Giving the keynote at last weekend’s Craigslist Foundation’s Nonprofit Bootcamp in New York, was Nancy Lublin, CEO and Chief Old Person of Do Something and founder of Dress for Success.

She gave us her Top Ten List of things she hates about nonprofits:

  1. Being told “Be more like a for-profit”. In response: “I wish you would act more like you had the soul of a nonprofit.”
  2. The people who say that. In response to the “venture philanthropists”: “I’d like you to behave like an ATM with legs.
  3. My grandfather thinks he can find me at home in the middle of the day.
  4. The way you people dress: flannel, cotton turtlenecks, socks with sandals
  5. Redundancy. There are no market forces to force collaboration: every cosmetic corporation has a breast cancer organization.
  6. Fundraising dinners: it’s always salmon.
  7. Used Computers. If it’s not good enough for them, why should it be for us?
  8. Direct Mail: antiquated, wastes time, money, trees.
  9. The standard business model: “We do good work. Give us money”. In response: “Monetize your core competency”. You should hope to put yourself out of business.
  10. Cute names: Do you think you’ll raise more money if your name rhymes?