Give Miami Day

Two of the things I've said often include that if I gave the minimum requested amount to every cause that I myself consider very worthy, I would go broke fast.  There are loads of them, of various kinds, and I can't donate to everyone.  My choices are admittedly arbitrary: I choose some, I don't choose others (because I can't choose them all), and I hope and assume someone else chooses the ones I don't.  And their choices will be arbitrary, too.

A second thing I've often said is that most of my credit card bill every month is automatic monthly donations.  It's easier for me, so I don't have to think about it, and whatever organization it is gets a predictable donation from me, which they need.  Some organizations don't want to pay the credit card commission.  If they ask donors to pay just a little more, to cover the commission, I do it.  If they ask to be able to withdraw the donation from my bank account, so there is no commission, I agree to that.

By far most of my donations are $5-$20 per month.  The amount depends on a number of things.  I almost never add a payee (there would be no end to adding payees), and I never donate extra when they say they have an emergency, which they all always do.  I have a number of areas of devotion, so there are various kinds of payees.

I have two payees that are less than $5 per month.  One of them is Wikipedia ($1 per month), which has a massive number of people who rely on it, and the other is NowIKnow, which I recently increased from $1 per month to $2 per month, because the owner and publisher made a reasonable-sounding case that he needed more of his readers to donate, or those of us who do donate to donate a little more.

It is extremely well known, by the way, that the vast, vast majority of the "audience" of many things do not donate.  They just get what they get from listening or watching, and it's for free for them.  You do not need me to opine whether or not I think this is childish and irresponsible.

Some of my donations are more than the total of $5 to $20 per month.  I'm on the board of directors of Orchestra Miami, and I donate $1000 per year to them.  I have a special fondness for Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami, and I donate $1000 per year to them, too.  Dance Now! Miami is an almost identical organization, and I don't have a good argument as to why I don't donate $1000 a year to them, too.  I think I just think they have a larger following, so they have more access to ticket-buyers and donors.  I could be wrong.  I don't remember if I donate $250 or $500 a year to them.  I donate $500 a year to GableStage, because I think they don't need as much.  I used to donate $2500 a year to musimelange, because the connection was personal, and the experience was incomparable, but it's not clear to me they survived the pandemic in a reliable way.  When my income was stronger (I used to have more work, and I had one job that paid way too much, and I couldn't get them to lower the pay, so I just gave away what was excessive, and I didn't need it), I used to donate about $2000 a year to Miami Symphony Orchestra and about the same to Nu Deco.  But I couldn't keep it up, and I had what amounted to artistic differences with each of them, and Nu Deco has a very devoted and well enough heeled following, so I stopped those donations.  But I always host visiting Nu Deco musicians, so that saves Nu Deco money.  I still donate about $1000 a year to Seraphic Fire (I buy my season tickets, which come to around $500, and tell them to round up to $1500), although I think they're doing pretty well, but they're off the charts artistically, and my connection to them has come to feel personal.  I also used to donate $1000 a year to Miami Light Project, but I've sort of lost parts of the connection, and it's not as clear to me what they're doing now.  And whenever I get reminded, I give a yearly membership fee, of about $100 or $50, to MOCA.  It's beyond curious, and heart-warming, by the way, to note that lists of donors revealed in programs for at least some of these organizations list performers, who are paid by the organizations to perform.  Talk about "giving back."

It is critical to note, by the way, that cultural organizations (all of them) cannot meet their budgets by selling tickets.  I used to have the impression that ticket sales satisfied around 25-50% of these organizations' budgets.  But one of my friends who was a tenor, but now consults to cultural organizations, told me that any of these organizations that are particularly successful earn not more than 30% of their budget by selling tickets.  We're talking here about local organizations in Miami, the Louvre, the NYC Ballet, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or any of them.  The rest of their budget is met by grants (federal, state, local, and funds like the Knight Foundation down here) and donations from people like me and you.  None of this happens just by selling tickets.

And then, there's Give Miami Day.  This year, it's slated to occur on November 16, but apparently, it started early: today (11/13).  Give Miami Day is extensive, somewhat disorganized in who are the available payees, and why they're available payees, and a little bit mysterious (to me) in terms of how much payees get.  There are loads (possibly hundreds) of possible payees (non-profits), and they're of many kinds.  I guess/assume that what they all have in common is that they're all non-profits.  I used to assume that Give Miami Day took some amount of the money donated (do you know that GoFundMe takes 25% of what's donated?!), but in more recent years, I've heard reports that payees actually get more than what was donated, because of Give Miami Day.  If Give Miami Day can somehow pay payees more than donors donate, then I have no idea from where they get the extra money.

I donate to several non-profits on Give Miami Day.  Most of the donations are about $250, and maybe the occasional one is about $100.  I think I donate $500 to Catalyst Miami on Give Miami Day.  I used to send them my donation personally, but now, I do it on Give Miami Day.  All Give Miami Day donations are via credit card.

Please take a look at Give Miami Day.  You can find them at givemiamiday.org.  It'll take you some time, because it's a long list (several or many pages).  There are all kinds of non-profits.  Whether you like culture, like people, have children, have feelings for non-human animals, adhere to some religion, or any of many possibilities, you'll find non-profits it will be your pleasure and your honor to support.