We asked for nominations of nonprofits we could honor on National Nonprofit Day, saying we would publish the best 25 in an effort to give them some attention — and, perhaps, some much-needed donations.
We were blown away by the response. Because so, we will honor 50 nonprofits to mark the day.
Please note, National Nonprofit Day was Sunday — but since we don’t publish on the weekends, we’re waiting for today.
Here’s a look at half of our honorees (the other half can be found here):
Atlantic City Arts Foundation
Location: Atlantic City
Description: The Atlantic City Arts Foundation boosts civic pride, creates economic opportunities for local artists, stimulates the local economy and provides free engaging cultural programming that enriches residents’ lives and enhances the city’s vibrancy for visitors. ACAF’s extensive mural program provides a platform to showcase local traditions, history and diverse cultural expressions, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of different cultural backgrounds.
Leader: Michael Atkins
Website: https://atlanticcityartsfoundation.org/
Bergen New Bridge Medical Center
Location: Paramus
Description: Bergen New Briidge Medical Center, a not-for-profit safety net facility, provides high-quality comprehensive services, including acute and ambulatory care from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and community physicians, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, and long-term care for all those who need care.
Leader: Deborah Visconi
Website: https://www.newbridgehealth.org/
Bestwork Industries for the Blind
Location: Cherry Hill
Description: Bestwork empowers individuals who are blind by providing training, employment, and opportunities to thrive. For 40+ years, we’ve prioritized our people, creating a supportive and inclusive workplace. Recognizing Bestwork would help boost visibility, ensuring greater support to sustain and expand our mission in South Jersey and beyond.
Leader: Jon Katz
Website: https://www.bestworkindustries.org
Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services
Location: Union
Description: Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services provides trusted, community-based mental health care across New Jersey, supporting recovery and wellness for individuals and families. With over 55 years of experience, they empower people to live independently, pursue personal growth, and fully engage in their communities.
Leader: Cory Storch, President and CEO
Website: https://www.bridgewaybhs.org/
Broadway House for Continuing Care
Location: Newark
Description: Broadway House is New Jersey’s only specialized long-term care facility for people living with HIV/AIDS. With 28% of Newark’s residents living in poverty, the facility serves people whose lives are often shaped by homelessness, addiction, and abuse. Broadway House provides medical, behavioral, and social services to help them lead healthy, productive lives in the community.
Leader: Donnamarie Lynch, President and CEO
Website: https://broadwayhouse.org
CarePlus NJ
Location: Paramus
Description: Every year, CarePlus NJ helps nearly 14,000 people across northern New Jersey navigate mental health, addiction, and primary care challenges. With more than 80 programs, they meet individuals and families where they are and offer accessible, compassionate care that promotes healing, stability, and long-term wellness.
Leader: Brigitte Johnson
Website: https://careplusnj.org/
Center for Hope & Safety
Location: Rochelle Park
Description: Since 1976, Center for Hope & Safety has been a lifeline for adults and children in Bergen County escaping domestic violence. Last year, more than 1,000 survivors found safety, support, and a path forward through shelter, counseling, housing, and services that help adults and kids heal and rebuild their lives.
Leader: Julye Myner
Website: https://www.hopeandsafetynj.org/
Cento Amici
Location: Lebanon
Description: Cento Amici (100 friends) is a community-based, member organization dedicated to providing need-based scholarship assistance to qualified students in New Jersey. Our mission is to enhance the educational opportunities for those who need it most and who are most under-served by existing need-based programs. It serves seven high schools, two community colleges, two universities and one medical school.
Leader: Bob Zito
Website: https://centoamici.org/
Choose New Jersey
Location: Newark
Description: Choose New Jersey drives economic growth by attracting businesses and global investment to the state. Through marketing, site selection support, and public-private partnerships, it helps companies thrive while promoting New Jersey as a top place to live and work. Its impact strengthens the state’s economy and community prosperity.
Leader: Wes Mathews
Website: https://choosenj.com
Cohome
Location: Morristown
Description: Cohome creates inclusive, community-based living for adults with disabilities through affordable housing and direct support services. Founded by the Diskint family in 2017, Cohome empowers independence, self-advocacy, and connection through a vibrant, person-centered model inspired by lived experience and sustained by a growing network of residents, families, and supporters.
Leader: Nate Diskint
Website: https://cohome.org
Community FoodBank of New Jersey
Location: Hillside
Description: CFBNJ is the largest anti-hunger organization in New Jersey, where nearly 1.1 million neighbors are food insecure. We are the source of nourishing food for 800 pantries. Our comprehensive approach addresses root causes of hunger through food benefits and social services, job training, and policies that nurture all New Jerseyans.
Leader: Elizabeth McCarthy
Website: https://cfbnj.org
The Cooper Foundation
Location: Camden
Description: The Cooper Foundation supports Cooper University Health Care by funding patient care, research, and community programs. Through generosity, we help deliver lifesaving care, advance cures, and uplift South Jersey. Honoring us recognizes the power of partnership to transform health and communities.
Leader: Lisa Morina
Website: https://foundation.cooperhealth.org/
Count Basie Center for the Arts
Location: Red Bank
Description: The Count Basie Center for the Arts, which recently kicked off its centennial celebration, sells more tickets than any other non-profit performing arts center in NJ. The Basie Center is committed to creating shared educational, artistic and community experiences for all through its inclusive programming and robust scholarship awards.
