Recent Posts
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.
Recent Nonprofit Articles
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Ask Rita: Wading through the New Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations
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Finance Fear Factor Ratios
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Too Many Nonprofits? Yes – At Least Too Many AIDS Organizations
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Health Insurance: A Bit of Good COBRA News
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Too Many Nonprofits? Yes! Clueless in Seattle
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Volunteer Time Financial Statement Illustrations
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Tracking Volunteer Time to Boost Your Bottom Line: A Complete Accounting Guide
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A Devil’s Advocate on the Board?
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Loans From Nonprofit Board Members
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Ask Rita: Downsizing from Employees to Independent Contractors?
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The Car Donation Controversy and the Right Way to Donate Your Car
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Succession Planning for Nonprofits of All Sizes
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The 411 on Starting a Car Donation Program
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Advice for Servicemembers and Veterans Looking at Nonprofit Jobs
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New Thinking and Talking About Volunteers
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A Board Leads an Organization Out of the Ashes
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From Air Force Captain to Nonprofit Fundraiser
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Nonprofit Layoffs and Furloughs: Do Them Right
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When You Lose Your Health Insurance Coverage
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Layoff Stories from Blue Avocado Readers
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Laid Off From a Nonprofit: Me!
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The Nonprofit Board’s Role in HR
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Sample Layoff Letter
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Will Obamaniacs Change Nonprofits?
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George W. Bush’s Legacy: A Dramatic Increase in Volunteer Spirit
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Ten Nonprofits that Shaped the Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
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New Growth from Old Wood: Heroes & Nonprofits (and Sarbanes-Oxley)
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Model Document Retention Policy for Nonprofits
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Sarbanes-Oxley and Nonprofits: Bogeyman in the Boardroom?
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A 360-Degree Look at the Organization: Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us
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Speed Up the Board Recruitment Process!
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Too Many Nonprofits? No — There Aren’t Enough Good Nonprofits
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Six Things Every Board Member Should Know About the New 990
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An Insight About Catholic Schools’ Business Model
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Nonprofit Executive Director Assessment
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The Secret to a High Impact Annual Report
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Governance Committees: More and More Common
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What Information Should Board Members Get?
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Succeeding With (or Maybe in Spite of) Evidence-Based Practices
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An Alcohol Problem Holds the Bookkeeping Hostage
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Nonprofit Email Sign-Offs
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Nonprofit Embezzlement: More Common and More Preventable Than You Think
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A Drug and Alcohol Free Workplace Policy for Nonprofits
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Fun at Work
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A Steep Road Ahead for Immigration Volunteers?
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The Board Builds Its Sense of Self: Body-Building for Nonprofit Boards
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Ask Rita: What Happens When the Office Coffee Comes With Politics?
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Three Steps to Effective Board Oversight of Insurance
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A Board Member’s Guide to Nonprofit Insurance
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If You Don’t Have Time to Save: Nonprofit Retirement Part 3
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What Nonprofits are Saying About the Bailout: A Fast Roundup
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Closing Down the Right Way
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Nonprofit Retirement Part 2: How and Where to Save
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Thinking the Unthinkable: Maybe We Should Shut Down
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Community Nonprofits: Katrina’s Unsung Heroes Still on the Job
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How to Take a Public Policy Stand, with Sample Criteria
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Nonprofit Retirement: Calculating retirement Needs & Exploring Choices
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Ask Rita: Zero Cell Phone Use While Driving Policy
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A Family and Medical Leave Act Checklist
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Ask Rita: Can an Employee Come and Go Using Family or Medical Leave?
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Is It Time for an Audit?
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Gas Rates, Volunteers, and Justice
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Should the Board Hold Executive Sessions?
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More Than the Olympics: Sports, Nonprofits & Community
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Boards of All-Volunteer Organizations
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Three-Step Immigration (IRCA) Compliance for Employers
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Obama: the Nonprofit Sector’s Favorite Son?
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Overtime Pay for Nonprofit Preschool Teacher?
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The Best Way to Raise Money? Choose a Revenue Strategy
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What Should Nonprofit Boards Know About Insurance Brokers?
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In Search of Unicorns: Finding & Hiring Outside Grantwriters Part 2
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Unicorns Found: Meet Two Grantwriters
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Word on the Street from the Council on Foundations Conference
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The Unrecognized Value of Community Nonprofits, Hiring Grantwriters, Extended Warranties, MTV
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In Search of Unicorns: Finding & Hiring Grantwriters, Part 1
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Nonprofit Budgets Have to Balance: False!
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Don’t Drive, Chew Gum and Use the Phone at the Same Time
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Meaningful Acts of Appreciation for Nonprofit Boards and Staff
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Nonprofits and the Media
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Pay Off My Student Loan or Pay Into a 401K?
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Why is it called Blue Avocado?
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Abolish Board Committees?
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Reasons to Have (& Not to Have) an Attorney on a Nonprofit Board
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Can We Require An Employee To Take Her Meds?
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Promises, Promises: Rural Advocates vs. Big Philanthropy
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Five Ways to Let Government Money Run You Over
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Good Management vs. Good Leadership
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What Do I Say to a Donor or Funder?
Planned giving professional Greg Lassonde gives us step-by-step instructions for soliciting bequests and planned gifts.
Too often, the focus on nonprofit executive transitions is about the departing executive. Here’s one such story.
There is a lot of buzz around “impact”, “outcomes” and “evidence-based practices”, but not enough about how nonprofits can achieve them.
Transgender and intersexual matters in HR. Work with your employees to make them feel welcome at work, regardless of gender identity.
Conventional fundraising advice is far more doable for the mainstream program than the one based in a community of color.
Boards and board members don’t get credit for some important work they do without even realizing they are doing it.
Cow board members donate hours at meetings and asking others to give milk debate whether or not they should give milk themselves. Moo.
Bylaws Cheat Sheet: If a copy of the by-laws is handy, it’s tedious to have to look over all the legalese for an answer to a simple question.
Major gifts aren’t the right strategy for every organization, but we can still appreciate how this fundraiser talks about her job.
How many outcomes and logic models can fit on the head of a pin? Humor columnist Vu Le enlightens us.
Nonprofit managers should know how to support a committee of volunteers: An Advisory Committee, a Board Finance Committee, or a coalition.
When an employee’s mental health behavior is negatively impacting your workplace, what can you do?
Nonprofit board members tell their tales of woe or whoa: Funny, sad, silly or gut wrenching stories.
A survey of 906 nonprofit finance professionals reveals some surprises about these crucial-but-often-overlooked staff.
The sustainability question at nonprofits: How will you sustain this program or project when funding from the So-and-So Foundation runs out?
Is it a good idea to have insurance for volunteers? I thought volunteers had immunity in both federal and state laws.
Workplace policies that describe prohibited conduct types help manage the distinction between a spurious complaints and bullying situations.
Advice to nonprofits on managing their ratings, and commentary on the impact of the raters as a whole.
Executive directors are problem solvers. But why keep it to just nonprofit problems? We would make great advice columnists!
Executive directors often say that their boards need training. The most effective way to change a board is to change the people on it.
In most states, it is legal to have board meetings by telephone if everyone can hear one another at the same time.
There is no law that mandates employers conduct performance reviews. But most employment attorneys always say, “document, document, document.”
Having 100% of board members make personal donations is a cliché. But, if you have this requirement, make it as easy as possible.
A list of 13 guidelines and practices that you can heed, if you want avoid recruiting terrible nonprofit board members.