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A Tiger Escaped Today . . . and I’m on the Zoo Board
It made international headlines: tiger attacks three visitors and kills one of them after escaping her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. What was it like to be on the Zoo board at that time? We are grateful to our friend for sharing his First Person …
Why Don’t Foundations Build Capacity in Fundraising?
Foundations often encourage nonprofits — especially grassroots organizations — to develop non-foundation income streams as part of sustainability. So then why do so few of our grantmakers invest in building the capacity of those groups to raise indep …
Take a 3 Minute Vacation Right Now and Have Some Laughs
Today’s politiquette tip: don’t tell a person using a wheelchair, “I don’t think of you as someone in a wheelchair!” Or more commonly: “I don’t think of you as a minority!” said to people of color. The implication, of course, is that the listener has m …
What You Should be Getting Out of Being on a Board
There are enough books and articles to fill a library on the subject of how board members can contribute to the nonprofits on whose boards they serve. But what about the other way around? What should we board members get out of board service? And as ex …
Downward-Facing Budget and Other Nonprofit Yoga Poses
Don’t you love Vu Le, Blue Avocado’s humor columnist? This time he turns to giving us health hints! We in nonprofits work a lot and oftentimes neglect important things. Like flossing. And exercise. There are many benefits of yoga, which are the …
Surprise! Most Legacy Gifts DON’T Come from Major Donors
Planned giving professional Greg Lassonde gives us step-by-step instructions for soliciting bequests and planned gifts, and sets this in the context of paradigm changes in the field: While there is a growing amount of data about the importance o …
Hammer Factories, Carpenters, and Pigs . . . editor notes issue #97
These days there are so many people creating tools for nonprofit leaders and for activists. Foundations fund online tools, research studies, websites that analyze and present data, convenings on new tools, and so forth. We have a million factories maki …
Overhead Rhymes with Garlic Bread . . . editor notes issue #96
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “to talk of many things: “Of rent and desks and insurance — and whether pigs have wings. “Why no one wants to pay for overhead, and all the grief that brings.” Overhead is on the upswing as a discussion top …
“Classic” Nonprofit Jokes
Our humor columnist Vu Le is standing at the microphone: Last week, someone told me I should go into stand-up comedy. Figuring that stand-up probably pays more than nonprofit, I started working on some jokes. Here is the first batch. Try them ou …
IRS Nullifies Section 501(c)(3) . . . Issue #95 April 1 2014
April 1, 2014 . . . Blue Avocado is in secret merger talks with the Red Cross, Greenpeace,Yellow Ribon Fund, Purple Heart Foundation, American Black Film Festival, and Brown University. “At last, there will be a place where wounded veterans can make fi …
