Dear friends, This week we are celebrating some good news at Avalon – and perhaps you are too! As fiscal years close for July-June organizations, SIX of our clients had record-breaking revenue years. If that doesn’t speak to the amazing work fundraisers have been doing – in a pandemic no less – I don’t know […]

Dear friends, I hope that you enjoyed the Fourth of July weekend! Marking the birth of our country was very different this year as I continue to reflect on what it means to fulfill the American promises of freedom and opportunity. In that spirit, I was delighted by Hamilton’s recent debut on Disney+. You may know […]

  Dear friends, I went into the Avalon office last week, and it’s hard to miss that both DC and our building feel very empty. Many buildings are boarded up, and there is some amazing BLM art popping up on the plywood window coverings. If you have an opportunity to go downtown, it’s worth checking […]

Dear friends, The past week held significant moments for many issues we care about, including Pride Month, Juneteenth, and World Refugee Day. LGBTQ+ advocates and allies, we join you in celebrating last week’s Supreme Court decision! And I hope you all caught Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian and Founding Director of NMAAHC, on WaPo Live discussing the legacy […]

  Dear friends, I hope you have all been able to take care of yourselves and perhaps participate in some of the incredibly moving protests that continue around the country. In the nonprofit space, I have been particularly inspired by theaters’ #openyourlobby response and the National Parks Conservation Association’s letter regarding Park Police actions at Lafayette Park. On […]

  In this unprecedented time, Avalon is here.   Here for our staff.   Our first priority is the safety of Avalon staff and clients. On March 2nd Avalon ceased company travel, and on March 12th we shifted fully to remote work. We have been telecommuter-friendly for 20+ years, which helped make this a seamless […]

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 […]