My Time is Up - But Now is the Time

My time as the interim president & CEO of The Miami Foundation is over. What a ride! These last nine months have represented a true privilege to serve the community I care for so deeply and to work astride such exceptional individuals, whose passion and enthusiasm for Miami is unparalled. The experience was personally humbling as much as it was enriching for me.

As I have reflected on the time I spent at The Miami Foundation, there are myriad reasons that my conviction for the mission and core purpose of this tremendously important community organization has been deepened.

For one, we are a truly diverse community. While that seems standard fare when referring to Miami, the events of this last week and the pandemic that has impacted all of us certainly put a finer point on the matter. The ability of an organization to reach across the broadest spectrum of our citizenry and impact the needs of all Miamians exists nowhere else but at The Miami Foundation.

We cannot ignore the events, like the senseless death of George Floyd, that shine a harsh and unpleasant light on the institutionalized bias that exists in our community, nay our country. Now is the time to engage in an honest and direct dialogue that transfers the energy of the ongoing peaceful protests into actual change. Meaningful change. Change that honors the principle of our republic - “life, liberty and justice for all”.

Now is the time to own this as a community, as individuals, as leaders and as citizens of this great land. We cannot deny what is obvious and before us. We cannot choose to be silent in the face of inequity so apparent and so unjust to let this moment pass. We must convene the dialogue now - a dialogue that must include all of the stakeholders and that results in real, immediate and effective change and reform.

Convening a dialogue on critical issues requires that an organization simultaneously have the conviction of its beliefs and the standing to be impartial, fair and equitable. Miami is more than the sum of its parts - the individual municipalities that make up the "Greater" in Greater Miami. Engaging all of the stakeholders in conversations and listening to varied perspectives is important in finding solutions for Miami. The Miami Foundation fulfills that function like no other organization in this community.

One of the fundamental roles of a community foundation is to understand the philanthropic ecosystem of its area. What I have learned about The Miami Foundation's broad and deep knowledge of this ecosystem in Miami would surely surprise many of its constituents. With over fifty years of data, site visits, and connection to the Miami's existing and emerging philanthropic organizations, there is no other place where donors (private, public or corporate) can work to leverage their intent with this level of insight. Nowhere!

The word "unprecedented" has been thrown around quite a bit over the last 100 days or so. Of course, that has likely been connected to the economic shock and individual impact the pandemic has had on so many. And, of course, I agree with the moniker. However, what I found "unprecedented" about The Miami Foundation was the ability to move so swiftly - as the pandemic affected our organization and our people - to launch a fund targeted at helping our community recover. The Community Recovery Fund was launched just days after we were all facing lock-downs, individual health concerns, and the transition to working and living in ways that we had not known before.

Finally, I leave you with this. It's all about the people. Few really know how dedicated, intelligent, thoughtful and passionate the team at The Miami Foundation is. They don't just work at the foundation - they ARE The Miami Foundation! They are all about Miami.

So as we transition to the leadership of Rebecca Fishman Lipsey (RFL is what we call her), I hope that you will reflect on how philanthropy works for you and for the organizations you care about - and think about how much more you can accomplish in partnership with The Miami Foundation and the leverage that all of these elements together can bring to driving community changing dialogue and life-altering philanthropy.