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.

9 Principles to Make Your Nonprofit Fundraising Effective — and Fun!

Raising funds for your nonprofit doesn’t have to be stressful. Learn how one California nonprofit proved that, when designed thoughtfully and collaboratively, fundraising can be successful and enjoyable.

Moving Beyond Performance: Making DEI Actionable

If you want to make your organization a healthy space for all and overcome biases and prejudices, you have to do the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work. It’s that simple.

Is There Anybody Out There? Navigating the Challenges of Managing Hybrid Work Teams

Remote work is the new normal. Be sure your nonprofit’s managers and executives are equipped to successfully lead remote and hybrid work teams.

From Startup to Success: Guiding Nonprofits with Six Core Principles of Improvement

Six core principles, drawn from STEM education, can help new nonprofits assemble a diverse team, raise funds successfully, and learn to use the gathered resources for strategic growth.

Rethinking Perpetuity: Resetting Endowment Expectations After the Pandemic

With endowments, let’s rethink ‘forever’ and explore new, flexible ways to ensure your nonprofit organization’s longevity and effectiveness.

Advocacy Amplified: How Nonprofits Can Garner State Legislative Support for Their Causes

How nonprofits can overcome the complex legislative landscape to effectively lobby and pass laws that serve their communities.

Volunteering Alone Will Not Save Us

To fight the battle against hunger, nonprofits can advocate for meaningful change in our societal structures.

The Year of Three Executive Directors: Important Lessons for Board Management

One board member’s personal trials and triumphs of serving on a board, including invaluable lessons that every board member can benefit from.

We May Be a Motley Crew, But We’ll Adapt to You: 8 Tenets of Holistic Community Engagement for Nonprofits

A tale of transformation and innovative thinking from Motley Zoo Animal Rescue, which shares the lessons they’ve learned and how they overcame obstacles to create a sustainable, community-focused animal rescue system.

Join the Movement: Activating Nonprofits for Lasting Change

Why nonprofits, particularly those supporting marginalized communities, must become active players in the landscape of advocacy.

Growing the Roots of Consensus in Nonprofit Governance

Why nonprofits that embrace a consensus-based decision model can enhance services, adapt to change, and make a lasting impact.

7 Things Nonprofit Leaders Can Say to Funders to Effectively Manage Limited Resources

Seven things nonprofit executives can begin saying to set boundaries with funders and say no without consequences.

A Beginner’s Guide to Filing a Form 990 for Your Nonprofit Organization

For nonprofit organizations, filing a Form 990 can be overwhelming and confusing, especially if it’s your first time. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about filing a Form 990, including six steps to take before, during, and after transmitting your form to the IRS.

How Nonprofits Can Benefit from Embracing ESG Practices

By expanding ESG efforts and communicating them effectively, nonprofits can engage new audiences and achieve greater impact. This article discusses how nonprofits can document and communicate their ESG impact and provides five steps to get started.

How U.S.-based Nonprofits Can Deliver Disaster Relief Abroad: A Tigrayan Case Study

How to deliver on-the-ground relief to internally displaced persons including formation of a nonprofit, fundraising, partnerships, and more.

Why Executive Directors Need L&D to Execute a Smooth Succession

Learn about what makes a good talent management strategy and how investing in learning and development helps organizations fill their leadership pipeline.

How Nonprofits Can Change Unfair Laws

Discover how small nonprofits can take on unfair laws and policies that hinder their ability to serve their communities and come out victorious with the help of coalitions.

The Power of Collaborative Fundraising

Learn about tangible benefits from collaborative fundraising and the five simple steps to ensure your collaboration goes as well as possible.

Why Nonprofit Organizations Need Chief Diversity Officers

The Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) at the Urban Institute explains why it is important to re-confirm and re-establish the need to keep making progress on the important work of equity and inclusion in nonprofit organizations to affect real change.

7 Key Factors for Building Peer-to-Peer Fundraising at Your Small Nonprofit

For small nonprofits it’s difficult to know where to start with fundraising for target programs. The problem is compounded when your nonprofit is located in a disadvantaged community. If you find yourself in this situation, peer-to-peer fundraising, centered on grassroots recruiting, could be the route to achieve your objectives in a well-defined timeframe.

The Data Is In: Nonprofits Are Getting More Operational Support

A compelling case for how nonprofits can build organizational capacity and infrastructure to ensure longevity by getting funding for those investments for their nonprofit.

How to Implement Strategic Inquiry at Your Nonprofit in 5 Steps

Five steps nonprofits can take to implement strategic inquiry including building board support, listening to community, research, broadening networks, and sharing the journey.

Performance Appraisals Are Broken — Here’s How Managers Can Fix the Process

Neither supervisors nor employees think that the current process for performance appraisals is working. In this article, our author uses her experience as a trainer and coach with more than 2,000 managers, direct service staff, board members, and other volunteers to present a 6-pointed, human-centered approach that supervisors can use to fix the performance appraisal process.

Re-evaluating the Great Resignation

To understand how resignation trends impacted nonprofits, sector leaders must look below the headline figures to understand employee motivations.