OVERVIEW: The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation is a donor-advised fund housed at the Miami Foundation that supports arts and culture, health, education, the environment and economic development in Miami and South Florida.
IP TAKE: The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation is best known as a major Miami arts funder, but its reach extends to education, health, economic mobility, racial equity and the environment. Created in 2015, it works closely with The Miami Foundation—an example of how a wealthy local family can use community-foundation infrastructure to deepen its civic impact. Since then, it reports awarding more than 600 grants and investing or committing over $100 million in Miami organizations.
Access depends on the program. Arts-first nonprofits serving Miami-Dade have a clear public entry point through Pérez CreARTE, a recurring competition offering two-year grants for programs, operations, capacity building and capital needs. Recent awards reached $200,000.
Outside the arts, the door is much narrower. Pérez Community Impact Grants are relationship-driven and do not have an open application process. The strongest prospects are established or emerging Greater Miami nonprofits already visible through The Miami Foundation, local coalitions, civic partners or current grantees.
Across its portfolio, the foundation favors bold ideas, capable leaders, strong partnerships and organizations positioned to scale or deepen their impact. A warm introduction and a record of effective local work will matter far more than a cold proposal.
PROFILE: The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation is a South Florida funder established in 2015 by real estate developer Jorge M. Pérez, his wife, Darlene, and their family. It operates as a donor-advised fund of The Miami Foundation, which helps guide and administer its grantmaking. Jorge M. Pérez serves as chairmain and CEO of the Related Group. He and Darlene are Giving Pledge Signatories. 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. In addition to his development in South Florida, Pérez has also executed large-scale real estate development projects in Central and South America.
Prior to launching the Pérez Family Foundation, Jorge and Darlene made a splash in 2011 with a $35 million donation to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), formerly known as the Miami Art Museum. The Pérez family continues to support the museum. In an interview with IP, Jorge M. Pérez shared his pride in the museum. “There were no large public institutions in this country that had the name of a Hispanic until the Pérez Art Museum. So it was very important to me to create that type of legacy,” Pérez said. “I don’t really want to be known as the guy that built a thousand buildings. I’d much rather be known as somebody who cared about society and gave back and created a family tradition of giving.”
The Pérez Family Foundation’s mission is “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. 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.”
Grants for Arts and Culture
Pérez is, perhaps, best known for its signature arts and culture grantmaking program, Pérez CreARTE, which supports Miami-Dade arts organizations through three focus areas:
- Arts Access, including efforts to expand public engagement with high-quality arts experiences and reach communities that have historically had limited access.
- Arts Education, including in-school and out-of-school programs, multidisciplinary arts learning and preprofessional training for young people.
- Artist Fellowships and Residencies, including programs that provide artists with time, space, professional support and opportunities to develop and present their work.
The fourth CreARTE cycle awarded $5.05 million in 2025. Listed grants ranged from $100,000 to $200,000 over two years. Recipients included Arts for Learning, Guitars Over Guns, Young Musicians Unite, Miami Music Project, Miami New Drama, Nu Deco Ensemble, O, Miami, Bakehouse Art Complex, Fountainhead Arts and Miami Light Project. Grants supported arts education in Title I schools, artist residencies, organizational infrastructure, affordable creative space and culturally rooted programming serving Black, Latino, Caribbean, immigrant, disabled and other Miami-Dade communities.
- The 2025 competition was open to 501(c)(3) public charities, governmental entities and organizations working through an established nonprofit fiscal sponsor. Applicants had to serve Miami-Dade County.
- For the first time, the 2025 round considered only “arts-first” organizations—groups whose primary missions and activities were grounded in the arts. Individual artists could not apply directly. New and volunteer-led organizations were technically eligible, although the foundation expressed a strong preference for organizations with a proven record and the capacity to scale.
- Applicants could request up to $250,000 over two years, including general operating support. The foundation recommended that requests not exceed about 25% of the applicant’s annual operating budget. Actual 2025 awards did not exceed $200,000. The 2025 round is closed, and the foundation expects to reopen CreARTE in spring 2027.
- Future applicants should confirm whether the arts-first requirement and other 2025 rules remain in effect when the new guidelines appear.
- Best fits: The strongest CreARTE applicants will have an arts-centered mission, meaningful Miami-Dade reach, capable leadership and a credible plan to expand access, strengthen local artists or improve arts education. The foundation also looks for partnerships, measurable results, organizational capacity and work benefiting communities traditionally underserved by the arts.
