Beyond Philanthropy: Faena Group's Formula For Circular Brand Advocacy

Forbes

22-05-2025

Overhead view of Faena Art's 5th Annual Faena Art Gala at Faene Miami Beach Hotel
While New York City was preparing for the first Monday in May, otherwise known as the MET Gala, Miami's creative cohort was in search of its own potentially award-winning attire for the Faena Art Gala 2025. "Follow Your Rainbow" was the theme for this fifth installment of the annual gathering, with guests challenged to dress in eye-catching interpretations worthy of a grand prize two-night penthouse stay at Faena Miami Beach Hotel. The April 29 poolside celebration demonstrates how Faena Group has transcended fundraising from donation solicitation to a powerful marketing platform, bringing patrons directly into their brand universe.
"The gala for us, yes, it's a fundraiser, but I think it's also a moment really for all of us to come together and enjoy and celebrate art," Nicole Comotti, Executive Director of Faena Art told me. 'It's about creating a special moment that isn't just about 'you've given me money and now we continue with the program.''
Faena Group's approach to fundraising for its nonprofit arm, Faena Art, masters the alchemy of turning donors into passionate collaborators, creating a loyal coalition extending far beyond the typical philanthropist-institution relationship. For CMOs paying attention, this blueprint for authentic engagement is worth millions.
De rigueur in fundraising has always been to write a big check, invite VIPs to your table, and not consider such largess again until the following year. Comotti's approach, however, shifts the traditional model from 'donate and disappear' to 'celebrate and co-create.'
"It's about the relationships that are made and things that come about," Comotti explains. 'It could be a patron who has a company that creates stone saying, 'I can support you with the next commission. Send it to me and we can be involved in the production, helping create that artwork with our materials.''
Faena Art reframes customer relationships into alliances to create a distinctive market positioning. Instead of 'Will you support us?' the question becomes "Will you join us in creating something meaningful?'
Moving from transactional into co-creation invites a brand's most valued consumers to participate in infinite value creation instead of finite consumption. One-time customers evolve into long-term advocates who actively contribute to the brand's continued evolution.
Alan Faena, founder and president of Faena Group, with a guest at Faena Art's 5th Annual Gala
Faena Group's strategy is both philanthropy and brilliant business. Faena Art's annual gala funds free public programming, which attracts well-heeled art lovers, who become benefactors as well as hotel guests, creating a virtuous cycle transforming cultural investment into commercial success. This self-reinforcing network builds goodwill while simultaneously enhancing the bottom line.
"Alan Faena considers the work done through Faena Arts for the community very important," Comotti said. 'He aims to make a difference and broaden access to experiences, believing that luxury is not only about being able to afford things but having access to certain things that evoke a sensation.'
The Faena Project Room exemplifies this strategic duality. While positioned as an experimental laboratory for emerging and established artists like Marina Abramović and Magnus Sodamin, it also functions as a sophisticated customer acquisition channel, introducing diverse audiences to the Faena universe without the barrier of ticket prices.
'We love to work with the community, to support the community, support emerging artists,' Alan Faena told gala guests. 'And we can do that because of all your support, all the people that are here tonight that support our tickets, that support our vision, that support what we do for the community. All our work is blessed because we have your support.'
This approach recognizes the social advocacy of Faena Arts and the profitabilty of Faena Miami Beach Hotel can be complementary forces. By making contemporary art accessible year-round through exhibitions, site-specific commissions, the Faena Prize for the Arts, and educational outreach to local schools, Faena contributes to Miami's artistic landscape while luring audiences to immerse themselves in the Faena multiverse.
In nurturing these multi-dimensional dynamics, engaged supporters have come to represent a circular form of advocacy, turning the gala into more than just a spring-time affair. Donors have contributed art materials, commissioned pieces directly from artists discovered at Faena events, and connected artists with institutions for tours and masterclasses. In one instance, Faena even integrated a patron's book project into their programming.
Perhaps there's no better illustration of Faena's success in cultivating regenerative relationships than artist-patron Lyra Drake. Drake embodies the fluid exchange of creative capital distinguishing Faena's approach from traditional fundraising.
Drake unveiled her first major exhibition with Faena Art during Art Basel 2024 while simultaneously funding a grant to bring the work of indigenous artist Nicholas Galanin to Faena Beach during the same week.
"The sale of my high-tech sculpture, Infinite Faith in a Finite World, that debuted with Faena Art during Miami Art Week enabled the protection of 3.2 million acres of Amazonian rainforest via Art into Acres," Drake told me via email. 'The stories and cosmologies of the people who belong to that land also need to be preserved, which is why I directed a grant to Faena Art to support the work of indigenous artists.'
