To the Grantee Community of the Compton Foundation:

It is with a real mixture of joy and sadness that I have decided to retire as of June 30, 2010, when I will have completed twenty-one years as director of the Compton Foundation.

Over the past two decades I have been profoundly privileged to have had the opportunity to work for a foundation whose goals and vision I deeply respect and believe in, and whose grantmaking has often been at the cutting edge of change. It has been a time of great opportunity and learning, both for the Foundation and for our community of grantees, as we have collaboratively worked to promote peacebuilding and human security, advance reproductive health and justice, reduce carbon emissions, conserve fresh water, sustain rural communities, and support campaign finance reform and the arts. However, this feels like the right time to step down and let a younger person take the Foundation to a new level of effectiveness.

Some of the best insights and new understandings I have gained over these years have come from conversations I have had with many of you, and for these gifts I am profoundly grateful. Thank you also for your collective hard work, your creativity, your willingness to share important information, and your passionate commitment to a more just, humane, and sustainable world.

Looking ahead, the Compton Foundation Board has retained the search firm Explore Company to help them find my successor. A full job description will be posted on the Compton Foundation website from November through December. All questions about the position should be directed to Dan Sherman, who can be reached at (301) 933-8008, or dsherman@explorecompany.com. The Board hopes to name the new executive director sometime in the Spring, with a start date of July 1. In the meantime I will continue to direct the Foundation.

After next summer I anticipate dividing my time between professional consulting and board service, volunteering and maybe teaching, and more personal pleasures such as grandchildren, gardening, and creative art. I hope our paths will continue to connect in many and various ways!

In gratitude and with best wishes,

Edith Eddy
Executive Director