GreenLight Philadelphia: Loyal Champions Create Social Impact

GreenLight Fund expanded to Philadelphia in 2012 as the first expansion site after Boston. Two individuals that have been involved since the beginning and influential in the success of GreenLight Philadelphia are two Selection Advisory Council (SAC) members, Kat Rosqueta and Marc Singer. SAC members partner with GreenLight Philadelphia’s team in the process of identifying and vetting organizations based on their potential to meet local unmet needs with measurable results and significant impact. Kat Rosqueta is the Founding Executive Director at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, and Marc Singer is the Managing Partner, Technology at Osage University Partners. Kat and Marc graciously share their perspectives on GreenLight Philadelphia’s journey, impact, and potential for the future. 

Kat, how did you first get involved with the GreenLight Fund and why?

Kat: I was involved before the founding of GreenLight Philadelphia, when GreenLight Boston leaders came to Philly to inquire about expansion here. I was skeptical because Philadelphia is so different from Boston in size, geography, and demographics. 

The first Selection Advisory Council meeting helped me move past the skepticism because GreenLight had assembled such a diverse set of stakeholders in Philadelphia, my hometown. The SAC included nonprofit leaders, policymakers, heads of major educational institutions, venture capitalists, and business entrepreneurs all coming together because we cared so deeply about improving the lives of our fellow Philadelphians. 

I am now a member of the National Board of the GreenLight Fund, so I’ve had the privilege and the opportunity to see GreenLight Philadelphia directly on the ground as well as a view of the 14 cities that we’re working in now.

What about GreenLight’s approach brought you to engage with GreenLight? What about the work with GreenLight motivates you to continue investing in GreenLight? And what keeps you engaged as a SAC member?

Marc: I am constantly searching for ways to engage in the nonprofit world, especially in the Philadelphia nonprofit scene, to counterbalance my venture capital day job. GreenLight appealed to me because it applied some of the same venture capital principals to nonprofit investments, with a strong emphasis on proven results and long-term nonprofit sustainability. 

I have found the GreenLight selection process to be a terrific learning experience that exposes me to novel approaches to solving hard social problems, and it has been rewarding to observe and work with GreenLight portfolio organizations as they launch in Philadelphia. While my hope with GreenLight is to contribute as much as possible to the organization and those in need, sometimes I feel like I am also a fortunate GreenLight recipient, benefiting greatly from the organization’s knowledge, community, and process.

As an active SAC member, what continues to energize you about GreenLight’s work in Philadelphia?

Kat: I’ve had the pleasure to see how thoughtfully GreenLight Philadelphia identifies community needs and to see the model work up close. I’ve now been involved in multiple cycles of selecting organizations to invest in in Philadelphia. I continue to be impressed by the quality of the organizations and the leadership that we bring to my hometown. Then, when you see the real world impact that it’s having on the people they serve, that’s really what all of this work is about. 

Are there particular portfolio organizations that feel especially relevant and compelling to you in terms of improving economic mobility in Philadelphia? And/or were particularly memorable for you in the selection process?

Marc: I am particularly drawn to the portfolio organizations that have a novel economic model that does not rely solely on philanthropy over the long term. Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), for example, through its goal of reducing recidivism, can create massive cost savings for states such that state governments can potentially fund CEO purely based on the financial ROI. 

Watching CEO launch and thrive in Philadelphia as an organization, while at the same time meeting individual CEO clients and hearing their stories, has left a deep impression on me. My rational side knows CEO is a well-run organization with a strong business model, and the emotional part of me feels deep compassion for what CEO clients have experienced and how CEO can help restart them on a new path. 

What lessons has GreenLight Philadelphia learned along the way?

Kat: How to support leaders. The impact in Philadelphia only happens because of the strength of the leaders that GreenLight supports. Now that we have invested in so many individuals who have been successful in creating the change we want to see, we have lessons around how you support the talent that’s required to advance positive social change. 

The GreenLight Philadelphia executive director and team have evolved portfolio management with each additional organization, now at a total of 7 thriving portfolio organizations. In addition to financial support, GreenLight offers introductions to key stakeholders and partners, while offering operational and management guidance. 

How do you think about GreenLight Philadelphia’s impact on the nonprofit sector across the city? How do you think that influence/impact might evolve over time?

Marc: Philadelphia was GreenLight’s first expansion market. So when it started in Philadelphia, GreenLight was an unknown organization funding nonprofits that were unknown to Philadelphia. Its impact on the nonprofit sector came from the bottom up, by selecting a few highly impactful, innovative nonprofits and helping them integrate into the fabric of the city through hand-to-hand combat. 

But over time, as GreenLight’s portfolio organizations and their impact have grown, alongside a growing Selection Advisory Council, GreenLight has developed its own unique brand, far broader than simply as a provider of capital for nonprofits. 

Our legacy of incredibly strong Executive Directors, which Scott Emerick will continue, have become a convening force for Philadelphia social impact initiatives. GreenLight has already started to become its own brand, a seal of approval for new nonprofits as they enter Philadelphia, and this halo effect will further enable future portfolio organizations to hit the ground running.

What are your most important hopes for GreenLight Philadelphia for the next 10 years? How do you imagine the role and approach of GreenLight Philadelphia evolving?

Kat: When I look ahead to the future of GreenLight Philadelphia, as the Founding Executive Director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, I’m always thinking about what knowledge can accelerate social impact. My hope is that GreenLight will be a greater part of that conversation, that its lessons learned will build knowledge for the field, not just for Philadelphia or the social entrepreneurs, but for the broader field because that’s how we’re all going to have greater impact. 

Marc: GreenLight can be a strong force across Philadelphia over the next 10 years, based on its continued impact on the region supported by an incredible and growing national GreenLight network. It is amazing to envision that over the next 10 years, GreenLight will likely fund more portfolio organizations than it has so far, and already our list of portfolio organizations and their impact is long and impressive.

I expect that GreenLight’s voice in the Philadelphia nonprofit and local government communities will grow significantly, and as this voice grows, we might further scale our capital base and resulting impact on the community. 

GreenLight Philadelphia owes a debt of gratitude to Marc and Kat for their leadership, support, and contributions from our first portfolio organization to, most recently, our seventh investment. We proudly have seven organizations in our portfolio that are removing barriers to inclusive prosperity for Philadelphians, including: Single Stop, Year Up United, Center for Employment Opportunities, ParentChild+, Compass Working Capital, Hopeworks, and the Fountain Fund. In 2023-2024 alone, GreenLight Philadelphia’s seven portfolio organizations served 5,327 individuals and families. As we enter into our eighth selection cycle this year, we will invest in another proven organization to join the Philadelphia family together with influential community partners and our Selection Advisory Council, including Marc and Kat.