everything - The Economic and Social Impact of Creative Ventures

We need to educate people – individuals, neighborhoods, all types of organizations, philanthropists, politicians, legislators – on the capacity and opportunity that the arts provide, as well as the influence the arts have on the world around us. The arts can be used to support many of the development and equity challenges we face today. How do we lift leadership that recognizes, and rewards, the value of arts and culture in contributing to vibrant, thriving communities.

Meg De BritoJuly 31, 2024Karyn Polak, Shift the Prism Advisory

Volume 78: To “B” or Not To “B” a Benefit Corporation *

As counsel for many socially-conscious businesses, perhaps the most frequent early-stage question fielded from entrepreneurs is whether they should organize their business as a traditional business entity or as one of the newer, alternative entities that many socially responsible businesses are increasingly using in recent years. While there is no one right answer to this question, Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld attorneys in the Corporate & Business Group weigh in with some key considerations that should help entrepreneurs decide on how they want to proceed.

Volume 77: Selling with Purpose — How We Exited Our Impact Company

Earlier this year, a significant milestone was achieved for NeedsList—founders successfully exited to a values-aligned company that shares their values and is committed to scaling the companies impact. As the Founders of NeedsList shared this news with networks, they were struck by the number of impact founders asking us for advice and to share the journey. With so few resources and case studies available to impact entrepreneurs, NeedsList hopes that their story can shed some light on what was learned.

Meg De BritoJune 13, 2024Amanda Levinson and Natasha Freidus, NeedsList