The Miami Foundation will celebrate the 15th edition of Give Miami Day in November, which the institution presents as the largest single-city fundraising event in the United States. Cuban Americans, like all other participants, will be able to donate money to the charities of their choice.
The activities program in 2026 includes a race, a free cultural festival, and a fundraising event for over 1,000 nonprofit organizations in the Miami metropolitan area.
The calendar kicks off on November 14, when early donations open. One day later, on November 15, the Give Miami 5K Race + Festival will be held at Maurice A. Ferré Park, located at 1075 Biscayne Boulevard.
The post-race festival will be free, although prior registration is required and spaces are limited. It will be headlined by Miami artist Flo Rida, accompanied by V12 and Soleil River Nation, with family activities, food stalls, and participation from various organizations.
100% of the registration fee for the race is allocated to the non-profit organization chosen by each participant.
The main donation day is November 19, and each participant must contribute a minimum donation of $25. The online platform allows anyone to find a cause that resonates, ranging from education and health to the environment and the arts.
Among the beneficiary organizations are some well-known ones such as Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, dedicated to facilitating access to affordable housing; YWCA South Florida, which develops educational and support programs for women and families; Chapman Partnership, specialized in caring for homeless individuals; The Children's Movement of Florida, focused on child welfare; and Food Rescue US – South Florida, which recovers surplus food to distribute among needy communities.
What is Give Miami Day and how did it originate?
Give Miami Day was established in 2012 through the initiative of two individuals connected to the Cuban community: Javier Alberto Soto, the son of Cuban immigrants born in Madrid and raised in Miami, who was then the president of The Miami Foundation, and Alberto Ibargüen, born in Puerto Rico to a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother, who was leading the Knight Foundation.
The trigger was a study that indicated Miami as one of the communities with the lowest civic participation in the country.
"The Give Miami Day was born from a breakfast I had with Alberto Ibargüen," Soto recalled in a commemorative video from The Miami Foundation. Ibargüen suggested that each donor choose their cause freely and offered an incentive of $250,000 from the Knight Foundation if the event took place before the end of the year.
Soto traveled to Pittsburgh to study similar models, and on December 12, 2012, the first edition took place: $1,124,050 raised through nearly 5,000 donations for 300 organizations. By 2013, the amount had already reached $3.2 million.
In 2026, the organizers of Give Miami Day aim to surpass the records set the previous year, when over 60,000 donors made more than 120,000 donations and raised $43.8 million for more than 1,000 organizations.
"We can show the world that we are generous, that we are charitable, and here is the proof," summarizes Javier Alberto Soto in the commemorative video.
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