Philadelphia Foundation hires its first chief impact officer

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Philip Fitzgerald was raised in Southwest Philadelphia. Growing up, he didn’t imagine he would build a career in philanthropy.

Decades ago, Fitzgerald — now the Philadelphia Foundation’s new and first chief impact officer — graduated from Drexel University with a degree in international studies and traveled as far as Japan to teach English after college. It was only by chance that he ended up working for nonprofits; he had applied for a financial analyst role at the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a community development financial institution, but worked in grant management.

“They put me on this program that worked with child care centers in Greater Philadelphia,” Fitzgerald said.

But that experience helped him realize how much he loved working to help improve the community.

“In philanthropy, it just hits different when you work in the community where you live. You get to see the impact firsthand,” he said.

Fitzgerald eventually obtained a master of business administration degree from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.

He previously worked for the Philadelphia Foundation for about eight years, working his way up to be the organization’s executive director of grantmaking.

Most recently, he served as a senior vice president for the Citi Foundation, overseeing a portfolio that focused on economic mobility for underserved communities. He led a $50 million flexible funding effort known as the Community Progress Makers initiative at Citi.

The new role of chief impact officer at the Philadelphia Foundation will work to grow the scale and effectiveness of philanthropy, with a focus on economic mobility, community safety and youth development. The idea is to build collaborations that include corporations, civic organizations, government agencies and community members to create solutions for pressing challenges in the city, all while layering a data-driven approach.

“That means our initiatives will continue to be responsive to community needs, include community voice, but also be driven by measurable outcomes that demonstrate real impact,” Fitzgerald said.

As the federal government reduces support for social programs, nonprofits often emerge as safety nets in communities like Philadelphia, he said.

“Philanthropic dollars will never fill the gap of public funds, but they can help organizations take chances to survive any shocks that they might encounter,” he said.

Philadelphia ranks last in the nation for metro areas for upward economic mobility, which refers to the ability of children to earn more than their parents.

“My role will be to roll out some of these economic mobility initiatives that are happening in the region,” he said. “Everyone should have the opportunity to succeed and achieve their goals.”

The Philadelphia Foundation manages over 1,000 charitable funds and makes over 1,000 grants and scholarships annually.

Pedro Ramos, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Foundation, said the organization is at a “pivotal moment” and that the new executive has a track record of building cross-sector partnership.

“[That] makes him ideally suited to help lead our next chapter of community investment and engagement,” Ramos said in a news release.

Nonprofits can apply for a grant from the Philadelphia Foundation.

Editor’s Note: The Philadelphia Foundation is a WHYY supporter. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.