The world today is a scarier, more uncertain place than usual. Quarantines, economic instability, and political strife seem to be the new normal. Never before has the work of community-led nonprofits—promoting grassroots leadership, lifting up women’s voices, providing access to the underserved, and otherwise creating resiliency—been more critical to creating a just, healthy, and equitable society. And while corona concerns have us steering clear of one another, our collective work is a lynchpin that brings us closer together.
We hope this new issue of Blue Avocado plays some small part in helping you move your work forward. It’s chock-full of some really helpful nuggets, and now that we have shifted to a monthly format, our concrete insights will never be that far away. And stay tuned in the issues ahead for how your cause and community can weather the storm and carry on our good work.
First off, our regular NextGen Nexus column looks at not just building awareness for your cause among young people, but how to actually become a part of the movements and conversations about which they care most. Then we’ll share an innovative donor-centric approach to budgeting and reporting, followed by a poignant Ask Rita column that can help if you’re wrestling with unwelcome bullying behavior in the workplace. We know you can never get enough fundraising tips, so next up is a practical piece on how to grow donor relationships by offering multiple opportunities for engagement and customizing communications, after which we’ll dive into the ins and outs of leveraging nonprofit interns. Finally, we’ll bring it home with great pieces on the power of embracing unlikely allies, inspiring youth philanthropy, and how not to run a mentoring program. And as always, I’ve picked out an evergreen piece that still offers great, salient insights: this time Rita answers the question, do we really need to conduct performance reviews given everything else we have going on?
We look forward to your thoughts on this issue and each of the meaty articles herein and please weigh in with your comments on each, plus contact us with your suggestions for future articles and topics, especially those related to how nonprofits are effectively responding to the COVID-19 in ways that can benefit your counterparts at other organizations around the country.
After all, we’ve got some serious work to do and the world needs you now more than ever!
In Community,
Darian
Darian Rodriguez Heyman
Editor-in-Chief, Blue Avocado
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