The Nonprofit Center engages candidates and elected leaders to create a clear understanding of how connected and trusted nonprofits are to their constituents’ interests and well-being, how strongly we undergird the social infrastructure, and how willing we are to partner to help our communities thrive. We make available policy positions and data that give candidates and elected leaders information about the nonprofit sector’s impact and value.

In 2023, the Nonprofit Center is asking candidates for elected office in Northeast Florida to:

• Recognize nonprofit economic power. Northeast Florida Nonprofits employ over 72,000 people making them an important business constituency and a formidable force for good. 77% of Northeast Florida residents believe the work nonprofits do creates a fairer, more unified community; 78% believe nonprofits are a vital part of the economy.
• Champion smart grantmaking and streamlined contracting processes in order to create a  relationship of mutual accountability. Government depends on nonprofits to provide critical services to its citizens; excessive regulations can inhibit excellence, unnecessarily increase costs of doing business, and get in the way of public/private projects. 81% of Northeast Florida residents believe nonprofits deliver services more efficiently than government.
• Invite private philanthropy and the local nonprofit community’s resources and expertise to resolve complex issues.  In Jacksonville, keep the office of Strategic Partnerships within the mayor’s office. This one-of-a-kind position in Florida local governments is an innovative tool for a mayor to bring solution-oriented collaborators together and leverage private investment.
• Create government and business employment policies that support volunteerism and community involvement. 80% of Northeast Florida residents agree that our community would be a better place to live if more people gave money or volunteered to help nonprofits.
• Include the nonprofit sector to co-create community solutions. People in northeast Florida trust nonprofits (67%), making them ideal partners for community work. In Jacksonville, the City Council’s Critical Quality of Life Issues Committee successfully modeled this process.
• Invest strategically in additional grant funding for local nonprofits in order to accelerate progress toward community priorities. 72% of northeast Florida residents believe government should provide more funding for nonprofits.
• Remove barriers to the creation of public/private initiatives. Private philanthropy might provide more strategic resources that advance government priorities if innovative mechanisms for collective and collaborative investment were championed.

The Nonprofit Center is strictly nonpartisan and careful to protect our neutrality by following guidance from the IRS, and nonprofit experts like the Florida Nonprofit Alliance and the National Council of Nonprofits.

Statistics are from the Nonprofit Center 2022 Public Perceptions Survey and the Nonprofit Center 2019 State of the Sector report.

For more information contact Rena Coughlin at RCoughlin@nonprofitctr.org or at 904.425.8822

• Repositioning for Strength: Updated Research Launch (1/26/21)
  • Session Recording
  • Presentation Slides
• Key Policy Updates from the First 100 Days of the Biden Administration (4/30/21)
  • Session Recording
  • Presentation Slides
• Labor Market Shifts (11/3/21)
  • Session Recording
  • Presentation Slides
• Building Your Advocacy Platform (9/10/21)
  • Session Recording
  • Presentation Slides
• Activating Your Advocacy Agenda (10/19/21)
  • Session Recording
  • Presentation Slides

The Nonprofit Center commissions and conducts research for the Northeast Florida nonprofit sector. 

• Nonprofit Center Research 

Learn how your organization can participate in this sector-wide brand campaign designed to increase community engagement in the nonprofit sector. 

More information about and resources for Northeast Florida's nonprofit sector:

• Infographic
• Video
• Public Service Grant Infographic