Miami opens path for private donations to public projects

Private donors now have a new path to help pay for public improvements in Miami’s District Two, from neighborhood street projects to parks, through a philanthropic fund managed by The Miami Foundation.

The city commission on Oct. 22 authorized the city manager to establish the fund with the nonprofit and create a dedicated city account for donations. The initiative gives residents, businesses and other donors a formal way to contribute to local projects without relying solely on taxes, fees and existing city revenue.

The fund will finance public improvements in the district, which includes downtown, Coconut Grove and much of Miami’s waterfront. Donations can support projects ranging from park and street improvements to traffic calming, seawalls and flood control, providing another potential funding source for neighborhood needs.

District Two Commissioner Damian Pardo, who sponsored the resolution, said residents have expressed interest in contributing to public projects but the city has lacked a clear process for accepting their money.

“In the past, I’ve had residents come to me and say ‘I’m willing to give $250,000 as part of this street project if you’ll do my curb and gutter’,” Mr. Pardo said during the Oct. 22 meeting. “It has been impossible because we don’t have an established process or system to take in that money.”

By the time city officials could determine how to handle such a contribution, Mr. Pardo said, prospective donors had moved on. People willing to give to their communities have other organizations and causes competing for their support, he said, making it important for the city to offer a more straightforward way to contribute.

“I want the City of Miami to be a place where a private donor can come here and say, ‘I want to give to this park’,” Mr. Pardo said, describing a system in which donors could pay for improvements they care about.

The resolution directs the city manager to set up the fund with The Miami Foundation. The nonprofit describes itself as a “philanthropic bank,” helping individuals, families and businesses manage charitable giving and direct resources toward community initiatives. Since its founding in 1967, the foundation has invested more than $905 million in Greater Miami in partnership with more than 1,000 fundholders and 60,000 donors.

Under the approved measure, donations collected through the foundation are to be transferred to a city special revenue account called the “District Two Philanthropic Fund.” The city will then budget, allocate and appropriate the money for projects and programs within the district. The resolution leaves the process for choosing projects undefined and does not clarify whether donors will be able to direct their contributions toward specific improvements.

Mr. Pardo, who previously served as a trustee of The Miami Foundation, said the organization could provide an established structure for handling donations and help build public confidence that contributions would be used responsibly. He said he wants to maintain oversight of the projects while making their progress transparent to the public.

“There are a lot of people out there who believe they’ve been very fortunate, very blessed, and they’re willing to give,” Mr. Pardo said. “And we don’t really have a path for those people.”

In an Oct. 23 Instagram post the day after the city commission approved the initiative, Mr. Pardo wrote, “Taxes, fees cannot be the only ways to increase city revenue. We must find innovative ways to increase revenue for our city.”

“The goal is simple: facilitate gifts, honor donor intent, provide transparency and accountability, and reduce bureaucracy while promoting innovation and providing a tax deduction,” he wrote.

The post invited residents to contact the District Two office to schedule an appointment to discuss the program and its potential benefits.