The Goal of a Good Nonprofit
“Brevard County, Florida, has thousands of nonprofits- recent data from TaxExemptWorld showing around 4,857 organizations listed, including public charities, foundations, and other 501(c) types that serve all areas like health, education, arts, and human services, contributing significantly to the local quality of life and economy.” – so says the “Great Google” … 🙂
When you think about, that is a lot of organizations seeking to do good here! So what makes a nonprofit a “good” nonprofit? In my role as Executive Director for Helping Seniors, now into our 15th year of service as a 100% local organization, I learned a lot from our Founder Joe Steckler who focused on making sure that (a) the organization stayed true to its mission, (b) is frugal with the resources entrusted to it, (c) is effective in its efforts to provide helpful and useful services not readily available elsewhere, and (d) communicates regularly and transparently about it is doing.
We are here to complete – not compete – in the network of care for our Seniors and their families! It is often said “it takes a village” talking about raising kids. We have adopted that way of thinking when it comes to Seniors. We are better together than individually! That is why you see us applauding for folks like Aging Matters of Brevard, Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation, and so many others who devote themselves to making life better for Seniors.
It is also why we are actively expanding our work with AARP in 2026! We continue forward our collaboration in ScamJam Senior Safety Training programs county-wide, Senior Appreciation Events, Chapter participation and, this year, adding two Caregiver Conference Events. We also became officially licensed in AARP’s “Senior Planet” program – and are training now so that we can serve more Seniors in making technology work for them.
And we work diligently to ensure our we continue to meet expectations and improve lives of our Seniors as a trusted part of the Community.
To that end, we worked to awarded the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency for 2025 – the highest recognition from Candid (formerly GuideStar) “signifying a nonprofit shares extensive details on its goals, strategies, capabilities, impact metrics, and board demographics, placing it in the top tier (often <1%) for transparency and accountability, building immense donor trust and demonstrating real results. To earn it, nonprofits must upload information, including key performance indicators (KPIs) showing their impact, beyond just basic financials.”
We thank you for your trust, support and dedication to helping us in the work of Helping Seniors! We appreciate every donation, every volunteer and every organization that helps us to do our mission every day! We pledge to work to be sure we are a “Good Nonprofit” here in Brevard County!