HFA History

A Short History of the Humanists of Florida Association (HFA)

    The Humanists of Florida Association was founded in 1986 as a state sub-chapter of the American Humanist Association.  This was an experiment in organizing designed to help provide better support to local organizations by bringing in a regional coordinating effort.  The organization was better known at the time as the Humanists of Florida, Inc.

Most of the work of HFA engaged in at this time was centered on organizing an annual state conference to bring together Florida Humanists for education and socializing.  In 1999, the board of HFA started to discuss how they could be more effective in their efforts and created a 3-year strategic plan called the Progressive Social Action Plan (PSAP).  PSAP called upon the organization to transition from an all-volunteer organization to professionally staffed organization that was focused on Progressive Social Action as its main activity.

 Progressive Social Action was chosen as the primary activity of the organization because the board recognized that all Humanists are concerned with protecting and promoting Human and Civil rights. It was also apparent that the prior attempts at mainstreaming Humanism through the creation of philosophy discussion clubs hadn’t been very effective at growing the movement.  A new direction and organizational philosophy was required if the Humanist movement was going to grow to counter the negative effects of the American Fundamentalist movement.  PSAP addressed these needed changes. 

 In 2001, two years into PSAP, the board hired its first Executive Director, Jennifer Hancock.  Jennifer came on board and helped provide much needed stability and reliability to the activities of the organization.  In 2007, Heather Wellman came on board as the organization’s first full-time Executive Director and is tasked with growing the organization in the coming year.  Membership has grown since hiring staff from 87 members to more than 275 in 2007.  Also, our mailing list has grown from 500 people 2001 to more than 2200 in 2007.  Fundraising has also increased with our annual budget about $100k, up from $6k in 2001.

 Based on the success of the PSAP, HFA embarked on a new five-year strategic plan that calls on the organization to continue its exceptional growth in membership and fundraising and calls for the establishment of Humanist Charter Schools and Humanist Community Centers in addition to the efforts to help make the work a better place for everyone to live through Progressive Social Action.