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: Emma’s Disability is Hurting Performance: Can We Fire Her?
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Five Tips for Better Board Packets
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A Board-Staff Agreement for Financial Accountability
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How Did This Happen? Part 2 of the Vanguard Foundation Story
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How to Hire a Great Accountant for Your Nonprofit
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Korean-American Nonprofit Implodes Diversity Myths
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Board Email: Reduce, Reflect, Rejoice!
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Just Awards: Follow-up to “The Nonprofit Justies”
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On Being Male in the Female-Majority Nonprofit Sector
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Ask Rita: Protecting Staff from Co-worker’s Violent Boyfriend
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What is an Advisory Board and Should We Have One?
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How Much to Pay the Executive Director?
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Decline and Fall of the Vanguard Foundation
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The Board Told Me I Had to Join Rotary
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Through the Valley of the Shadow of Failure
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Raise Money in 30 Days
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Foundations: Fleas or Elephants?
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Nonprofit Conflict of Interest: A 3-Dimensional View
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Married Co-Executive Directors of Nonprofits
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Updates on Some Sacred Cows
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Three Easy Ways for Foundations to Support Democracy
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Golden Rule of Board Resignations
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Ask Rita: Can Employees Smoke Medical Marijuana at Work?
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Bylaws Checklist
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Five Emergency “Musts” for Your Nonprofit
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Ten Things I Learned About Leadership from Women Executives of Color
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Ask Rita: Is being a surrogate mother a profession?
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Board Terms: 1 Year – 3 Years – 2 Years
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Volunteerism Public Policies Can Hurt Nonprofits
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Telecommuting and Flexible Work Arrangements: Do Them Right
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Working from Home: Sidebar on Legal Issues for Nonprofits
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Rockefeller Foundation and NY Times Win “Just Awards”
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Knitting Makes Me a Better Executive Director
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All-Volunteer Organization Resources
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Eight Strategic Mistakes with Memberships
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Attack of the Tax-Exemption Killers
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Nonprofit Business Model Statements
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Who is Responsible for the Board Doing a Good Job?
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True Stories of Grantseeking: A First-Person Nonprofit Story
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What to Do When You Really, Really Disagree with a Board Decision
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Census: Battleground for Money and Justice
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Angry Activist Gets Old & Wise: A First-Person Nonprofit Story
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Merging Nonprofit Voices into a Political Force
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Nonprofit Research that Gets to the Heart
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Ask Rita: Terminate Employee After One Year of Sick Leave?
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Nonprofit Jargon Watch
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Five Internal Controls for the Very Small Nonprofit
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Teach for America: Icon with Feet of Clay?
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Announcing the Just Awards
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Our Executive Director is Embezzling
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Nonprofit Self-Esteem Crisis
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Recruiting for Board Diversity: Part 3 in Diversity Series
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Three Nonprofit Sneezes in Health Care Reform
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Diversity & the Nonprofit Ecosystem: Part 2 in the 3-Part Diversity Series
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A Fresh Look at Diversity and Boards
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Ask Rita: When Swine Flu Hits the HR Department
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Amaze Your Friends with these Nonprofit Factoids
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Can Nonprofit Boards Vote By Email?
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From Artist to Executive Director: Not a Straight Line
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A Board Member “Contract”
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Six Ways to Know If It’s Time to Leave
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L3C: Pot of Gold or Space Invader?
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Ask Rita: Criminal Records Checks for Prospective Staff and Volunteers
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Turning the Tables on Pride
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Fundraiser Edie Boatman Shares Career-Switching Tips
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Attorney Recommends Review Instead of Audit
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An Agreed-Upon-Procedures (AUP) Success Story
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Seven Ways to Reduce Your Audit Costs
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Should Board Members Be Required to Give?
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What to Do with Board Members Who Don’t Do Anything
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Faith-Based Nonprofit Funds: Presto Change-o
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Switching Careers at the Worst Possible Time
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Ask Rita: Model Dress Code for Nonprofits
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Focus on the Destination, Not the Route (Budget)!
