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Seizing Social Capital to Empower Nonprofit Leaders
Through my forty-plus years of practice as a volunteer with, consultant to, and teacher of leaders of hundreds of diverse nonprofit enterprises, I have come to believe that there is at least one universal truth about 1.56 million registered nonprofits …
Against the Current: Nihal Satyadev
For years, I’ve been hyper-interested in aging in America, and particularly the costs we as a country will have to cover as the Boomer generation roars into its 80s. Out front on the cost-o-meter: Alzheimer’s, which is projected to cost our society $1. …
Seeking Sustainability: How Can Nonprofits Survive the Pandemic?
Here in Los Angeles, leaders across the region are working to identify ways to safely reopen the economy. Some sectors are eager to get back to business, while others are worried about whether or not it is safe to return. But for the most part, the non …
Ask Rita: For What Work-Related Expenses Must I Reimburse Remote Employees?
Dear Rita: In light of the Covid-19 pandemic orders in our state to stay at home, we have made the transition to our employees working remotely from their homes. This effort has been fairly successful despite the fact that we did not have a formal poli …
Letter from the Editor
As we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, some nonprofits are carefully beginning to consider re-opening, while others are thinking about how to continue managing telecommuting staff during Covid-19. In this issue of Blue Avocado, we touch on reimburs …
The Truth, Even When Unpleasant, Can Always Be Explained: Nonprofit Pointers for Conduct in Court
In art, fiction may be the lie that reveals the truth, but in the courtroom, all that fiction ever reveals is culpability. And it never ends well. More than once in the past months, I’ve faced fiction in the courtroom. An employee of a nonprofit client …
Against the Current: Jose “Che” Ramirez
For close to 25 years, I worked in the basement of America’s largest homeless shelter, where we built D.C, Central Kitchen into the model program it is today. But no matter how efficient and impactful we were, we still operated amongst the chaos & …
Consultant Request: Budgeting and Programming During Covid-19
This Discussion Corner item was submitted by Blue Avocado readers like you. I chair a 501(c)(6) and I’d like to see if there are consulting services to think through budgeting and programming in light of Covid-19. A considerable amount of what we did w …
Nonprofit Plans for Re-entry
This Discussion Corner item was submitted by Blue Avocado readers like you. Are any nonprofits putting a plan in place for reentry? I realize each one is different and unique, but we would like to a sense if other nonprofits have anything they want to …
How Can We Help the Board Address Problematic Behavior from the President?
This Discussion Corner item was submitted by Blue Avocado readers like you. I serve as Vice Chair of a private college Board of Trustees. The President of the college filed a complaint to the board that the Chair be removed from office, stating that th …