Miami has long had a reputation for its opulence and wealth. It’s a city defined by its expensive clothes, fast cars, and exclusive nightclubs, but Miami’s most wealthy residents have recently been showing off their riches in a new and refreshing way. They’re investing their money into philanthropy, and the entire city is taking a turn for the good along with it.
This is all part of a greater trend towards less concentrated expenditures in the philanthropic community. It used to be that philanthropic capital and investment was most heavily focused on New York City, with other United States cities picking up the scraps, but the demographics of wealth are changing, and the results are a more geographically diverse dispensation of charitable contributions. Where families that built their reputation off their wealth and approach to charity – like the Rockefellers and the Carnegies – once dominated the conversation, the playing field is a little more even now, and the wealthy are recognizing the benefits that can come from charitable donations.
That’s not to say that Miami doesn’t have a history of philanthropy. Both Mount Sinai Medical Center Foundation and HistoryMiami Museum have been shining beacons of charity for Miami since the 1940s. However, it’s taken some time for there to be a level of consistency in Miami’s philanthropic community. That’s changing now. While New York City doesn’t even top the list of the Top 10 Charitable Cities in America for 2017, Miami has risen to the seventh position. While that may not be a surprise to local residents, it’s a refreshing rejoinder to common perceptions about the city. The 1970s and 1980s were a time of struggle for Miami. A sharp influx of drugs into the city brought both a rapid infusion of wealth and crime into the city. It quickly became known as a paradise for gangsters and an amusement park for the wealthy and corrupt. It was a perception rooted partly in fact and partly in the sensationalization of popular media like Miami Vice and Scarface.
It’s been a long time since those days, and the city has put a lot of effort into rehabilitating its image. Leading the pack is Philanthropy Miami, a philanthropic organization that gathers together successful Miami residents from all walks of life in the unified purpose of uplifting their community through charitable giving. Where the rich of Miami once treated the city as their own personal playground, there’s now a passionate and invested group of leaders who are looking to use their wealth to uplift their communities.