Victory Cup Iniyiative
Year Created/Founded: 2015
Mission: Put nonprofit organizations on the main stage so Central Floridians understand their work and can support it.
Who it helps: Nonprofits in Orange, Osceola, Brevard and Seminole counties, and the people those nonprofits serve.
Website: victorycupinitiative.org
At the annual story showcase breakfast (this year’s is scheduled for February 23, 2027) the audience votes for the nonprofit finalists.
Ask a business leader to give $5,000 to a local nonprofit, and the question may be which one. Victory Cup Initiative helps people discover organizations doing useful work nearby, while teaching those organizations to explain that work clearly.
More than 150 nonprofits apply to its programs each year. More than 250 community leaders review applications and choose 10 finalists. Over four months, finalists practice telling their stories, then present them to roughly 600 community leaders at the Story Showcase Breakfast. The audience votes, and all 10 organizations receive unrestricted funding. The money can go where each organization needs it most, without being tied to a particular project.
Victory Cup reports distributing more than $5 million to 102 nonprofits since 2015. Its 2026 finalists received $462,000. The introductions can matter as much as the checks: After appearing at the showcase, each finalist receives the names of 30 to 50 business leaders who expressed an interest in helping.
“It’s the story we love most — not just the moment on stage, but what happens in the months after.”
Consider One Heart for Women and Children, a 2026 finalist. Six months after founder Stephanie Bowman presented at the breakfast, the organization reported more than $251,000 in additional unrestricted gifts and two new board members. Bowman also received a scholarship to Leadership Winter Park through Victory Cup. Those developments happened after the applause ended, when new relationships had time to grow.
Victory Cup sustains those connections through an alumni network and training conferences. For donors, its showcase offers a quick introduction to 10 local organizations. For finalists, it can open doors long after the event.
How to help: Become a community evaluator, buy a ticket or table for the Feb. 23, 2027, Story Showcase Breakfast, or join SPARK, which funds Victory Cup’s operations. The organization says all breakfast ticket, table and sponsorship revenue goes to finalists.
Orlando Film Festival
Year Created/Founded: 2006
Mission: Inspire current and future filmmakers and enrich the moviegoing experience in downtown Orlando through screenings and creative events.
Who it helps:Independent and aspiring filmmakers, along with audiences interested in independent film.
Website: orlandofilmfest.com
The Orlando Film Festival gives filmmakers something that is difficult to build alone: an audience in a theater, a conversation after the credits and a chance to meet people who might work with them on the next project. For moviegoers, it offers a concentrated week of films that may never reach their neighborhood multiplex.
Founded in 2006, the festival has grown from a weekend event into an eight-day program. Its website describes more than 300 films, along with industry panels, workshops, professional events and nightly gatherings. The festival ends with an awards ceremony. Those gatherings matter to emerging filmmakers, who can meet peers, exchange ideas and hear how others got their work made and shown.
The Orlando Film Festival has long tied its mission to downtown. The City of Orlando described the event as a way to promote culture and the arts through film and to encourage both new and working filmmakers. Film offers an unusually direct route into another person’s experience; a public screening also gives strangers a reason to talk about what they have seen. Supporting the festival helps keep that exchange available locally.
There are several ways for readers to take part. Buying tickets fills seats and gives filmmakers an audience. Volunteers can help an event of this size run. Filmmakers can submit eligible work, while businesses can explore sponsorship. The festival’s site is the best place to check current screenings, submission rules and participation options before making plans.
Arts supports the places where local creative work can be seen, discussed and developed. For an independent filmmaker, a screening in Orlando may be a first encounter with the audience for whom the work was made.
How to help: Attend screenings and talks, volunteer, submit a film or consider sponsorship. Check the festival website for the current schedule.
Touched by Type 1
Year Created/Founded: 2000
Mission: Raise awareness of type 1 diabetes, fund efforts to find a cure and inspire people living with the condition to thrive.
Who it helps: People with type 1 diabetes and their families, in Central Florida and beyond.
Website: touchedbytype1.org
Elizabeth Forrest with Touched by Type 1.
Food insecurity can show up after a job loss, a rent increase or a medical bill. Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida responds at a scale few individual pantries could manage alone. It collects and distributes food through a network of more than 800 feeding partners in seven counties. Farmers, manufacturers, grocers and other suppliers provide food; community partners help get it to households.
The food bank’s work reaches beyond its warehouse. Its Benefits Connection team helps people apply for food assistance, and nutrition classes teach practical skills such as reading labels and preparing meals. Second Harvest also offers job training. Its culinary program has helped more than 535 adults begin food-service careers since 2013, according to the organization. In 2026, it announced an expanded Career Pathways program to connect free skills training with local employers.