Leader: Adam Philipson
Website: https://thebasie.org
Devils Youth Foundation
Location: Newark
Description: The Devils Youth Foundation champions, advances, and supports equitable and inclusive access to life-changing experiences for youth in New Jersey by leveraging the power of sports, entertainment, and music. The Foundation’s contributions in philanthropic and programmatic support helps dozens of non-profit organizations across the state.
Leader: Kate Annis
Website: https://devilsyouthfoundation.org/
Early Childhood Education Advocates
Location: Cranford
Description: ECEA fights for child-care providers in New Jersey, ensuring the industry has a substantial and consistent voice in Trenton when lawmakers propose bills that potentially limit parent choice or increase child-care costs. ECEA is now advocating for more school districts to work with private providers in their communities with the roll-out of UPK. Local providers are a key resource to handle the excess demand, as school districts see an enrollment spike in ages 3-4.
Leader: Jonathan Jaffe
Website: https://eceadvocates.com
Easterseals New Jersey
Location: Jamesburg
Description: Easterseals NJ empowers individuals with disabilities and mental illness to thrive in their communities. Through compassionate support, innovative programs, and advocacy, we break barriers and create opportunities — making a lasting impact that truly deserves recognition for changing lives every day.
Leader: Brian Fitzgerald
Website: https://eastersealsnj.org
Elijah’s Promise
Location: New Brunswick
Description: Since 1989, Elijah’s Promise has harnessed the power of food to break the cycle of poverty, alleviate hunger, and change lives. We operate a community soup kitchen, culinary arts school, a food truck which is a soup kitchen on wheels and connect low-income individuals and families with social and health services. Thanks to the support of volunteers, donors, and community partners, we served over 350,000 free meals last year.
Leader: Michelle Wilson
Website: https://www.elijahspromise.org
Evolvere Consulting
Location: Jersey City
Description: Evolvere (Latin for “Change”) is the result of the passing of S1313. This bill legally recognizes LGBTQ+ owned businesses in the state and allows such businesses to increase their opportunities in New Jersey. However, even with the support of the administration, few residents are aware of this law because it was signed in private without the well-deserved fanfare a press conference brings. This however does not change the fact that S1313 is now a law and as such needs funding to exercise the law and certify thousands of LGBTQ+ owned businesses in the state (est. 50,000)
Leader: Gus Penaranda
Website: https://www.evolverenj.org
Foundation for Sustainable Veteran Housing
Location: Westfield
Description: The Foundation for Sustainable Veteran Housing (FSVH) strives to end veteran homelessness in New Jersey by reimagining underused veteran halls as thriving community hubs. Through planned housing solutions, wraparound services, and strategic partnerships, we aim to provide every homeless veteran with safe, sustainable housing and a renewed sense of belonging.
Leader: Joe Mindak
Website: https://www.fsvh.org/
Fulfill
Location: Neptune
Description: As the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, Fulfill combats food insecurity through a network of nearly 300 partners, providing 1.3 million meals monthly. Fulfill also connects neighbors to essential services and resources, addressing systemic barriers to self-sufficiency and supporting healthier, more resilient communities.
Leader: Triada Stampas
Website: https://fulfillnj.org/
Heart of Camden, Inc.
Location: Camden
Description: At the center of Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood, the Heart of Camden is a small but resilient community organization that’s rewriting the area’s future after decades of environmental injustice, industrial neglect, and systemic disinvestment. The Heart of Camden and affiliated groups are building something rare: a neighborhood model where arts, housing, sustainability, education, and faith-based service work in deep coordination. Their progress is community-led, cross-sector, and values-driven.
Leader: Carlos Morales
Website: https://www.heartofcamden.org
The Historic Village at Allaire
Location: Wall Township
Description: Who – Allaire Village is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the rich history of The Historic Village at Allaire, a living history museum nestled in Allaire State Park. Allaire Village brings New Jersey’s early industrial and community life to the public — engaging over 500K, including 7,000 kids through school tours, each year through education, preservation, and immersive historical experiences.
Leader: Hance Sitkus
Website: https://allairevillage.org/
I Want to Mow Your Lawn
Location: Wayne
Description: I Want to Mow Your Lawn is a nonprofit organization founded in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its mission is to provide free lawn care services to elderly individuals, military veterans, people with disabilities, and under-resourced families, while promoting eco-friendly practices.
Leader: Brian Schwartz
Website: https://iwanttomowyourlawn.com
Inroads To Opportunities
Location: Roselle
Description: For 66 years, Inroads, the largest skills training facility in NJ, has provided programs and services to over 400 individuals annually with various types of disabilities.
These include transition from school to work, vocational preparation, certificate training programs, job placement and coaching. Inroads is changing lives and bettering communities.
Leader: Angela Calzone
Website: https://www.inroadsto.org/
Integrity House
Location: Newark
Description: For over 50 years, Integrity House has been a trusted source of compassionate, whole-person care for individuals facing substance use and mental health challenges. Through Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) services, harm reduction, mobile outreach, and peer-led support, Integrity House provides a pathway to recovery and long-term stability.
Leader: Robert Budsock
Website: https://integrityhouse.org