This evolution from supporter to collaborator to catalyst represents marketing's holy trifecta: a self-sustaining biosphere where every transaction spawns multiple points of value. While traditional fundraising models exhaust themselves in a linear exchange, Faena Group generates an ever-expanding sphere of influence, where each participant becomes both beneficiary and benefactor.
Faena Theater performer gives Faena Art's Gala guests a show
"Faena is much more of a cultural club than anything else," explained Darren Bagert, a Tony award-winning Broadway producer and Faena Rose club member who I met during the gala. 'Alan Faena is all about culture and putting together community.'
The annual gala doesn't exist in isolation. It functions as just one touchpoint in a sophisticated network designed to deliver a complete luxury lifestyle. By integrating art, culture, hospitality, and a passionate coterie, Faena has engineered multiple pathways for engagement that traditional hotel brands simply can't match.
'In one property, I can literally do my meditation at the spa, go to the beach, go to the pool, I've got my late night at the Living Room. It's one thing, and it's all energy, heart, good people,' Bagert continued. 'That's impressive. I don't know where else you go for either fun or food, but Faena has somehow been able to find all of it at good quality.'
This strategy is evident throughout the compound. The Art Deco oceanfront hotel, with its Damien Hirst installations, serves as the central hub; the intimate Faena Theater hosts spectacular live programs; and the Tierra Santa Healing House spa delivers my ultimate pursuit of luxury, thanks to Carlos, the only masseuse whose name I recall after hundreds of massages across 31 countries.
Then you have El Secreto's intimate eight-seat omakase dining experience, which Bagert describes as "some of the best food you will ever have," along with other dining options within the hotel district. There's also the Faena Forum, serving as the district's creative and intellectual center. All of these elements work in concert to fashion a lifestyle that makes leaving the complex simply undesirable.
"We are fortunate with Faena to be able to also have a place like the Faena district to be able to do a program in the public spaces in such an incredible setting," Comotti noted. Faena Art's programming uses the beach, the hotel cathedral, and dedicated art spaces in promoting its roster of supported artists.
Artist Joel Mesler stands in front of the physical manifestation of his chosen theme, "Follow Your ... More Rainbow," during the Faena Art's Annual Gala.
"We've been following Joel for some time," Comotti revealed as why they collaborated with artist Joel Mesler and allowed him to determine the gala's theme, pinpointing the careful, curatorial nature of the best partnerships. 'We wanted a specific sentiment for the gala that he very well puts forward—this joy and emotions and vulnerability. We wanted to really evoke happiness and fun and your best self through an interactive experience that brings to life emotions and the senses. He's such a thoughtful, kind artist that really brings that out in his artworks.'
Mesler's creative process was grounded in the physical space. "I was literally doing drawings and started to draw rainbows," Mesler told me when asked his inspiration. 'I was thinking of the pool, the grounds, and walking through... I was following my rainbow there and I ended up at the pool.'
From there, Faena transformed Mesler's artistic vision into a multisensory art immersion. "In my paintings I'll have pool floaties, but here they actually made the pool floaties," Mesler shared. 'They literally took elements of my messaging and made it kind of like the real thing.'
Culinary delights at the 5th annual Faena Art's Gala
The result was a delightfully colorful affair, amplified by DJ Richie Hell's high-energy performance, models styled in bespoke rainbow couture, and culinary artistry from legendary Argentine Chef Francis Mallmann's signature open-fire Asado-style cooking and James Beard Award-winner Paul Qui's theatrical tuna carving.
Marketing events sometime suffer a credibility gap between branded content and aesthetic communication. Yet in partnering with an artist whose vision naturally complemented theirs, Faena dissolved entirely the concept of marketing by using the universal language of visual storytelling. Guests became accomplices rather than 'the target audience,' allowing Faena's true brand essence of joy, happiness and fun to emerge.
Faena Art's 5th Annual Gala with Joel Mesler
Orlando Nunez, Senior Director of Operations for Faena Rose, articulated the organization's approach to me as "social sculpture:" the process of creating bonds between people through curated occurences. In an increasingly digital world, Nunez notes people are "hungry for in-real-life experiences" and 'thirsting for real human connection.'
For CMOs, these five takeaways can help you construct your own blueprint from Faena Group's formula for generating exponential relationship value:
'The luxury for us is all the creativity we can bring out and share with the community,' Comotti said. "To help emerging artists express themselves and share it."
In reframing luxury as creative expression rather than material excess, Faena Group has designed a more inclusive and purpose-driven brand position, fortifying customer loyalty while reconceptualizing what 'customer' means. The most sophisticated brands don't just sell to their customers. They create with them, through them, and for them. The customer journey thus becomes a continuous loop of mutual cultivation, where value flows in all directions.