Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, president and CEO of The Miami Foundation, has seen a lot of generosity in her days, especially from the Black community to Black-led nonprofits.

“What we see across the country and also here in Miami is that our Black communities are outsized in their generosity, and they are outsized in their impact positively on our community,” she said. “We have so many organizations here that are led by extraordinary Black leaders, and we also have so many Black community members who are philanthropists giving back, not only in their own neighborhoods, but to the community at large.”

With Give Miami Day just around the corner, Fishman Lipsey, whose organization hosts the annual online fundraising campaign, acknowledged that the Black community’s generosity often goes unrecognized.

“For us at The Miami Foundation, celebrating leadership and generosity is a big part of what we do, and this day is about fueling resources to all of our organizations,” she said. “But it’s important to give a nod to the outsized philanthropy of the Black community, because I think at times, it doesn’t go recognized, and it should.”

Now in its 14th year, Give Miami Day has increased its outreach to and recruitment of participating Black-led nonprofits, Fishman Lipsey said.

“We’ve done a better job getting out into the community, building relationships with those neighborhood-based leaders, many of whom are Black leaders who are doing really exceptional things, but who are working with a lean team, and who have great trust in their neighborhood, but who don’t yet have deep relationships with other philanthropists who can support their work, and this is our opportunity to have their back.”

In addition to promoting nonprofits and funneling money to them, The Miami Foundation also provides organizational help to its affiliates.

“There are a lot of neighborhood-based nonprofits who are deeply trusted in their neighborhoods, and they are experts. They are best positioned to do the work, but they don’t have big fundraising teams,” Fishman Lipsey said. “Forty percent of them don’t have a single person on their team for communications, and they don’t have a single person on their team for fundraising. And we needed to get in front of them and say, ‘Hey, we have something for you here, join us. We want to support you.’”

She said another benefit to participating in Give Miami Day is that nonprofits get more flexibility with their spending. She said that Black-led organizations get more restricted grants — grants that can only be used on specific programs or projects — than any other group.

“So one of the things that we do on Give Miami Day is we focus on 100% of the donations need to be unrestricted. So it’s flexible dollars for the nonprofits to use how they want,” Fishman Lipsey said. “What we hear is this especially matters to our Black-led organizations, because often their hands are tied.” 

She said these organizations have also been appreciative of workshops led by The Miami Foundation.

“Almost every single week we have a free workshop for the nonprofits participating, where we coach them in how to tell your story, how to build your board, how to thank your donors, how to run an effective fundraising campaign, how to do a membership drive,” Fishman Lipsey said. “We even did trainings for board members, not just for the staff. It has become a big part of how they mature their entire year-round fundraising and communications strategy.”

Lawyer-activist Marlon Hill was on the board of The Miami Foundation when Give Miami Day started out in 2012 and has since followed its success.

“In the first year, we raised $1 to $2 million. Last year, we raised $40 million,” Hill said. “So I think the message is being embraced by the broader Miami-Dade community that we can take care of the needs of our residents and our citizens through philanthropy. And more and more organizations that are Black-led are benefiting from this generosity.” 

He sees Give Miami Day as an opportunity to help out with both short-term and longtime needs.

“It’s a great opportunity for the community to give to nonprofit causes that are near and dear to them,” Hill said. “And obviously with the man-made disaster of the government shutdown and the natural disaster of the hurricane, those are two things that are impacting our community directly right now.”

He urges those who want to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica to designate their donation to the Give Miami Day-linked Global Empowerment Mission. He called a donation “one way that you can bring relief to the tens of thousands of displaced persons in Jamaica.”

In recent weeks, The Miami Times has also featured several other Black-led nonprofits participating in the fundraising campaign this month.

When asked why people should donate, Fishman Lipsey painted a broad picture of the community.

“This is the most divisive time in our lifetimes, and what I see on this day that is magical is we see over 100,000 acts of love and unity for our community. And so this is not just a pitch to give, but give together, stand with community across every issue area, across every neighborhood, across every race and gender and ethnicity. Everyone on this day says, ‘I love this community, and I’m gonna elevate the things that I care about here.’ And it is so healthy for our community to have that. … This is a day of love for this community, and we want everybody there.”

Give Miami Day will be held Thursday, Nov. 20, with early giving taking place Saturday, Nov. 15 through Wednesday, Nov. 19. The Give Miami 5K and Festival will be held Sunday, Nov. 16 at Maurice Ferré Park, 1075 Biscayne Blvd, Miami. For more information visit GiveMiamiDay.org