The Miami Foundation is a community grantmaking foundation located in Miami, Florida. The foundation offers donors the opportunity to create a donor-advised fund within the foundation for donors to direct their funds to recipient organizations. Much of the organization’s funding activity focuses on the greater Miami and south Florida region although the group is both funded by and funds national organizations and groups in other states.

The foundation fiscally sponsors a program titled Representative Democracy, which promotes left-of-center diversity, equity, and inclusion philosophy within government. Funders of the foundation include many notable left-of-center grantmaking organizations such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Democracy Fund. ^{1 2 3 4}

Background

The Miami Foundation was established in 1967 and distributed $485 million in its first 50 years of existence, mostly focusing on projects in the Miami area. Unlike other foundations, the Miami Foundation allows its funders to set up donor-advised funds (DAFs) within the organization that allows the donor to personalize their giving through the foundation while he or she is living. The foundation manages over 1,000 such funds and has more than $350 million in assets under management as of 2022. ⁵

The organization has promoted a variety of left-of-center movements and causes including launching a “racial equity fund” to “address systemic racism” in 2020, a program that has received a $1 million donation from Facebook. The foundation also directed funding to promote completion of the 2020 Census. ^{6 7}

The Miami Foundation also has a longstanding partnership with the National LGBTQ Task Force to fund local LGBT organizations in the Miami area. ⁸

Representative Democracy

The Miami Foundation allows small nonprofits to be housed as a project under its umbrella. One such organization fiscally sponsored by the Miami Foundation is called Representative Democracy, which is described as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among government agency employees and elected officials. The project does not have a listing on the foundations website but grant databases from donors to the effort explain that the program is centered on providing grants and training to form DEI programs and strategies in public sector workspaces. The program also states a goal of bringing such initiatives to the U.S. Congress. The Representative Democracy Program has drawn funding from notable left-of-center funding groups including the Hewlett Foundation and the Democracy Fund. ^{9 10 11}

Funding

The Miami Foundation’s racial equity program has received funding from companies and organizations including Facebook, the Jorge M. Perez Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, Amalgamated Foundation, the Edward S. Moore Family Foundation, the Fernandez Pave the Way Foundation, the Five Together Foundation, the Bacardi Family Foundation, Google, and Wells Fargo. ¹²

In 2021, the foundation received the largest gift in its history of $33 million from the Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation. ¹³

Members of the foundation’s Ruth and Richard Shack Society recognizing funding of over $1 million to the foundation include the Batchelor Foundation, the City of Miami, former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Charles E. Cobb, the Good Government Initiative Fund, The Greenberg Traurig Philanthropic Fund, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade Office of the State Attorney, the Miami Heat, the Marlins Foundation, Royal Caribbean, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. ¹⁴

1. “Representative Democracy.” Democracy Fund. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://democracyfund.org/grant/representative-democracy/
2. “The Miami Foundation for the Representative Democracy program.” Hewlett Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://hewlett.org/grants/the-miami-foundation-for-the-representative-democracy-program/
3. “Ruth and Richard Shack Society.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/fordonors/ruth-and-richard-shack-society/
4. “About.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/about/
5. “About.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/about/
6. “About.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/about/
7. “2021 Annual Report.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220322-TMF-Annual-Report21-FINAL.pdf
8. “2021 Annual Report.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220322-TMF-Annual-Report21-FINAL.pdf
9. “The Miami Foundation for the Representative Democracy program.” Hewlett Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://hewlett.org/grants/the-miami-foundation-for-the-representative-democracy-program/
10. “Representative Democracy.” Democracy Fund. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://democracyfund.org/grant/representative-democracy/
11. “Fiscal Sponsorship Funds.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022.  https://miamifoundation.org/fordonors/fiscal-sponsorship-funds/
12. “2021 Annual Report.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220322-TMF-Annual-Report21-FINAL.pdf
13. “2021 Annual Report.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220322-TMF-Annual-Report21-FINAL.pdf
14. “Ruth and Richard Shack Society.” Miami Foundation. Accessed May 5, 2022. https://miamifoundation.org/fordonors/ruth-and-richard-shack-society/