Merchants Fund leader opens PCCP season

PCCP opens its 2025-26 season with Jill Fink, a dedicated advocate for small businesses and community-driven change. Jill will talk about the importance of small businesses to Philadelphia and the role of The Merchants Fund, the city's170-year-old philanthropy that is unique nationwide.

Since 2018, Jill has led The Merchants Fund as Executive Director, working to uplift and invest in under-resourced small businesses across Philadelphia’s marginalized neighborhoods. Jill is deeply committed to ensuring that merchants who are too often overlooked or undervalued receive the visibility, support, and respect they deserve.

Under her leadership, TMF has doubled its budget, tripled grantmaking, secured over $3.7M in public contracts from the Philadelphia Commerce Department, and launched Beyond the Grant, a coaching program for grantees.

Jill’s commitment to equity and entrepreneurship is rooted in her own experience as founder of Mugshots Coffeehouse, a mission-driven business and founding B-Corp that earned recognition from Philadelphia Magazine (Best of Philly) and the Sustainable Business Network (Triple Bottom Line award). She returned to the nonprofit sector in 2011 and sold Mugshots in 2017.

She holds a Master’s in Women’s Studies from Rutgers and leadership certificates from Bryn Mawr College and the Wharton School.

When she’s not working, you’ll likely find her on a trail in the Wissahickon with a very dirty dog who sometimes responds to the name Hazel.

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Host or Publisher Philadelphia Committee on City Policy (PCCP)