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

Organizing the Board to Support Nonprofit Revenue Strategy

Think more broadly (and effectively) about how board members can support the key aspects of your nonprofit revenue strategy.

How To Use Text Messaging for Nonprofit Outreach

Doug Plank of MobileCause explains the benefits of using text messaging to reach people for nonprofit outreach.

Questions to Ask Prospective Board Members

Spend a few minutes ahead of time thinking about what to ask prospective board members to get a better idea if it’s a good match.

Vanguard Foundation Update: With Leader Pleading Guilty, “Truth and Reconciliation”?

Rick Cohen provides thoughts about the fall of the Vanguard Foundation and the impact on the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits: How to Survive an IRS Audit

The true life story of an environmental organization’s audit, how they survived, and their tips for the rest of us.

The Automatic Nonprofit Salary Calculator

A tongue-in-cheek version of the familiar Salary Calculator model to comment trenchantly on the indiscriminate — and not so indiscriminate — differences in how nonprofit staff get paid.

Executive Director Evaluation Survey Form

A process and an evaluation instrument for executive director evaluation surveys. Includes survey in Word format for easy modification.

Vanguard Foundation Update

An update on Vanguard CEO Hari Dillon and major donors involved with businessman Mouli Cohen and a series of get-rich-quick schemes.

The Philanthropic-Consultant Industrial Complex

Rather than supporting nonprofits, foundations and consultants are increasingly telling nonprofits what they should be doing.

Firing Someone for Slamming a Nonprofit Employer on Social Media

Can nonprofit employees get fired for posting negative comments about their employer on their private social media accounts?

Evaluating the Executive Director

Board evaluations of ED performance are radically different from any other type of performance review and must be approached differently.

Accounting Procedures Manual Template

Accounting Procedures Manual Template in Word. Download the Word document, and everything you need to fill is in in red.

Contract Wizardry: Conjuring Impact from Government Contracts

“When you start with the needs of the community, and you’re opening to listening, you realize that doing one or two things isn’t enough.”

Nonprofit Staff Don’t Vote in Elections? False!

“Nonprofit staff don’t vote.” The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits tested this. Here’s what they found.

Only Bad Restaurants Go to Scale

We in nonprofits are good at taking on myths and sacred cows. But perhaps the least examined of these myths is the one about going to scale.

Social Media for Nonprofits: 6 Do’s and Don’ts

Sick of people telling you a hundred things your nonprofit should be doing with social media? Kaitlyn Trigger provides some dos and don’ts.

Are Social Workers Exempt or Nonexempt? Help!

Should social workers be classified as exempt or nonexempt employees when it comes to overtime considerations?

The Governance/Support Model for Nonprofit Boards

Much of the confusion about board responsibilities is confusion between what the board does (as a body) and what individual board members should do.

Get the Most Value from Your Audit

Audits are expensive in terms of money, staff time, and board attention. CPA Dennis Walsh tells us how to wring the most value from them.

When Kids Volunteer: Liability Basics

If kids are among your clients or constituents, then getting them involved is a natural. But you’ll want to be sure you’ve got basic protections in place first.

Nonprofit Tax Quiz

In the nonprofit sector we throw around tax opinions, but here’s a chance to learn something from a 17-question quiz.

How to Get a Job at a Foundation

How foundations say they hire is often different from how they approach the hiring process. We asked foundation staffers how they got hired.

Nonprofit Personnel Files — A Guide from Ask Rita

An overview of how to manage your organization’s personnel files and a checklist of documents to include in a personnel file.

Foundation-Nonprofit “Partnerships” — Fact or Fiction?

Between foundations and nonprofits, sharing values, connections, and other support is good — but the relationship should be focused on funds.