ImpactPHL, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit behind the annual Total Impact summit, has found its CEO in Kafi Lindsay. A lawyer turned banker turned community economic developer, Lindsay’s goal is “to create a powerful impact investing ecosystem in Philadelphia that can be modeled nationally,” she told ImpactAlpha.
Philly boasts at least a dozen locally-focused impact funds and investors, including Reinvestment Fund, Halloran Philanthropies, The Collective and Kensington Corridor Trust.
ImpactPHL’s previous executive director, Cory Donovan, who will lead the organization’s economic engagement strategies, and angel investor John Moore founded the group in 2016 to support the development of the city’s impact ecosystem (see, “Stocking the pipeline of impact investments in Philadelphia”).
Lindsay is connecting with ImpactPHL’s stakeholders, mapping out strategies to further boost the impact investing ecosystem, and doing the planning to build out “ImpactPHL 2.0.”
Indeed, place-based investing 2.0 was a key theme at this year’s ImpactPHL summit (see, “With collaborations and catalytic capital, place-based pioneers look to expand their impact”). One of Lindsay’s key objectives: driving more impact capital into Philly’s creative economy. “We’re looking at how we can get more investors into the arts and culture space, and looking at that as an economic generator,” she says.
Another: growing Philadelphia’s green economy. “There are certain areas of the city that get hotter than other areas during the summer, and those are some of our poorer areas,” she said. “A lot of our muscle is around elevating the conversation on where impact capital can come in and help.”
Lindsay previously led Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Office of Strategic Partnerships, mobilizing private, philanthropic and impact capital for green projects across the city. At PNC Bank, she oversaw $1 billion in loan and investment programs for nonprofits serving lower-income communities in greater Philly. As a senior counsel at the Philadelphia Housing Authority, she supported projects that revitalized over 100 affordable and mixed-rate housing units in the city.
The north Philly native attended Howard University and its law school. She developed a passion for community-focused impact, particularly in “deeply impoverished communities” like the one she grew up in. “There are large portions of this city that are not afforded resources and opportunities, and there are spaces where impact capital can address that,” she says. At ImpactPHL, Lindsay gets to help steer that capital.
