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Against the Current: Mitch Gruber
I’ve long argued that nonprofits should be more engaged in politics, so when any colleague runs for office, I usually spread the word. One such colleague is Mitch Gruber, who also happens to be one of my favorite social entrepreneurs and fierce social …
Ask Rita: How Does the Americans with Disabilities Act Impact Our Efforts to Keep Employees Safe During the Covid-19 Pandemic?
Dear Rita: We operate a nonprofit social services agency. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have taken what we believe to be very aggressive steps to protect our nonprofit’s clients and employees. These efforts include taking the body temperatur …
Letter from the Editor
The September 2020 issue of Blue Avocado features an article by Dani Robbins that critically examines challenges nonprofits face in staying true to their mission during the fundraising process. Despite the global pandemic this year, there’s a lot to co …
Are Your Nonprofit Organization’s Stories Dishonoring the Families You Serve?
We have a problem in this country with the idea of a class system. Please indulge me the time to paint a picture of the backdrop against which many of us work but don’t often acknowledge. I will then use that backdrop to illustrate the challenge of dis …
Hiring People with Disabilities Is Not a Charity: Here’s Why and How to Stop Paying Subminimum Wage
In the age of Covid-19, the workplace is more flexible than employers thought possible. It’s time to apply the same innovations to employees with disabilities. Minimum wage exemptions date from 1938, a time when people with disabilities did not have a …
Against the Current: Regina Anderson
Asking an entire generation of young people (over 80 million strong) to do service as a prerequisite to graduating high school is probably one of the biggest social experiments in history, which is one reason I’ve been fixated on campus-oriented / stud …
Ask Rita: US Supreme Court Granted New Protection for LGBTQ+ Employees—What Do We Need to Know?
Dear Rita: Our nonprofit is in a state that does not recognize protections for gay, lesbian, or transgender workers. What do we need to do now that the Supreme Court has decided this is a new protected class of workers? Signed, Trying to Do the Right T …
Resiliency in the New Normal: Nonprofit Colleagues Share Their Experiences
When the first shelter-in-place orders were imposed, most nonprofit organizations paused to rethink their fundraising efforts. Galas moved to the virtual world. In-person meetings with major donors became video calls. Appeals were rewritten to referenc …
Creating a Roadmap to Synchronize the Board to Your Nonprofit Mission
When I joined a nonprofit five years ago, I observed during our annual budgeting that we rarely launched new ventures or events. We were marching along the “status quo” path and the conditions for our clients, staff, and donors weren’t improving. Somet …
Assessing Financial Health in the Time of Covid-19
Covid-19 has created dramatic changes in the financial markets. Nonprofits such as private schools, universities, museums, religious organizations, and even hospitals have seen unforeseen shifts in operations due to quarantine. While the Coronavirus Ai …
