Over the past year, we’ve seen cities grapple with the loss of federal funds they’d counted on to embark on bold new projects — or simply provide day-to-day services to residents. The Trump administration has frozen — or cut entirely — billions of dollars in infrastructure funding for cities, often in Democratic states, including clawing back a $159 million federal grant for Philly’s Chinatown Stitch project.
The Total Impact Summit — the annual meet-up of financial advisors, high net worth individuals, leaders of family officers and foundations, and others looking to do good with their funds — thinks they have a solution: Use your dollars to drive change locally. The event, which takes place on May 13 and 14 in Philadelphia, is centered on the theme “Capital Orchestration for the Future of Place” this year.
“Every year we lean more and more into place-based and local investing,” says Cory Donovan, co-founder and senior vice president of engagement for ImpactPHL, Total Impact Summit’s host. “There are a lot of conferences about investing writ large, about sustainable investing, even impact investing, but place-based investing — how to invest in your own community — lives outside the walled garden of the mainstream financial sector.”
Donovan has evangelized impact investing for close to a decade; now, he’s seeing others take note. Other conferences have sustainable investing or impact investing as their niche. Total Impact Summit has long helped financial leaders understand the “why,” “what” and “how” of this approach. This year, expanding the event’s focus on local and place-based investing made sense — in part because of what we’re seeing in the world. The event had 450 attendees last year. This year, Donovan hopes to reach 500.
There are a lot of different ways investors can work together to use their dollars to drive change in their communities. It could look like a city creating a neighborhood revitalization strategy — and backing it with pension investments, municipal bonds and affordable housing tools, like community land trusts. Or it could look like helping retiring local entrepreneurs transition their small businesses to an employee ownership model, rather than being bought out by private equity.
The event will look at place-based investment strategies for cities and rural areas alike. This year, they have a matching component, where fund managers who are raising capital can connect with investors who might be a good fit.
Donovan is excited to feature Edgar Villanueva, author of Decolonizing Wealth and a 2025 TIME 100 Climate Leader. His Decolonizing Wealth Project has distributed almost $1 billion to more than 270 tribes to support Indigenous-led climate solutions.
“In the 250th year of our country’s founding, we’re going to have the guy who wrote the book Decolonizing Wealth,” Donovan says. “There’s more you can do with your money than philanthropy.”
Villanueva will be speaking alongside Thaddeus Fair, managing director for impact investments for Living Cities, a collaborative of foundations and financial institutions working to close the wealth gap in the U.S.; and Fran Seegull, president of the think tank U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. Their panel focuses on how institutions can shift from a traditional to an impact investing model and the challenges and adjustments needed.
“The big muscle is where your money stays at night — what it’s doing and how it’s invested,” Donovan says. “Your money has an impact, whether you are intentional about it or not.”
As is fitting for an event centered on place, Total Impact Summit will also feature a number of local leaders who have made impact investing a priority, including Jason Ray, founder of Zenith Wealth Partners, Adriana Abizadeh-Barbour, executive director of Kensington Corridor Trust, and Dr Michelle Carrera Morales, CEO of Xiente.
“The good news here in Philadelphia is that we have a lot of people working on the solutions — affordable housing, tech startups solving real world problems like climate change, health, mental health,” Donovan says. “We’ve got a lot of people putting capital to work to solve these problems.”
ImpactPHL’s Total Impact Summit ’26: Capital Orchestration for the Future of Place will take place May 13 to 14 from 8am to 6pm at the Convene CityView, 30 S. 17th Street. Tickets are $1,595 general admission and $650 for staff and board members of foundations and endowments.
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