Fund-Raising Group Honors a Donor’s Diverse Gifts

The award: 2011 Award for Outstanding Philanthropist

Who gives the award: Association of Fundraising Professionals

The winner: Adrienne Arsht, a lawyer and former chairwoman of the board of her family’s TotalBank, in Miami, which she sold to a Spanish bank in 2007 for $300-million.

Why she won: Paulette V. Maehara, head of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, says that Ms. Arsht was selected by the committee in part for the diversity of causes that she has supported. In particular, she says, she was impressed with Ms. Arsht’s effort to purchase a former home of the orator William Jennings Bryan, which was scheduled for demolition, and seeking historic-landmark status for it.

About her giving: Ms. Arsht, 69, has divided her giving over the years among several causes. She gave $5-million to the University of Miami to, among other things, establish an ethics program and support research at its eye institute. She also gave $750,000 to the Delaware chapter of Best Buddies to help serve Hispanics and African Americans with developmental disabilities.

Biggest single gift: Ms. Arsht provided $30-million in 2007 to what is now the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. The gift, which saved the center from bankruptcy, is the one of which she is most proud, and one that helped land her on The Chronicle’s list of America’s most-generous donors for that year. Giving to arts groups is important, she says, because “the arts define our civilization. They are in our DNA.”

Plans for future giving: “I’ll know it when I see it,” she says of her decision-making process. She says she will give all of her money to charity either during her lifetime or upon her death. Any bequests, she says, will probably go to organizations with which she has a history.

Advice she has for other potential donors: Be candid, she says, if you aren’t interested in giving money to an organization. “I believe that as a prospective donor the best thing to do is to acknowledge the request and turn it down simply and quickly,” she says. “The entity asking appreciates it, even if they think you didn’t give them a chance, because now they can now go on to the next person on their list without wasting time.”