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.
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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?
For your future use and reference, Blue Avocado shares some common jargon often found across the nonprofit sector.
Rick Cohen delves into the less-heard concerns and questions about Teach for America, and its effect on the education sector.
The Just Awards will show the most irrational, irresponsible, and irrelevant organizational behaviors that hinder social service and change.
It’s the call no board member wants or expects to get: The organization’s executive director is being investigated for embezzlement.
Jonathan Spack dives into fallacies that the nonprofit sector has internalized, which can contribute both to poor management and self-esteem.
Part 3 in Blue Avocado’s series on diversity offers specific, practical tips for recruiting people “unlike ourselves” for nonprofit boards.
Rick Cohen explores three large and distinct ways that the nonprofit sector is involved with the health care reform debates.
Explore how diversity is applied the nonprofit sector as a whole — speaking to foundations, consultants, capacity builders, and observers.
This article — the first of three in a series — provides a fresh and practical focus on nonprofit board diversity.
Nonprofits have a long history of innovation and heroism in health care and in disasters; be sure to manage the flu and its implications well.
Rick Cohen mined metric tons of data to bring some newly published, meaningful facts about the nonprofit sector that we should be aware of.
Steven Young Lee shares how his past experiences provided the right mix of skills to launch him on the path of nonprofit work.
Tim Wolfred, a leader in the field of nonprofit executive transitions, on how to weigh both the organization’s needs, and your own heart.
For-profit companies seek foundation grants and government tax exemptions that presents risks and challenges to the nonprofit sector.
Ask Rita explores how nonprofits should do criminal record checks on prospective employees, volunteers, and board members.
Pamela Davis explains how everything we’ve been taught about this economy needs to change, with the false equivalency of price and value.
Edie Boatman shares advice about making a career change from a for-profit position to a nonprofit position.
A nonprofit considered moving away from having an annual audit to having a review, and the board wanted a legal opinion before making a decision.
CPA Dennis Walsh discusses how using an Agreed-Upon-Procedures Engagement can done at much lower cost than audits to benefit nonprofits.
Dennis Walsh, a certified public accountant, shares seven ways nonprofits can reduce the costs around the auditing process.
Are board giving requirements a best practice or a bad idea? Blue Avocado reports on trends and explore the real questions.
In this Board Cafe column, look at short-term and long-term strategies for the board members known as deadwood or worse.
Rick Cohen explores the faith-based federal funds initiative launched by President Bush and revamped by President Obama.
Edie Boatman reflects on a year spent working in nonprofits — during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.