Give Miami Day set charitable giving records both county-wide and in Key Biscayne, nonprofit officials said, a bright spot against national trends that saw a drop in donations in 2022.
“We are blown away by the generosity of our community,” said Miami Foundation President Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, of the $34.1 million raised in a four-day period culminating Nov. 16. The total was $2 million more than the previous year and also set a record number of donations at 96,000, an increase of 18% over the year before.
“96,000 donations means that more nonprofits are diversifying their funding bases and building increased networks of support,” Lipsey said.
Give Miami Day serves as a kickoff for the larger end of year fundraising season that many nonprofits rely on. The event, now in its 12th year, raised funds for 1,176 nonprofits. There were more than 46,000 unique donors.
Locally, the Key Biscayne Community Foundation also set a record for Give Miami Day donations, said Executive Director Melissa McCaughan White. The Foundation helps coordinate fundraising for a number of groups, including Fill-a-bag, A Zero Waste Culture, the Liberty City-focused Charles Press Foundation, and many others.
Miami Fourth Estate, the standalone nonprofit that publishes the Key Biscayne Independent, also saw record contributions and a record number of donors, according to statistics from the Miami Foundation.
Nationally, the strong Give Miami Day showing comes after a decline in U.S donations in 2022. Charitable giving slipped more than 10%, adjusted for inflation, according to Giving USA, a widely-cited report on philanthropy trends. The organization noted that last year, the share of GDP given to charitable organizations was 1.9%, down from a record 2.3% in 2021.
Lipsey said that while the organization is still crunching numbers, it appears that faith-based organizations and educational nonprofits did well.
“Another trend we’re seeing is that people are giving to more causes – they might give less to each organization, but they’re diversifying their giving. This is very important because so many of our nonprofits are small organizations that need to grow their donor bases in order to sustain their impact,” Lipsey said.
Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.