‘I have never been prouder of Miami.’ Give Miami Day kicks off at loanDepot Park
The field of loanDepot Park transformed Thursday into a celebration for the largest single-city giving event in the United States, Give Miami Day, kicking off a fundraising campaign that will bring in millions of dollars to Miami-area nonprofits.
The 24-hour event, hosted by The Miami Foundation, began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and had raised more than $25 million by mid-afternoon before the event ended at midnight. The gathering at the Miami Marlins’ home turf featured a buffet, live music, games and dancing.
“I have never been prouder of Miami,” said Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, CEO of The Miami Foundation. Fishman Lipsey said she hopes the event reshapes the way people view Miami — as a community known for giving.
Historically, Miami has had low civic health, donation rates, volunteerism and voter turnout, Fishman Lipsey noted.
“We created Give Miami Day to try to help make Miami one of the strongest civic communities in the world,” she said.
“Every single person in this room is a hero to our community,” Fishman Lipsey said. “They step up for Miami every single day, and this is our day to show them that their work matters and that we’re going to show up for them as well.”
Now in its 14th year, Give Miami Day includes more than 1,400 participating nonprofits across 10 “issue areas,” including animals, community care, education and youth. More than half of the participating organizations operate with budgets under $250,000.
Donations start at $25. Last year, the event raised $39.5 million from more than 100,000 donations.
The past year has been difficult for many nonprofits due to cuts in federal and state funding—including the Miami-Dade chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which provides support, resources and advocacy for people living with mental health conditions.
“By getting involved with this sort of group activity, it lifts us all up,” said President and CEO Susan Holtzman.
The work many organizations do can be challenging, but there is beauty in the way communities come together, said Debra Albo-Steiger, CEO of Miami’s Children’s Bereavement Center. The center has supported children and families experiencing death and loss since 1999.
“We go to people to make sure people are comfortable, because nobody should grieve alone,” Albo-Steiger said.
She added that one of the most meaningful parts of Give Miami Day is how nonprofits support one another—many even donating to each other.
“Part of my job is working with these other fantastic nonprofits in our community, because nobody could do this work alone,” she said.
Santra Denis, executive director of the Miami Workers Center — which focuses on empowering workers and tenants in Miami-Dade County — said days like Give Miami Day are especially important for social justice organizations that often go underfunded.
The Miami Workers Center does “real systems justice work to ensure that people are not kicked out of their homes, to make sure that workers have their rights protected,” Denis said.
The organization hopes to raise $15,000, which Denis said will go toward supporting “communities [that] are in crisis right now.”
Each time the running total tallied another million dollars, the crowd erupted in cheers, lights flashed and DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” blasted through the stadium.
Many nonprofits were surprised on stage with special donations, including Buddy System MIA, known for its community refrigerators and food-access programs. The group received a $39,000 gift from The Miami Foundation—enough to keep one refrigerator stocked for a year.
“It definitely empowers us to keep going with what we’re doing, and it provides us with the funding that we need to thrive throughout the year,” said Valentina Sabalza, Buddy System’s director of programs.
