Submission Guidelines
Open Call for Submissions
Blue Avocado is accepting submissions from the nonprofit community.
To make sure your submission is successful, please read these page sections:
- Read the basic submission requirements.
- Blue Avocado is looking for articles that fit these categories and these topics.
- These content standards will help as you write.
- Here’s how donations work.
- Learn how to submit your article.
Submission Requirements
- Articles must be original.
- Articles must be new and not previously published on other websites.
- Exceptions are made for published authors that may wish to include a chapter out of their book – if said chapter has not been published elsewhere online.
- AI-generated content is prohibited.
- Written articles must be a minimum of 1,000 words. Videos should no more than 10 minutes in length.
Blue Avocado Article Categories
Blue Avocado is looking for original articles for nonprofits that fit within these categories:
Please submit completed articles.
Blue Avocado Article Topics
Blue Avocado is also looking for original articles for nonprofits that fit within these specific topics:
NEW: Climate Change / Environmental / ESG Practices
Practical takes or big ideas about how nonprofits can move other nonprofits and our communities and/or the for-profit sector toward a sustainable planet where power serves the needs of people, the planet, and all living things.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
NEW: VIDEOS
Candid and thought provoking takes on nonprofit leadership. What unhelpful leadership habits should we stop? What sort of leadership do we need now to transform our economy into one that serves community instead of private wealth accumulation?
- You may submit a pitch. Once your pitch is approved, please upload your video to a private video environment and share the link to it via email.
NEW: Board Horror Stories (Anonymous)
This series can be thought of as a fainting couch for the board of directors. It’s intended for authors to post their board horror stories anonymously, so there’s no disparagement of any particular organization. While this is a venting space, we also want to focus on being constructive, by listing possible fixes and solutions.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
NEW: Unhelpful Management Practices
Candid takes on bad/unhelpful management practices, and good/helpful alternatives.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Financial Health and Risk Management
Nonprofit staff and leaders can submit articles with templates to help readers prepare for auditing, budgeting, risk assessment and other financial analysis. Templates should be thoughtful and provide guidance to other nonprofit leaders.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Innovative Leadership
Are you a leader with a unique perspective who has navigated complex, systemic issues and confronted organizational or societal obstacles to operationalizing your mission? Submit an article describing the problems, how you’ve strategically solved them, and how other leaders like you can do the same.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Nonprofit Boards
Articles from nonprofit executives and board members on the topic of management-board relations, managing disagreements between the board and organization, fundraising, board responsibility, strategic planning, and other board-related topics. How to recruit and retain board members.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Human Resources, Hiring, and DEI
Do you have updates in employment law, legislation that affects nonprofits, or other legal discussions to offer Blue Avocado’s nonprofit readership? Tips for job advertising success? Conducting interviews, sorting resumes, and making job offers? Unconscious bias? Benefits? Creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace?
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Volunteer and Employee Management
Articles about recruiting, onboarding, training and retaining volunteers and employees.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Funding
How can nonprofits reach donors? How have you communicated effectively with your donors? Share your approaches and be sure to include checklists or other tools to help nonprofit leaders.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Back to Basics: Nonprofits 101
Articles to help those just getting started with nonprofits, and a review for existing nonprofits that might be afraid to ask about certain topics. Don’t be afraid to address both audiences in these articles.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Capacity Building
Advice for upsizing nonprofits and getting nonprofits read to do more, serve a bigger community, or strengthening an organization to achieve goals and mission.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Ethical Considerations
Articles on ethical matters. Tainted money, leadership compensation, conflicts of interest, nepotism, investment policies, and more.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Risk Management
What is your nonprofit doing to limit risk at your nonprofit? Success stories and cautionary tales by example.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Emerging Trends
Cutting edge trends for nonprofit management. Engaging with Gen Z, artificial intelligence, data-driven decision making/results/strategy, hybrid work models, and more.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Fiscal Sponsorships
Tips and advice for fiscal sponsorships and expanding your reach without burdens. Models, benefits and challenges, sponsors influencing nonprofit decisions, networking opportunities, and more.
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
End-of-Year / New-Year Planning
How does your nonprofit take advantage of the energy of a new year? Planning, goals, hiring, grants, donor-retention, and more. (Publishes in December/January)
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Tax Regulations, Strategy, and Advice
Articles about understanding current tax regulations, strategy and making informed decisions. (Publishes in September)
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Fundraising Events
Tell readers how you’ve planned and executed successful fundraising events. What are some good things to keep in mind, and risk management considerations to take heed of? (Publishes in May)
- Please submit a pitch or completed article.
Content Standards
Blue Avocado articles are targeted toward the experience of the nonprofit sector. Articles written for general audiences will be rejected. The idea behind Blue Avocado is that those with nonprofit experience can help other nonprofits, so let’s make it happen!
Tips
- Write for easy online reading. Use subheads and bullet points. Avoid long text blocks.
- Again: AI-generated content is prohibited.
- Attribute content drawn from other sources.
- Style: Insight, perspective, advice, case study, first-person perspectives, checklists, quizzes.
Authors With Nonprofit Experience Wanted
- Preference is given to authors with direct experience working or volunteering with community-based nonprofits.
- Private companies that submit articles in which they set themselves up as the solution to a problem they framed, will likely find their article rejected.
- Articles that are blatantly self-promotional will be rejected.
Extra Credit for Irreverence
- Blue Avocado encourages irreverence in articles. In other words, we welcome you to speak truth on behalf of nonprofits. We don’t want to be overly negative, but we’re not afraid of enlarging the good and diminishing the bad. Don’t be afraid to speak the truth about your successes and foibles!
Donations
In keeping with our mission to support the nonprofit sector, authors with new articles published in Blue Avocado may request a $200 donation to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit of their choice. These donations are made by request only. Requests must be received within 30 days of the article being published.
Donation checks will be mailed directly the 501(c)(3) nonprofit 4-6 weeks after an article is published.
How to Submit Your Article
After reading the instructions above carefully, submit your article through Submittable.
Submittable is a system that allows you to collaborate with us during the review and editing process.
Note: Submittable requires user registration.
We do not accept articles submitted by email, unless they require an Excel file. If your article includes an Excel file, please email it to editor@blueavocado.org.