The Two Billion-Dollar Boom: Palm Beach Nonprofits Launch Record Fundraising Campaigns

Created By: Lauren Jones Kenny
November 19, 2025

Long known for its wealth and influence, Palm Beach is now becoming equally synonymous with philanthropy. From the island’s cultural icons to the region’s leading hospitals and universities, local nonprofits are in campaign mode, collectively seeking to raise more than $2 billion for capital expansion, renovation, and deferred maintenance projects—an all-time record for simultaneous giving efforts involving nearly every major institution in Palm Beach County.

A Wave of Ambition

Building on this unprecedented surge in philanthropy, several of Palm Beach’s most prominent institutions have launched ambitious campaigns that reflect both the scale and diversity of giving across the region. The Society of the Four Arts has quietly begun a transformative effort to preserve and enhance its historic campus while reimagining its educational and cultural programs for future generations. Nearby, Palm Beach Atlantic University is advancing a $75 million campaign to expand academic facilities, grow scholarships, and strengthen programs that connect students with the broader Palm Beach community. 

Further south, the Cox Science Center and Aquarium is deep into a $100+ million expansion that will more than double its exhibition space and add new interactive galleries focused on innovation, marine biology, and sustainability. 

At the same time, the Cleveland Clinic Florida is moving forward with its $500 million campaign to establish a new hospital campus in West Palm Beach, designed to meet the region’s fast-growing demand for world-class healthcare. And, entering the philanthropic landscape for the first time, Vanderbilt University has announced a $300 million campaign to build a new graduate campus in West Palm Beach focused on business and technology. 

In total, these and other major campaigns underway across Palm Beach County represent a historic moment for philanthropy.

Competing for the Same Dollars

The timing of this collective fundraising surge poses both opportunity and risk. Donors are being approached by multiple institutions simultaneously, often with large-scale asks for capital support. Campaigns are overlapping not just in purpose, but in audience.

For many local nonprofits, this environment requires new levels of strategic coordination and communication. The challenge is not only to articulate why a capital investment matters, but to define how each organization’s vision and impact uniquely contribute to and strengthen Palm Beach’s broader civic and cultural ecosystem.

Why Now?

The simultaneous wave of campaigns isn’t accidental. After a decade of rapid population growth and post-pandemic migration of wealth to South Florida, many organizations are seizing the moment to modernize and expand their physical footprints.

At the same time, aging facilities and deferred maintenance needs have made capital projects unavoidable as Palm Beach’s institutions are forced to play catch-up to the expectations of a much larger and more sophisticated donor base.

Add to that, a new generation of philanthropic leadership—one that prizes transparency, measurable impact, and community benefit—and the result is a wave of ambitious, vision-driven campaigns that reflect both urgency and optimism.

The Next Wave: From Bricks to Brilliance

If the current moment is about investing in infrastructure, the next one will be about investing in ideas. 

Once the dust settles and the ribbon-cuttings conclude, nonprofits will need to shift from capital campaigns to programmatic and endowment campaigns. These future initiatives will focus on creating compelling educational programs, exhibitions, community outreach, and research initiatives to fill these new spaces with life. 

Within the next three to five years, the philanthropic landscape will likely pivot toward initiatives that deepen impact and sustain the progress achieved through today’s campaigns. As this evolution unfolds, another wave of concurrent efforts is expected to emerge, focused on programming, scholarships, and long-term financial stability. 

Planning for the Next Wave

The nonprofits that will thrive in this next phase will be those that use today’s momentum to plan strategically for tomorrow. That means:

• Right-sizing campaigns to match donor capacity and institutional vision.
• Developing strong cases for support that tie programmatic excellence to community impact.
• Building planned giving programs that engage donors in long-term legacy conversations, where competition for transformational gifts is lower and relationships, not urgency, drive the gift.

Planned giving, in particular, represents a largely untapped opportunity in Palm Beach philanthropy. While capital campaigns generate excitement, endowment and estate gifts create lasting sustainability. Charitable bequests totaled an estimated $45.84 billion in 2024, according to Giving USA 2025, reflecting both the scale and the potential of this growing area of philanthropy. The organizations that invest now in building a pipeline of planned gifts and demonstrate know-how when approaching planned giving prospects will find themselves in a much stronger position five years from now.

In Florida, the opportunity is even more pronounced. Nearly $885 billion is expected to transfer to a new generation in the coming decade, with much of that wealth concentrated among a small but highly philanthropic population. For Palm Beach nonprofits, preparing now to engage donors in legacy conversations can help turn this historic wealth transfer into lasting support for their missions.

A Defining Decade for Palm Beach Philanthropy

The scale and simultaneity of the current fundraising environment make this a defining moment for Palm Beach. Together, these efforts represent more than bricks and mortar; they represent a vote of confidence in the region’s future as a national hub for art, science, education, health care, and civic leadership.

Whether the community can sustain and coordinate this extraordinary wave of generosity will depend on strategic leadership, collaboration, and a shared commitment to ensuring that Palm Beach’s new spaces are not only built—but built to serve.

Orr Group brings a business mindset and an innovative approach to help our nonprofit partners expand their impact at the local, national, and global levels. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you tailor your fundraising to reach new heights.

Lauren Jones Kenny is a Director at Orr Group. Lauren collaborates with nonprofit leaders to understand their needs, develop innovative approaches, and enhance organizational processes to advance missions and accelerate impact.