In early January 2025 Meta announced that it will be discontinuing its fact-checking efforts and will instead move towards a Community Notes process, allowing users to moderate posts directly rather than via Meta’s fact-checking team. The big question in the industry related to advertising is: Will this decision make Meta less brand safe? The answer […]

Happy new year! In our first @AvalonFYI dispatch of 2025, president and founder Allison Porter shares 6 strategic themes that fundraisers should have on their radar this year. Dear friends, Happy new year! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and that your organizations have strong momentum from year-end. I was grateful to spend time with family […]

Every year, we come together as a team to share our favorite gadgets, and 2024 didn’t disappoint! This tradition always highlights the tools and tech that have made our lives easier, more productive, or just more fun. We hope this year’s list sparks some inspiration and helps you discover something new to love. Here are […]

Key performance indicators, or KPIs, aren’t one-size-fits-all. These data nuggets are a valuable way to see if your nonprofit is striking the right balance between thinking big and driving impact. KPIs are designed to tell the story of your work—and the data you uncover should inspire further digging. Why is that particular number down this […]

DAY 1: Connecting like Mushroom Roots Avalon’s most recent company-wide retreat provided tremendous opportunities to gather, learn, and share with and from each other. The retreat was structured to focus on core priorities for Avalon this year: Connection, Belonging, and Collaboration. For the first day, we grounded our connection work with a session from Jenny […]

In October 2023, Google and Yahoo announced a new set of email security requirements for any group sending emails to more than 5,000 names at once. Combined, Google and Yahoo (and Yahoo-owned AOL) account for nearly 2 billion email addresses worldwide, so compliance with these requirements is critical to ensuring your email program will continue […]

Executive Summary While most emails are still opened in standard “Light Mode,” it’s important to start optimizing for Dark Mode because more and more users are adopting it, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Optimizing your emails for Dark Mode can improve the overall experience for users with visual impairments as well as users […]

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have been around for years. But the pandemic accelerated growth in this type of giving over the last two years. For example, Fidelity Charitable reported making donor-recommended grants totaling $9.1 BILLION in 2020. Are you ready to assess the impact of DAF giving on your fundraising program? This surge of giving from […]

New iOS update and its impact on email tracking There are some upcoming changes to email tracking with Apple devices and Avalon is on it. Apple’s upcoming release of iOS 15 on Monday, September 20, 2021, will include the rollout of Mail Privacy Protection. This feature allows users to block tracking of email metrics like […]

As a consultant, I love a good benchmark. Give me a hot-off-the presses report and I devour it immediately. But as a savvy fundraiser, I must share this PSA with the nonprofit world: You are NOT average. You MUST dig into the data behind industry benchmarks. The problem with averages is that they aggregate performance […]