from staff
Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida President Rena Coughlin is intensely focused on improving the community, both the community at large and her community of about 200 nonprofit center members.
The Community Foundation in Jacksonville is investing in that focus.
With its support, the Nonprofit Center will launch a broad initiative to strengthen and increase access to the community’s nonprofit sector.
The initiative is funded by a $196,400 grant from the Community Foundation. It is designed to enhance the public’s ability to connect with nonprofit organizations and improve the ability of nonprofits to work together.
“This work will result in a healthier nonprofit sector, one that is more prepared to survive and thrive in a post-recession landscape, better equipped to respond to fiscal, political, and environmental challenges, and significantly more united in support for and connection to the community,” said Coughlin.
Coughlin has been talking about the health of nonprofits with civic groups, including The Civic Round Table and the Southside Business Men’s Club.
“When our community is healthier, our economy is healthier,” she told the Civic Round Table.
Community Foundation President Nina Waters said that philanthropy is only as effective as the organizations who provide it. “We are pleased to be able to support this work,” she said.
The Community Foundation in Jacksonville is the oldest community foundation in Florida, with assets of $141 million.
Funding for the initiative is a result of gifts made to The Community Foundation by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. In 2002, the Fund partnered with the Community Foundation to help individual nonprofits grow stronger through a process of strategic self-examination known as “reflective practice.”
DuPont Fund President Sherry Magill told the Daily Record recently that the recession that began in December 2007 sparked a “precipitous decline” both in the investments of foundations and the funds available for nonprofits.
“I think all of us in the charitable field had a wrenching experience,” she said. “It felt like a panic and nobody knew it was going to hit or when it would end.”
The changes in the economic landscape since 2008 have created challenges for the community and its nonprofits: increasing demand for services coupled with decreasing revenues from government funders, private foundations and individual donors.
Since the du Pont Fund’s 2002 gift to the Community Foundation, more than 50 area nonprofits have benefited from the reflective practice initiative.
In 2009, the decision was made to use these resources to support sector-wide work, rather than work with individual organizations.
The Community Foundation grant will enable the Nonprofit Center to initiate three major projects to help the sector strengthen its presence and services:
• Mapping Nonprofits. The grant will underwrite development of an interactive database of Duval County nonprofits with GIS mapping. This will enable community leaders to identify gaps and overlaps in services, improving the sector’s responsiveness to community needs. It also will provide resources for citizens to find nonprofit service providers and to find volunteer opportunities.
• Informing The Public. The grant will enable the Nonprofit Center to continue its work building community understanding of the importance of nonprofits. The center will work with elected and appointed officials and community leaders to build knowledge of the sector and draw on the resources developed through the mapping project to inform public policy.
• Increasing Connections. The grant will support a series of meetings among nonprofits with similar missions or common service areas to explore opportunities to work together, not unlike earlier efforts that brought together safety net food providers and children’s services groups. The grant will also support expanded online resources to enable nonprofits to connect and share resources with each other more easily.
At a May 2009 nonprofit summit, community nonprofit leaders agreed to be proactive about equipping the sector for the future. Since then, nonprofit representatives have met regularly to identify key issues and develop sector-wide strategies.
“The summit was convened by the Community Foundation and the Nonprofit Center and given urgency by the economic downturn and the nonprofit sector’s challenges,” said Coughlin. “Rather than passively waiting for a future shaped by events and politics assumed to be beyond their influence, these nonprofits chose to work together to anticipate and prepare for that future.”