As we begin the new year, processing the year end results (AWESOME) and working on plans for 2020, I’m reflecting on how Avalon has grown and evolved since its founding in 1997. We’ve moved forward and evolved as a firm in ways I couldn’t imagine 23 years ago—including our collaborative work spaces and work-from-home options […]

  Like so many people in Washington, DC, we’ve been waiting impatiently for the opening of The Kennedy Center’s expansion: The REACH. We’ve made donations to the building fund, and watched the progress as this huge undertaking came to completion, moving the boundaries of the Kennedy Center beyond the stages of its iconic building. Much […]

No denying it: donor acquisition is down across the industry. Nonprofits are acquiring fewer donors, and many are experiencing volatile results and declining response rates, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s Quarterly Fundraising Report (June 2019). The number of donors is down; the number of donors who are giving is down; revenue is down. So what […]

Avalon was recently surprised to learn that one of the digital partners for a client based their fees on a percentage of revenue raised for a client. I’ll start by saying I believe that leading a culture of principled decision-makers is more ethically robust than micromanaging a team of rule-followers. However, the “golden rule” for […]

  REACH for the stars! The Kennedy Center is pulling out all the stops when it opens its much-anticipated expansion, the REACH, in September. For 16 days—September 7-22—the Kennedy Center will hold a free festival, including tours of the new REACH spaces, films, interactive events (like tai chi and virtual reality demonstrations), dance, comedy (Patton Oswalt!), […]

  Promising Cooks + Maryland Food Bank = Win/win Maryland Food Bank’s mission to end hunger goes beyond providing food—MFB also helps low-income people to get good-paying jobs in the food-service industry. MFB’s FoodWorks program teaches low-income students how to prepare food professionally, with a two-fold goal: cut down on food waste, and help these students […]

NatGeo Makes Instagram Top 10. We were thrilled to see that National Geographic made the list of top 10 Instagram accounts earlier this year with its breathtaking photos of wildlife and landscapes. Despite being nudged out of the top 10 this month (by a sports highlights feed), NatGeo’s photographs are always thought provoking and beautiful. Visit Instagram to see […]