Compton Foundation

1946–2025The End (start here)

Illustrated sequence of six interconnected scenes showing an organization's journey. It begins with two people hiking in the mountains, then transitions to a group discussion around a table, followed by a speaker addressing a large crowd. Next, a person raises their fist while speaking at an outdoor rally, a circle of people sit on the floor engaging with scattered broken pieces of a pottery bowl, and the final scene shows a lively dance party with people celebrating under string lights.

In 2025, the Compton Foundation will have spent its entire endowment — on purpose — and officially closed the organization. The last decade of the foundation’s 79-year lifetime has hardly felt like winding down. Instead of settling into a routine, we shook off old habits and took on new initiatives with curiosity, energy and love.

Here are six of the best things we did:

  1. 01 Began trusting people whose hands are directly on the work to guide us.Read Section 01
  2. 02 Confronted destructive power dynamics inside our board of directors.Read Section 02
  3. 03 Redefined our fiduciary duty as responsibility to social movements.Read Section 03
  4. 04 Looked directly at how we cause harm and what we can repair.Read Section 04
  5. 05 Kept moving through challenging work and difficult relationships.Read Section 05
  6. 06 Launched work we knew would be impossible to finish.Read Section 06

This special feature explores six key chapters of our history. If you’d rather view the full website, you can access the archived version here.

Created by Big Tada Inc and Keneta Anderson Consulting for Compton Foundation.