Groceries can relieve an urgent problem today, while a steady paycheck may help a household buy them next month. Both are part of the food bank’s work.
For readers deciding how to get involved, the range of options is wide. A food donation can become part of a family’s next meal. A shift sorting or packing helps the food bank handle the volume required to serve seven counties. Financial gifts give Second Harvest flexibility to move food and support programs that a can drive alone cannot cover. Businesses and neighborhood groups can organize collections or volunteer together.
The organization also provides emergency food and supplies after hurricanes, floods and other crises. That work depends on the same distribution network it maintains throughout the year.
How to help: Give money, donate food, register for a volunteer shift or organize a drive. People seeking assistance can use the food bank’s website to find nearby food and benefits help.
The Mustard Seed of Central Florida
Year Created/Founded: 1984; incorporated as a nonprofit in 1988
Mission: Help people rebuild after disaster or personal tragedy by providing household furnishings and clothing while acting responsibly toward the environment.
Who it helps: Individuals and families starting over after homelessness, financial hardship, a fire or another crisis.
Website: mustardseedfla.org
The Mustard Seed of Central Florida helps rebuild the lives of families and individuals who have suffered disaster or personal tragedy by providing household furnishings and clothing.
Getting the keys to a home does not mean having a bed to sleep in. The Mustard Seed of Central Florida helps fill that gap, providing furniture, housewares and clothing to people who are rebuilding after a crisis. A family moving from a hotel into an apartment may need almost everything at once: mattresses, a table, dishes, linens and clothes.
Founder Carol Kane started collecting household items in her garage in 1984. The organization later grew into a 20,000-square-foot warehouse. Today it accepts donations of usable furniture, appliances, bedding, clothing and other essentials, then works with referring agencies and clients to get those goods into homes. The organization says it serves about 3,000 people each year.
The Mustard Seed also handles items that cannot be reused. Its mattress recycling operation takes them apart so materials such as metal, wood and foam can be recovered. The organization reports deconstructing more than 160,000 mattresses since 2011, diverting nearly 4 million cubic feet of material from landfills. Recycling income helps support its furniture and clothing programs.
Donating furniture can feel straightforward, but matching a household’s actual needs takes planning, storage, transportation and people willing to do the work. Volunteers and financial gifts keep that system running. Donors should consult the current acceptance list before dropping anything off; a useful item is one the organization can safely take and pass along.
For people seeking assistance, the process includes a referral and an appointment. The website explains the steps and any current fees or transportation requirements. Readers who know a family facing an empty home can point them toward those instructions.
How to help: Donate money, accepted furniture or clothing; volunteer individually or with a group; or arrange a furniture pickup through the organization.
Cornerstone Connections
Year Created/Founded: 2020
Mission: Connect individuals and families with resources, services, training and support that help
them build viable lives.
Who it helps: Central Florida residents facing barriers to employment, housing, food and family stability, including parents with child support cases.
Website: cornerstoneconnections.org
Cornerstone Connections brought families and the community together in 2026, distributing nearly 300 backpacks at its Back-to-School Event.
It is hard to focus on a job search when a family also needs food, housing or child care. Cornerstone Connections helps people address those needs together. Founder Brandy Hannah drew on more than 20 years in social services to create a way for individuals and families to find relevant help without having to sort through every available program alone.
Its Care Connections program offers case management for Orange County residents. A participant might get help with a food pantry referral, SNAP enrollment, a résumé, a job search or a housing referral. The organization also operates a community clothing closet and offers job readiness support.
Connecting H.O.P.E. focuses on Florida parents with child support cases who are unemployed or underemployed. The program addresses barriers to employment, helps participants develop a work plan and connects them with training and jobs. The aim is a position they can keep, along with a better chance to meet family responsibilities. The name stands for Healing, Opportunity, Perseverance and Empowerment.
Another program, Connecting Fathers, Connecting Families, offers peer groups, parenting education, co-parenting support and case management for fathers and father figures. Its current service area includes Osceola, Lake, Volusia, Sumter and Putnam counties. Families should check program eligibility and geography before seeking a referral. Cornerstone also offers Family Connections programming centered on parent-child relationships.
The organization’s different programs share a practical approach: Start with what is making daily life difficult, then connect a person with the next useful service. A donor’s contribution might support that case management, a clothing need or access to employment resources.
How to help: Donate funds or gently used clothing, volunteer or refer someone who could benefit from a program. The website lists services and ways to contact the team.