10 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 It was so boring. And I was like, that is so not who Miami is. We’re a place where there’s a sizzle to how we communicate things. We had to have that as part of the campaign,” Beatty said. But Beatty was ahead of the curve in seeing the potential of a new communicative vehicle: social media. This was 2012. Instagram had just come online; if you wanted to schedule a Tweet, you needed a third-party app like HootSuite. Even so, Beatty not only made social media the linchpin of The Miami Foundation’s strategy, but also led training sessions for the nonprofits themselves where he taught them how to leverage the new technology. To this day, leaders in Miami’s nonprofit sector look back on those training sessions as transformational. “He was critical in helping us expand our reach and our audience, reaching new donors across Miami,” said Lindsay Linzer, Chief Impact Officer at The Miami Foundation, who worked with Beatty. “Because he’s an expert storyteller, he was the face of a lot of those training efforts for nonprofits.” The gambit worked. In 2012, Give Miami Day brought in $1.2 million – and Beatty’s team thought “it was all the money in the world.” And then the following years brought in $3.2 million, $5 million, $9 million, $12 million. Propelled by evolving versions of Beatty’s original strategy, Give Miami Day became a juggernaut that has raised over $150 million since its inception, consistently breaking its own record. Many would’ve been satisfied. Beatty wasn’t. In 2020, amid the nationwide racial reckoning that was sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Beatty realized that he wanted to spend the entirety of his professional energy – not just part of it – serving Black communities in South Florida. “I wanted it to be the central thing that I worked on every single day when I got up: to ensure that Black people were getting the equitable share of resources that they deserved in this country. So I began to look for opportunities in that space,” he said. The Carrie Meek Foundation was the perfect fit. Named after the first African-American to represent Florida in the United States Congress since Reconstruction, the organization is one-of-a-kind in its singular focus on supporting and uplifting Black communities in the state. “He can tell a good story about what might seem to be a dreary set of facts,” said Lucia Davis-Raiford, the foundation’s CEO, who hired Beatty largely on the basis of his skills as a communicator and his ability to put people at ease. “He can turn mediocre messages into positive ones, and he also, I think, is smart about writing in a voice that people can ‘hear.’” After Beatty joined as vice president and chief operating officer, he led initiatives that transformed the foundation’s work. One was the Meek Mobilize Grants Program, which looks for small, ad-hoc programs that are already working to address problems within specific neighborhoods – especially violence – and equips them with the tools, resources, and infrastructure they need to function like sustainable nonprofits. “This community-building work – this stuff is not brain surgery. If you give the resources to individuals who know these communities, who know the solutions, and you support them properly, issues get solved,” Beatty said. Beatty’s next career step extended his personal investment in his home community. This past summer, he stepped into his latest role: Market Director - Miami for the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority. Founded in 2023, the authority aims to help bring innovative solutions to local community challenges by identifying and supporting companies that improve residents’ quality of life. Beatty drives the organization’s on-the-ground strategy through partnerships, fundraising and program development. “He probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves, and what he’s done in terms of making a difference in the community is significant,” Clark said. “The people who’ve been around him recognize it, but the general community doesn’t. That’s why Ransom Everglades does.” After entering his 40s, Beatty has found himself thinking more about paying it forward. Sharing the gifts – including his RE education – that allowed him to become a catalyst for positive change in the city he knows and loves. “The least I could do is pay it forward, because I could never pay it back. Too much was poured into me. There’s no possible way,” Beatty said. “But I can ensure that those who don’t have access to that opportunity get it. That, I always think, is my purpose.” “If you give the resources to individuals who know these communities, who know the solutions, and you support them properly, issues get solved.” – Matthew Beatty ’01 Matthew Beatty ’01 (far left) and fellow members of the Black Students Association at RE
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