OVERVIEW: The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation supports arts and culture, health, education, environment and economic development in Miami and South Florida.
IP TAKE: The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation is a major arts funder in Florida, but predominately in Miami, where it funds local arts groups of all sizes. It runs an application program for its arts grantmaking, but is otherwise not accessible, making it difficult to pursue funding for its other interest areas. Getting your foot through the door here will be challenging without deep networking. Note that this funder prefers to makes grants for more established organizations rather than smaller grassroots outfits. As well, opportunities for funding are limited, competitive and often for multi-year terms. Follow future giving opportunities here through the couple’s four children, who are also involved in the family’s philanthropy.
PROFILE: The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation is a donor-advised fund managed by the Miami Foundation and based in Miami, Florida. This is the foundation of Jorge M. Pérez, chairman and CEO of the Related Group, and his family. Pérez and his wife, Darlene, are signatories of the Giving Pledge. A son of Cuban parents, Jorge Pérez grew up in Argentina and Colombia before attending CW Post University on Long Island. He later received his M.S. from the University of Michigan. As a young urban planner, Pérez met developer Stephen Ross, which led to a long and profitable partnership. Pérez runs the Related Group, which claims to have developed more than 80,000 condos, mostly in South Florida. Pérez has also executed large-scale real estate development projects in Central and South America.
The foundation’s mission is to “to promote sustainable, inclusive and just communities by supporting programs and organizations focused on arts and culture, health and well-being, education, the environment and economic development.” It funds local efforts for arts and culture, health and well-being, education, environment and economic development in South Florida. The foundation’s approach involves addressing “challenges to residents’ quality of life, especially those with limited access to opportunities” and solving problems “at the individual, neighborhood and system/policy level.” This funder also “prioritizes efforts that are striving to scale up by expansion or replication by others.”
Grants for Arts and Culture, Arts Education
Pérez is, perhaps, best known for its arts and culture grantmaking program, Pérez CreARTE. The program was launched in 2019 and has since invested more than $5 million in Miami-Dade organizations that work toward expanding “residents’ access to the arts” and turning Miami into an international hub for “artistic excellence.” Previous CreARTE grantees include the HistoryMiami Museum, the Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College and the Bakehouse Art Complex, among many others. The program awards two-year grants in amounts ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. Detailed guidelines are linked to the site, and application due dates generally fall in April each year.
In the arts space, the family also funds the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), which is a modern and contemporary art museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting international art. Jorge Pérez gifted the museum cash and artworks totaling about $40 million in 2011.
Grants for Education
Pérez’s education grantmaking aims to “[p]rovide aspiring children and youth with exceptional learning and personal growth opportunities from early childhood through high school.” The foundation has provided ongoing support to the KIPP Miami Charter School Network. Other education grantees include the Future Bound Miami college savings program and the Education Fund, which “provides private sector leadership and support for innovation in public education” in Miami-Dade County.
While higher education is not a stated area of interest, Pérez has provided significant support to Florida International University throughout the years. The school’s Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences is home to the Jorge M. and Darlene M. Pérez Nursing Laboratory, and in 2013 the couple made a $1 million donation to the university’s Honors College to create the the Jorge and Darlene Pérez Scholars Endowment, which provides “scholarships for high-achieving students in the college, particularly those intending to live and work in the South Florida community upon graduation.”
Grants for Public Health
The foundation’s health giving works to “[h]elp people with limited resources lead more active, productive, and enriching lives by adopting healthier lifestyles or adapting to their health or physical conditions.” This appears to be a smaller giving area. Grantees include the Baptist Health Foundation, the Jackson Health Foundation, Plaza Health Network and the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Miami.
It is worth mentioning that in 2006, Pérez and Darlene made a significant donation to Florida International University’s Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences, creating the Jorge M. and Darlene M. Pérez Nursing Laboratory.
Grants for Work, Opportunity and Housing
Pérez names economic development as one of its main giving areas. Grantmaking works broadly to improve career access and training, develop small local businesses, expand affordable housing and provide “personal finances education” to area residents. Grameen America has received funding for its work providing micro-loans and other forms of support to low-income women entrepreneurs. Other grantees include Venture Café Miami, the Capital Good Fund, the Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami.
Grants for Environment and Community Development
The Pérez Foundation makes grants to preserve the environment and “advance urban livability.” Areas of specific interest here include maintaining and improving access to “urban green spaces” and “protecting the natural environment” in and around Miami and South Florida. Grantees include the Miami Waterkeeper and the Everglades Foundation.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range between about $10,000 and $300,000, but gifts to grantees with which the foundation maintains ongoing relationships may be much larger.
Grantmaking is mainly limited to Miami-Dade County in South Florida.
Small- and medium-sized arts and culture organizations number significantly among the foundation’s grantees.
Only the Pérez CreARTE program accepts applications for funding. Guidelines are linked to the program page in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. For all other areas of giving, proposals are accepted by invitation only.
Information about past arts grantees and other grantees are linked to the foundation’s website.
Direct general questions to the staff at foundation@relatedgroup.com.
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