Recent Posts

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Navigating the nonprofit world can be challenging. Blue Avocado offers expert guidance on a range of topics — from building strong boards to maximizing your fundraising impact. Explore our latest posts for practical tips, strategies, and solutions to common issues facing nonprofit organizations today.

Latest Articles

First Person Nonprofit: A Day in the Life of a Major Gifts Officer

Major gifts aren’t the right strategy for every organization, but we can still appreciate how this fundraiser talks about her job.

Bring Unicorns Back to Our World: The Problem with Outcomes

How many outcomes and logic models can fit on the head of a pin? Humor columnist Vu Le enlightens us.

How to Staff and Support a Committee

Nonprofit managers should know how to support a committee of volunteers: An Advisory Committee, a Board Finance Committee, or a coalition.

Mental Health Counselor May Have a Mental Health Problem – What Can We Do?

When an employee’s mental health behavior is negatively impacting your workplace, what can you do?

Funny and Awkward Nonprofit Board Tales

Nonprofit board members tell their tales of woe or whoa: Funny, sad, silly or gut wrenching stories.

Adding It All Up: Nonprofit CFO Study

A survey of 906 nonprofit finance professionals reveals some surprises about these crucial-but-often-overlooked staff.

The Sustainability Question: Why Is It So Annoying?

The sustainability question at nonprofits: How will you sustain this program or project when funding from the So-and-So Foundation runs out?

Ask Rita: Do Nonprofits Need Insurance for Volunteers?

Is it a good idea to have insurance for volunteers? I thought volunteers had immunity in both federal and state laws.

How to Deal with an Office Bully

Workplace policies that describe prohibited conduct types help manage the distinction between a spurious complaints and bullying situations.

Managing Your Nonprofit’s Rating

Advice to nonprofits on managing their ratings, and commentary on the impact of the raters as a whole.

Nonprofit Executive Director Gives Advice on Love, Marriage, and Other Stuff

Executive directors are problem solvers. But why keep it to just nonprofit problems? We would make great advice columnists!

Extreme Board Makeover

Executive directors often say that their boards need training. The most effective way to change a board is to change the people on it.

Nonprofits: How to Have a Board Meeting By Telephone

In most states, it is legal to have board meetings by telephone if everyone can hear one another at the same time.

Ask Rita in HR: Do we really have to do performance evaluations?

There is no law that mandates employers conduct performance reviews. But most employment attorneys always say, “document, document, document.”

Getting to 100% Board Giving

Having 100% of board members make personal donations is a cliché. But, if you have this requirement, make it as easy as possible.

How to Recruit Terrible Nonprofit Board Members

A list of 13 guidelines and practices that you can heed, if you want avoid recruiting terrible nonprofit board members.

Charity Rater Reviews: Charting the Bad and the Bad

A look at six charity raters, who they rate, and the criteria they use to rate them.

Matrix Map Part Two: The Strategic Imperatives

Beyond helping nonprofit leaders understand the business model, the Matrix Map can help you strengthen it.

How to Keep the Board Under Your Thumb

Nonprofit executive directors often want boards to have lively discussions followed by votes that agree with the executive director.

The Matrix Map Approach Part One: How to Create the Matrix Map

You may have heard of the Dual Bottom Line: the idea that strategic choices must serve both mission impact and financial viability. But how do you turn this idea into a quantitative decision-making tool?

What Are My Nonprofit’s Obligations Under the Affordable Healthcare Act?

The Affordable Healthcare Act creates sweeping changes in health care law. There are two key provisions which may help your nonprofit.

Nonprofit Funding: Buying a Cake and Restricting it Too

Nonprofits spend way too much time navigating the complex maze of funding restrictions, time that could be spent delivering services.

The Founding Fathers Write a Grant Proposal

The challenges of writing a grant proposal and getting funded evidently go back to colonial times.

Ten Biggest Mistakes Boards and Executives Make

“To err is human,” and as we all ruefully know, nonprofit board members and executive directors are typically human.