Gil Smart for the Everglades

“Every time I get out on the water I think: This is why people love Florida. But the wildlife and sheer beauty are increasingly threatened by pollution, development and more. That’s why I’m raising money for Friends of the Everglades on Give Miami Day: to support our advocacy, science-based policy work, and public education efforts to defend this fragile ecosystem and ensure it’s preservation for generations to come."

— Gil Smart, Policy Manager at Friends of the Everglades

Friends of the Everglades is a grassroots, nonprofit organization founded in Miami in 1969 by Marjory Stoneman Douglas that advocates for the protection of Florida's precious natural ecosystems. When pollutants and toxic algae plague our waters, when sugarcane burning harms air quality in the Glades communities south of Lake Okeechobee, and when the health of the Everglades' unique ecosystem is threatened, we educate and activate the public so we can collectively have a positive impact on environmental policy. We walk in the footsteps of our founder, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, by promoting a greater understanding of the importance of protecting, preserving, and restoring the only Everglades in the world.