ImpactPHL is a three-person nonprofit that has moved $600M+ into impact investing. Its community experienced a disconnect: ImpactPHL’s offline events were warm and inviting, but its online presence was cold and often confusing.
After extensive audience research, we built category-defining content that better reflected the ImpactPHL brand, growing its audience along the way.
Changing how people think about their money is not an easy task. Gate Check Studios is a fundamental part of the marketing and communications efforts for ImpactPHL and they do a fantastic job.
readers to ImpactPHL’s owned properties.
email subscriber growth. Opens held steady and unsubs went down, all while doubling sends.
growth in summit attendees from 2025 to 2026 — the biggest one yet.
ImpactPHL’s audience is a complicated web of investors, philanthropists, institutions, and organizations. We didn't touch a thing until speaking with stakeholders. We promised anonymity in exchange for candor and the strategy took shape as themes repeated themselves across groups.
After aligning with the ImpactPHL team and board of directors, we built out the category domination strategy focusing on putting people and stories in front and meeting the unmet demand in the space. The strategy turned into an ongoing engagement (and we’re just getting started).
Perspectives was an occasional guest column; it was often difficult to track down and edit leaders in the space. We revamped the editorial operation, and now a new story lands every other week, sourced from interviews, guest essays, the monthly Conversations series, and the summit stage. We make sure the small team gets as much mileage as possible out of each conversation, repurposing it for social, video, and newsletters.
ImpactPHL wanted to give more on-ramps to new community members. So we made the Values Finder. It turns “I know what I care about. Now what?” into five minutes of picking and ranking issues. Investors leave with a one-page summary to hand to their financial advisor, and a reason to join the newsletter.
The Total Impact Summit is ImpactPHL at its best. We dispatched a video crew to catch the candid moments and the hugs, so all of ImpactPHL’s materials could level up and show the human side.
Christopher Zuehlsdorff
Ruth Shaber
Teresa Araco Rodgers
Homer Robinson
Pitou Devgon