Wow! More than 6,000 Blue Avocado readers responded to our recent survey, filling up our mailbox with the best of useful advice. Thank you all for taking the time to help make Blue Avocado even more helpful and engaging for community nonprofits. And to the 20 lucky raffle winners of Blue Avocado flash drives, they’re on their way to you!
Abundantly clear is that Blue Avocado’s 50,000 readers are the real thing: Nearly one-third are executive directors, 72% are board members, and many others serve as nonprofit staff & volunteers, foundation staff, and in other supporting capacities. It’s great to see readers serving on the boards of all-volunteer organizations (33% of board members), small/midsize organizations with fewer than 50 staff (79%), and organizations based in communities of color (8%). We very much value the feedback on what you’d like to see more (and less) of in Blue Avocado, although we’re still pondering the significance of what coffees you drink (or don’t). One reader drinks "4 shots of decaf espresso with a splash of water" while another curiously puts both Splenda and half-and-half in hers. Our favorite response on coffees: "I take it with sugar, cream, and a sense of the absurd."
"Thumbs up" comments included, "very practical," "fun to read," "irreverent, off-beat, smart," "just the right length," and "challenges us to live up to our best values." Many people said they loved the 3-Minute Vacations, even if they only had time to read about them. And more than 80% called for more articles on all-volunteer organizations, finance, Board Cafe articles, and First Person Nonprofit stories. We hear you.
In response to the requests to make it easier to share Blue Avocado articles with others, starting with this issue you’ll see a little icon like the one at the right. Click on this icon to easily post the article link to Facebook, Twitter, delicious, Digg, and others.
And don’t forget to check out Queries & Communiques at the end of most of our issues. It features special offers, article participation requests, and more. For example, this issue we seek your participation on a conference call about nonprofit furloughs.
Don’t forget you can always contact us by sending an email to editor at blueavocado.org. We look forward to our future together . . . Jan Masaoka & the Blue Avocado Steering Committee
I had to smile about the comment regarding Splenda and half and half in coffee as being curious. Low carb people would recognize the pairing.
Many thanks for Blue Avocado. I’ve forwarded it to the new chair of our Committee on Trustees.