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Ten Quick Ways to Invigorate Board Meetings
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Ask Rita: Tattoos and Piercings… and a Model Dress Code
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Alcoholics Anonymous vs. Best Practices
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Social Innovation Fund: Where Is the Money Going?
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Top Ten Questions from Job Seekers… Answered!
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Critical Path for the Board
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A Nonprofit Dashboard and Signal Light for Boards
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Six of Our Board Members Are in Prison
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New 990 Software Release on July 20: Is It Enough?
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Alligators in the Boardroom and Urban Legends About Nonprofits
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Ask Rita: I Have a Bad Boss! Help!
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Boards Should Only Have Three Committees!
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What Are the Board’s Responsibilities for Volunteers?
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The Volunteer Who Couldn’t
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Survival Strategies for the Arts
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A Bigger Budget and Smaller Butt in Just 12 Weeks!
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Fundraising Confessions of a Former Camp Fire Girl
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Life on Planet 501c: Contest Winners
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What’s the Point of a Nonprofit Board, Anyway?
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A 7-Point Checklist for Responding to a Request for Family or Medical Leave
Nonprofits have been leaders in building sustainability for generations. Nonprofits can be the catalysts for the systemic change in consciousness we so desperately need by advocating for a community-benefit approach in our economic system.
Many nonprofit leaders don’t know that lobbying is 100% legal for nonprofits. Here are four steps nonprofits can take now to get smarter about lobbying: accept the importance of lobbying, get the facts, meet with officials, and join a trade association.
Planned giving scares many who work in nonprofits. We think it’s too technical and takes too much time. Here are 10 easy steps to follow to get started with creating a planned giving program at your nonprofit.
Giving collectively (collective giving) helps nonprofits address community needs by giving unrestricted (& sometimes unsolicited) grants.
Key lessons from the pandemic that can help other nonprofit leaders proactively anticipate the next big jolt.
What happens if an employee who is filling in for another employee out on FMLA turns out to be better in the position? What are our options?
Everyone wants to innovate, but few of us have the time and energy. But what if there was a way to add value despite limited resources?
Practical ideas on how to get on board with DEIB for your nonprofit and stay committed to ongoing honest assessments and effective action.
The work you do now to plan for executive succession could mean the difference between whether your organization withers or thrives later.
Nonprofits that do not deliver on the terms of a grant contract are at risk of having to return the funding. Make sure you have a plan.
Can you fund your nonprofit organization without relying on grant writing? Nonprofit funding without grants may be simpler than you think.
If you are not creating and investing in the right system, you are putting your nonprofit’s long-term sustainability at risk.
Do what works best to advance the mission statement of your nonprofit. At the end of the day, the juice has to be worth the squeeze.
Nonprofits that access capital through instruments like social impact bonds, can help fund solutions to larger social problems.
The nominating process is vital to creating a healthy and stable nonprofit. Use these tips to help you nominate engaged, strong board members for your organization.
How resource-strapped nonprofits can set themselves apart from countless other companies trying to hire from the same applicant pool.
Nonprofit organizations are givers. Reframing self-care as self-defense can help us to prioritize our people and protect our organizations.
While no two nonprofits are exactly alike, there are some best practices that all organizations should use when building their annual operating budgets.
In the day-to-day firefighting of the nonprofit world, quantitative goals can lessen the chance for misunderstandings.
Every organization is made up of cat people and dog people. This framework can help with equity and inclusion in decision-making processes.
Recovering from a disaster is not a quick process. Here’s how philanthropy must help local communities rebuild.
Specialized volunteers can come from organizations that recruit those seeking opportunities for organizations in need of specialized help.
Guiding principles for organizations that want to create a binding, board-approved JDEI policy with values, action plans, and accountability.
To be successful, transitions from volunteer leaders to paid staff must be planned, deliberate, and done in an orderly fashion.