Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, President & CEO, The Miami Foundation

Invest: spoke with Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, president and CEO of The Miami Foundation, about Miami’s civic health, the role of philanthropy in a fast-growing global city, and why solving complex challenges requires collaboration at scale. “If we don’t bring people together to solve problems in big, bold ways, we’ll try to fix things with a thousand paper cuts and never build something transformational,” Lipsey said.

 What role does The Miami Foundation play in shaping Miami’s future, and what initiatives are you most focused on right now?

At its core, The Miami Foundation aims to be the home base for generosity and community impact in Miami. Our main goal is to build a Greater Miami where everyone can thrive. I often describe us as air traffic control for philanthropy. Our role is to understand what the biggest issues are in our community, who is working to address them, and how we get those people aligned toward a bolder, collective impact.

Those priorities evolve over time. During COVID, for example, we became deeply focused on digital access. When schools were physically shut down, students and families without internet access were effectively unable to learn or work. Our question was: Who is solving this, and how do we unify efforts so we can actually close that gap?

Today, the issues look different. One example that surprises many people is that the leading cause of death for children in Florida is drowning. In a place with water everywhere, the moment a child can walk, they need to learn how to swim. Many organizations are addressing this in different ways, but no one has mapped the system end-to-end. We started asking what it would look like to make a community-wide promise that every child in Miami gets basic swim lessons by age five. Not to create Olympic swimmers, but to keep our children safe. That is how Zero Drownings Miami-Dade emerged.

We are also navigating a period of political and policy shifts that affect housing, transit, food access, and immigration – issues that deeply shape daily life in a majority-immigrant community like Miami. We are also preparing for the World Cup, thinking about both the positive economic impacts and the community risks that can come with hosting a global event. Our responsibility is to listen closely, anticipate what communities will need, and bring the right partners together so we can move forward with intention and proactivity.

 The Foundation puts a strong emphasis on strengthening Miami’s civic infrastructure. Why is that important, and how do you approach it?

For years, Miami has ranked at or near the bottom nationally for civic health. That’s measured through data points like volunteerism, charitable giving, and voter participation. When we see that data, we see it as a challenge we should address.

The reality is, Miami is a city of newcomers. That’s what makes this community so culturally diverse and unique. Most people came from somewhere else, and even after decades, unfortunately, many still identify more strongly with where they’re from than where they are. Our work is about helping people feel a sense of belonging—to see Miami not just as a place they live, but as a place they’re responsible for and deeply care for.

We do that in a few ways. Give Miami Day is a big example. It’s a single day when we invite everyone in the community to find a cause they care about and give back. Last year, it raised $43.8 million in one day from more than 120,000 donations, making it the most successful single-city giving day in the country. But the point isn’t the day itself. The goal is to normalize the spirit of generosity and make civic engagement part of everyday life in Miami. 

We also focus on civic participation beyond philanthropy. While turnout is strong for national elections, local elections often see low participation. We host candidate forums so residents can learn who is running their city, what they stand for, and how local decisions affect daily life. When people understand the stakes, they’re more likely to engage. Ultimately, civic health is about people caring enough to show up, whether that’s through giving, volunteering, or voting.

 Given a growing population, how does the Foundation help ensure that growth benefits local communities and preserves the city’s identity?

Miami’s magic isn’t just the weather or tax structure. It’s a multicultural, innovative city built by generations of people who came here to start fresh and build something. What’s different about this current wave of growth is that many newcomers are already successful financially. That’s new for Miami.

The question we want new residents to ask isn’t just how this place will benefit them, but how they can help build its legacy. What challenges do they care about? What role do they want to play in strengthening the community they’ve chosen to call home? Growth creates opportunity, but only if people see themselves as stewards of this place, not just consumers of it. Growth also brings real risks. When a place becomes attractive, it becomes expensive. People who helped build Miami can be priced out of the neighborhoods they love. When that happens, we don’t just lose residents; we lose culture, creativity, and the soul of the city.

So, we’re thinking deeply about the choices we make now. Investments in affordable housing, economic development, transit, and climate resilience will determine whether Miami’s evolution lifts everyone or leaves people behind. Decades from now, we’ll be judged on whether we led responsibly for the future, not just for ourselves.

 How do you measure success when it comes to equity in areas like education, housing, and healthcare?

Data is the starting point for everything we do. The data can be uncomfortable, and that’s exactly why it’s important. Whether it’s maternal health outcomes, housing displacement, or education access, the numbers tell us where inequities exist and who is being left behind.

But it’s not enough to look at inputs. You can say you funded scholarships, but if students drop out of college because of a family medical emergency or financial shock, then the system isn’t working. When we saw that data, we created emergency funds to help students stay enrolled.

We saw similar issues with nonprofits that receive government funding on a reimbursement basis. Smaller organizations often can’t front program costs for nine months while waiting to be paid. That data led us to create a revolving loan fund so organizations could sustain their work without risking collapse.

We also collect important data from registered nonprofits during Give Miami Day across many issue areas, including education (the largest funded issue area), health and wellness, and others. We take time to analyze this data to help us make real-time decisions and recommend investments that will advance equity in all of these areas, and we also share it with donors and funders through various channels. 

Our approach is to look at the data, share it openly, choose a point of intervention, and then hold ourselves accountable for outcomes. We encourage donors and partners to do the same. Pick a data point that makes you uncomfortable and commit to changing it.

 Looking ahead, what excites you most about Miami’s future, and how is the Foundation positioning itself for what’s next?

We’re in a renaissance moment. Some people have believed in Miami for a long time, long before it was considered a global hub. Now that momentum is real, and the opportunity is enormous.

But this is also a critical chapter. If people don’t have the opportunity to own homes, build wealth, and stay in the communities they helped create, we risk losing what makes Miami special. The arts, the diversity, the energy, and the character of this place all depend on the people who live here being able to stay and thrive.

The Foundation’s role is to help the community make thoughtful, long-term choices. That means investing in affordability, transit, environmental protection, and systems that support upward mobility. The decisions we make now will shape Miami for generations.

 If there is one thing you hope readers take away from this conversation, what would it be?

The most important thing we do is bring people together to solve problems in ways they can’t on their own. If we don’t bring people together to solve problems in big, bold ways, we’ll try to fix things with a thousand paper cuts and never build something transformational.

There are thousands of people in Miami who care deeply about education, housing, transit, and other issues. But if they aren’t talking to each other and working toward shared goals, we’ll never create transformational change.

If we do this right, we listen well, build trust, and create relationships across sectors and perspectives. When people who might not normally work together build genuine partnerships, that’s when big, bold solutions become possible.
To sum it up, collaborative giving enables us to do more—by bringing individual generosity together; we amplify our impact, address complex challenges, and create lasting change across Miami that no single donor could achieve alone.