The Martin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

After 20 years, today is my last day as the editor in chief at Nonprofit Quarterly. Because I am having trouble composing an appropriate note, here are the things I have to say, in bullet form:

  • NPQ is what it is because of you. Your active presence has given it its character, relevance, and deep intelligence.
  • I will dearly miss being in the midst of this rich, challenging, and dedicated intellectual melee that we call NPQ.
  • I am leaving NPQ in very good hands—far more capable than mine could ever hope to be—as we enter a time of what we hope is national transformational change at many levels. And I am speaking here not only about the hands of the exciting new EIC (to be announced next week), but the whole of our impressive and insightful staff team.

A few other bullets:

  • I loved every minute of working with the hundreds of partners who have contributed to NPQ’s coverage and direction over the years and want to take a moment to remember especially our beloved Rick Cohen and Woods Bowman, who were two of my constant comrades, now fallen. Those living know who you are: DR, JP, KK, LR, KB, CG, WS, VW, LC, HP, GN, LS, DL, FA, RM, PR, WS, C&ML, EB, TD, JM, MC, EC, BS, BD, etc., etc., etc. You are always on my mind, and I am going to keep calling you to talk about stuff.
  • This building of a relatively sustainable but independent of spirit publication is not for the faint of heart, so I also want to thank all the board members and funders who suspended their well-based skepticism in the face of years of chronic deficits even when others gave us the side-eye or no eye at all.
  • On that note, many thanks to David Garvey, now of UConn, who started NPQ as the New England Nonprofit Quarterly and helped to guide its transition to a national publication at a personal cost of much time and cash. His commitment and dedication are embedded in the publication’s DNA. May that be the case forever.
  • I would also thank my mother, but she still doesn’t know exactly what I do, though she admires it a lot.

In summation, I will be forever grateful for your partnership over these many years, and I trust you will increase that investment of spirit and support as NPQ moves forward. So, I hand off this baton, and I ask you to get ready to welcome my able successor and to give and give generously to NPQ today! And don’t forget to write a note along with your donation, expressing what NPQ has meant to you.

Your friend,

Ruth