More than 77 organizations that serve Coconut Grove are participating this year in Give Miami Day, an annual online fundraising event that raised $43.8 million last year for nonprofits across Miami-Dade County. The event begins Saturday.
From mailing handwritten postcards to lacing up running shoes, the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry is gearing up for one of its largest fundraising efforts of the year — Give Miami Day – along with over 1,400 other nonprofit organizations countywide.
Give Miami Day is an annual online fundraising event for Miami-Dade County nonprofits that raised more than $43 million last year for participating organizations.
The food pantry has been participating in Give Miami Day since 2018, and leaders say donations from the event have become a key source of revenue for the organization, allowing it to expand services at a time when more families need help with groceries.
“With so much food insecurity… we do feel that we have a very important role in our community,” said Joannes Meagher, the lead volunteer for the food pantry’s Give Miami Day campaign this year.
The organization is hoping to raise $20,000 from individual donors during this year’s online event, a six-day sprint that starts on Saturday with early giving and ends at midnight on Thursday Nov. 19, the official Give Miami Day.
“If people want to feel like they are making an impact in their own neighborhood, then this is a wonderful way to do it,” Meagher said.
The food pantry is one of 77 organizations participating in Give Miami Day this year that serve Coconut Grove, including Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, Coconut Grove Cares, the START program, and Macedonia Community Outreach Ministries.
(Full disclosure: The Coconut Grove Spotlight is participating in Give Miami Day again this year. For a complete list of participating organizations, visit www.givemiamiday.org.)
The Coconut Grove food pantry, housed at Christ Episcopal Church on William Avenue in the West Grove, currently prepares around 230 bags of food every Tuesday and is accepting new clients.
Most of the groceries are delivered to homes within the 33133 zip code, but the pantry also accepts walk-ups. For locals without access to a stove, the pantry prepares bags with food that doesn’t require cooking.
Sandra Martin, the pantry’s director and a lifelong Grove resident, said even a $50 donation would make a tangible impact in helping combat food insecurity.
“That’s a bag of groceries,” Martin said. “We try to make it nutritional – fruits, veggies, rice, beans, bread – and we give meats.”
This year, Give Miami Day is celebrating its quinceñera, or 15th birthday.
Started in 2012 by The Miami Foundation, the online giving event raised $1.2 million for 300 organizations in its first year. Last year, the foundation collected $43.8 million in donations on behalf of more than 1,400 participating organizations.
Besides collecting donations from supporters, nonprofits can also receive extra funding through prizes, the event’s bonus pool, and matching funds, including the foundation’s own Million Dollar Match program, which provides a $25 match for the first 40 unique donations made to an organization, for a total contribution of $1,000.
Over the years, Give Miami Day has also grown to include more days, and events.
This year, the event will include a 5k race and festival (headlined by Flo Rida) on Sunday, and five days of early giving starting on Saturday. The food pantry will be participating in the 5k race for the first time this year.
Last year, nonprofits working in Coconut Grove raised $2.53 million during Give Miami Day, according to the Miami Foundation.
This year, dozens of nonprofits that serve the Grove, including Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, which repairs homes for low-income residents for free, hope to do as well or better. Since 2016, Rebuilding Together has repaired 100 homes in Coconut Grove.
Martina Spolini, the organization’s executive director, said repairs help combat gentrification in the Grove because when homes deteriorate and become unlivable, it pushes homeowners to sell the land to developers and move away.
Spolini said demand for the nonprofit’s services have risen and now there’s over 250 families on the organization’s wait list. Rebuilding Together hopes to raise $25,000 from individual donors during Give Miami Day this year – enough funding to repair 25 homes.
“The vast majority of the funding that we get is government funding, and we have seen a steep decrease in government funding over the past couple of years,” Spolini said. “So, the biggest issue that we have… is definitely funding.”
Natalia Zea, the Miami Foundation’s chief community investment officer, said almost 25% of Miami nonprofits experienced budget cuts in 2025, making Give Miami Day a more important source of funding.
“There have been federal, state, and local reductions,” Zea said. “We need to support the nonprofit community themselves and make sure that they’ve got general operating dollars so that they can succeed.”
She said Give Miami Day is a chance to spread awareness and encourage residents to be a part of something bigger.
“Our goal is to make Miami the most generous city in the nation.”
Anita Li is a Spotlight reporter and Report for America corps member covering government accountability in Coconut Grove and Miami City Hall. She joins us through our partnership with Report for America, a national organization that places journalists in local newsrooms across the United States.
