History of Catalyst

Northeast Florida has a long history of being a leader in the community data space. One of the first of its kind,  the Jacksonville Council on Citizen Involvement (JCCI) was founded in 1975. Over the next four decades, JCCI would engage the community around numerous community issues, creating transformative results for the city. In 1985, JCCI launched the world's first community quality of life indicators project, now recognized as a global gold standard and echoed in well over a thousand communities worldwide. When JCCI closed its doors in 2016, it was a huge loss for Jacksonville. 

In 2022, the Nonprofit Center was approached by an anonymous funder to attempt to fill the gap that JCCI left when it closed. We did some soul searching, consulted with our board, and took on the charge. First known as the Northeast Florida Indicators Project, this project was designed to increase nonprofit capacity, to define and communicate about their impact, while also providing a place for community members to more easily plug into the issues they care about. Members of a Data Forum steering committee reviewed data and feedback in advance of the release in September 2024. 

The version of Catalyst you see today was the product of a community-informed approach that gathered data and input from Nonprofit Organizations for over one year. As Catalyst continues to evolve, the Nonprofit Center will continue to be responsive to community priorities and emerging evidence of best practices, amplify and support the goals of organizations that advance the common good in Northeast Florida. Over time, we believe Catalyst will mobilize nonprofits and their partners into new and more expansive advocacy work through the power of collective action.