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Disrupting the Space of Disaster Philanthropy: A View from the Front Lines
I am the CEO of After the Fire USA (ATF), a leading nonprofit in the space of megafire, climate change, and disaster recovery. We help communities navigate the complexities and stages of recovery post-megafire disaster. Prior to 2015, megafires were fa …
Up Your Game with Skills-based Volunteering
Every nonprofit has that project which is both vital to the organization but beyond their reach. It might be a new accounting system, a website upgrade, a fundraising strategy, or a complete strategic plan. That project is always on the to-do list but …
7 Guiding Principles for a JDEI Policy That Isn’t Just Hot Air. Plus, a Free Sample Policy!
For those who have spent the better part of their careers working on equity issues, recent events have been wrenching–and cause for hope: the Black Lives Matter movement is finally entering the mainstream. But just like those obligatory corporate envir …
Passion Meets Professionalism: Transitioning from Volunteer Leaders to Paid Staff
Imagine executives from the six largest school meal programs in the country, sitting around a table discussing how, together, they could make a difference in school food. By leveraging their buying power, they can change the industry. They decide to be …
The Growth Paradox for Nonprofit Organizations
We have been talking about the Overhead Myth and the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle for many years, but there has been only modest progress on donor demands that result in underinvestment in nonprofit infrastructure, and malnourished organizations. But if …
Does Your Nonprofit Receive Donations of Services, Supplies or Equipment? Changes are Coming!
Changes to How Nonprofit Organizations Report In-kind Contributions of Nonfinancial Assets It is common for nonprofits to receive donations and contributions of nonfinancial assets, more commonly known as in-kind contributions. Typical examples of in-k …
Blue Avocado: What it Takes to Run a Nonprofit
Leann Malone, the Executive Director of Lancaster County First Steps, talks to Blue Avocado about strong business acumen, retaining qualified staff, and keeping the eye on the bottom line. BA: What advice do you have for a young person considering work …
Ask Rita: An Employee Isn’t Holding Up Their End of the ADA Interactive Process—What Do I Do?
Dear Rita, Thank you for your recent answers to my questions about when I am supposed to initiate the ADA interactive process with my employee who was having performance and productions process. Now, I have some questions about the other end of the pro …
Transition Tips for Chief Executives and Boards of Directors
The stronger the relationship between the board and chief executive, the better they work together for a planned transition. I’d love for the board of directors to be my close friends. Who wouldn’t? They are thoughtful, funny, interesting people. Yet i …
How to Improve Nonprofit Culture Through Mission and Values Realignment
We’ve all seen cultural problems: low morale, burnout, turnover, lackluster results, low client satisfaction, and donor attrition. We hire new staff, we hold team-building events, we might even bring in a consultant to determine the causes. But there i …