Grantees:
- CreARTE has invested more than $16 million since 2019. The program awarded $2 million in its inaugural 2019 cycle, $3.2 million in 2021 and $5.05 million in 2025. CreARTE grants are generally large by local arts-funding standards and are made for two-year periods. The 2025 awards clustered at $100,000, $150,000 and $200,000.
- Previous CreARTE grantees include the Third Horizons Film Festival, the Juggerknot Theatre Company, the Miami Children’s Museum and the Bakehouse Art Complex.
- 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. The family gifted the museum cash and artworks totaling about $40 million in 2011, and made another $25 gift in 2023.
Grants for Education
Education grants outside the arts are generally made through Pérez Community Impact Grants. The foundation does not publish an open application, standing LOI process or detailed eligibility guidelines for this program. 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 supports learning and personal development from early childhood through high school, with an emphasis on programs that help young people overcome barriers and succeed.
- Supported work has included school expansion, college savings, youth and family engagement, outdoor learning and scholarships for students planning to remain in South Florida.
- Past grantees include KIPP Miami, Future Bound Miami, The Education Fund, Together for Children, Breakthrough Miami and the Florida International University Foundation.
- 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.
- FIU’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.”
- 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 Economic Development
Pérez names economic development as one of its main giving areas. Economic development grantmaking seeks to improve financial stability and earning potential through workforce and business training, access to capital, affordable housing and financial education.
- Recent recipients include Catalyst Miami, Grameen America and the Allapattah Collaborative CDC.
- Grants have supported small-business technical assistance, worker-owned enterprise development, microloans and financial training for low-income women, and neighborhood commercial revitalization.
- A 2023 grant to The Miami Foundation’s Racial Equity Fund supported Black-led organizations collaborating on systemic racial-equity issues in Greater Miami.
Grants for Environment and Community Development
Environmental giving supports access to urban green space, conservation, sustainability and public education about South Florida’s natural environment. The funder appears especially interested in projects that combine environmental protection with public engagement, education or scalable technology.
- Miami Waterkeeper has received support for its 1,000 Eyes on the Water program, including pollution-reporting technology, educational materials, Spanish-language outreach and engagement in high-need communities.
- Other past environmental grantees include The CLEO Institute and programs that combine environmental learning with education or neighborhood development. The Everglades is another major environmental grantee.
Grants for Health and Well-Being
The foundation supports organizations helping people with limited resources lead healthier and more independent lives or adapt to health conditions and disabilities. Its grantmaking spans direct service, inclusive education, child and family welfare, and programs intended to improve long-term quality of life.
- Past grantees include Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Voices for Children Foundation, Baptist Health Foundation, Jackson Health Foundation, Easterseals South Florida and United Cerebral Palsy Association of Miami.
- Grants have supported inclusive classrooms for children with and without visual impairments and efforts to reduce the amount of time children spend in foster care.
Other Grantmaking
The foundation has supported funds and initiatives administered by The Miami Foundation, including its Racial Equity Fund, Community Recovery Fund, community grants and Give Miami Day. It has also backed the Miami Herald Impact Journalism Fund. These awards demonstrate a willingness to use intermediaries and pooled funds, but the foundation does not identify them as standing application pathways for outside grantseekers.
The foundation does not operate its own fiscal sponsorship program. CreARTE applicants may work through an existing qualified fiscal sponsor, but individuals and informal groups cannot apply directly to the foundation.
Important Grant Details:
Because the Pérez foundation is a donor-advised fund of The Miami Foundation, it does not publish a standalone Form 990 or Schedule I grant list. Grants are ultimately made by The Miami Foundation, whose tax filings combine activity from many funds. The Pérez foundation’s own recipient pages are the clearest source for its recent grantmaking, although they may not capture every discretionary gift.
Grantmaking is mainly limited to Miami-Dade County in South Florida.
Grant access depends heavily on the applicant’s field.
- Eligible Miami-Dade arts organizations may apply through the recurring Pérez CreARTE competition. The 2025 cycle included an online application, a public information session and short office-hour appointments with program staff. Applicants should monitor the foundation’s Grant Opportunities page and The Miami Foundation’s grant listings for the expected spring 2027 opening.
- Community Impact Grants are considerably less accessible. The foundation explicitly states that it does not create open calls for these awards. Instead, the Pérez family, foundation staff and The Miami Foundation identify organizations through their knowledge of Greater Miami, meetings, site visits and local philanthropic networks.
- The foundation’s site invites organizations to contact Executive Director Belissa Alvarez and also maintains a general contact form, but it does not promise proposal review or funding consideration.
- Direct general questions to the staff at info@miamifoundation.org.
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