Dear friends,

All eyes are on Washington, DC, and I’m sending support to our friends and colleagues in Avalon’s longtime hometown. Even though we no longer have offices there, our roots in the District run deep. In addition, many team members and clients call the city home, and even more live and work from DC’s suburbs. To our clients in DC-based nonprofits, your Avalon teams are here for you and are ready to dive in as needed.

Leaders We Love

Congratulations to Michael Adams, CEO of SAGE for making The 2025 NonProfit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50. The honor is very well deserved, and it was exciting to see one of Avalon’s clients on the list. We are proud to partner with SAGE on their vital mission to “make aging better for LGBTQ+ people nationwide.”

You will also see The Nonprofit Alliance CEO Shannon McCracken on this prestigious roundup of leaders. We are so grateful to Shannon and her team at TNPA for all they do to build expertise, sound leadership, and strength across the nonprofit sector.

What AI Says About Your Nonprofit

Candid issued guidance on how generative AI depicts your nonprofit online. Because many large language models (LLM) source information “indiscriminately” across the internet, accuracy is not guaranteed. This problem is largely beyond nonprofits’ control, but it’s important to be aware of what your audience may encounter. To get a read, Candid recommends prompting your favorite chatbot as if you were a grantmaker, donor, or volunteer: “Should I support [NAME] nonprofit?” In addition, you can audit your website and social media to ensure the content within your control supports LLM accuracy in the future.

“Jokes were often interpreted as facts—a great reason to rethink posting any April Fool’s Day jokes, as LLMs can’t tell it’s not real.”

– Candid

Royals and Rock Stars

Marketing VP Barb Perell shared an oldie but goodie on the limits of demographics in marketing. The post compares two men with similar stats, but divergent personas: King Charles III and rocker Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away last month. Both men were born in 1948, raised in the U.K., married twice, living in castles, wealthy, and famous. However, a deeper dive resulted in two very different consumer personas, of course. It’s a good reminder that every donor is a unique human! While demographics can highlight opportunities for connection, they are not predictors of who a person is, the challenges they face, or what they really want. This is all the more reason to engage your donors meaningfully, get to know them well, and build relationships that stand the test of time.

How to Beat Procrastination

Senior director of HR Melissa Ferrell shared a motivating post that puts procrastination in the past. Leadership consultant Christopher Richards says that some tasks simply require more energy to start, so it’s smart to plan ahead for the ones that demand extra oomph. Richards also encourages getting curious about why you’re resisting certain tasks. Is it boring? Are you worried you’ll mess up? Or maybe you’re waiting for more clarity, time, or resources? Those conditions may never be perfect, so the key is simply to start today. You’ve got this!

“Waiting for a magical ray of clarity to burst through the heavens and smack you on the forehead probably isn’t the best strategy for creating the future vision you want. Likewise, waiting for resources to land in your lap isn’t going to work either. Acknowledge that what you have right now is what you have to work with and decide to go from there.”

– Christopher Richards, SmartBrief

DMFA Happy Hours

DMFA will host 2 happy hours for fundraising professionals in upcoming weeks, in Boston and New York City. The Boston gathering is tomorrow, August 13 from 5pm – 7pm at Tia’s at the Waterfront. And the New York event is scheduled for September 30 from 5pm – 7pm at Houston Hall in the West Village. Cheers to industry friends, who put the “fun” in fundraising!