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How do federal funding threats affect you?
It’s time for our next Blue Avocado Poll. Does your organization rely on federal funding? Are you discussing the possible budget cuts at the federal level? What are your contingency plans? Please take a minute to tell us what you are seeing, and …
A Milestone in Nonprofit Lending
Hello Avocados! We wanted to share this exciting milestone from the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California, founding and ongoing sponsor of Blue Avocado. In January 2017, the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC) reached $2 mil …
How to Work With Your Banker Amidst Change
With more than 25 years of banking experience and an equal tenure serving the Portland, Ore., community with Catholic Charities, Impact NW and other organizations, Kathy shares this advice for how to help your banker to give your organization as much c …
The Financial Outlook for Nonprofits
Last issue, we included a survey and invited you to share what 2017 was going to look like for your organization’s financial outlook. Almost 500 of you shared your answers — thank you!! — and we’re happy now to share back with all of you what we …
Is Your Nonprofit Ready for a Capital Project?
I have an almost-two-year old who just discovered Mega Blocks and how to stack them as tall as possible before they fall. That usually leads to some two-way negotiation about where the next block should go, to avoid a cascade of blocks and tears. (Some …
Everything We’ve Been Taught About Major Gifts is Wrong
Of course, by “everything” for purposes of this article I mean “three big things.” But conventional wisdom can lead us astray when devising effective fundraising strategies. Like leprechauns, these mythical truisms can mislead us into thinking we shoul …
If You Give a Board Treasurer A Cookie . . .
Blue Avocado columnist Vu Le inspires us again with his ideas for nonprofit-themed children’s books. We should all be writing some! Today, I want to talk about children’s books. I am so sick of these children’s books that my one-year-old …
A Board Member’s Guide to Nonprofit Overhead
Calculating overhead rates and managing overhead expense are important staff roles. Board members are not required to know how do staff accounting work, but we do need to bring an informed perspective to our oversight: Harvard’s indirect cost ra …
A Funder’s Message to Other Funders About Overhead
This article is adapted from a presentation made to Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). Our deepest thanks to Unmi Song for speaking these truths: Good afternoon; I am Unmi Song, President of the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation. The overhead …
First Person Nonprofit: A Day in the Life of a Major Gifts Officer
So exactly how do you lead someone up to a $1 million ask? The director of major gifts at a large regional environmental organization agreed to tell us everything . . . as long as we didn’t reveal her name or organization. And best of all: post …
