Caroline D. Avery

President, Durfee Foundation

Carrie Avery is President of the Durfee Foundation, a family foundation that has been based in Los Angeles, California since its establishment in 1960. The Durfee Foundation makes grants in arts and culture, community development, and education, mainly in the Los Angeles region. The Foundation focuses on individuals by providing fellowships, grants to new grassroots organizations with dynamic leadership, and sabbaticals to long-time nonprofit leaders.

Carrie serves on the Ethics & Practices Committee for the Council on Foundations in Washington, DC. She co-chairs the board of St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, which is recognized nationally for its service learning in the community. She is on the Berkeley Law Alumni Association Board, and serves as an Advisor to the 2048 International Convention on Human Rights Project at the law school. She is the author of The Guide to Successful Small Grants Programs: When a Little Goes a Long Way.

Carrie chaired the Board of Directors of Northern California Grantmakers; she also founded and for several years chaired NCG's Family Philanthropy Exchange. She has served on the board of the Berkeley Community Fund, where she also chaired the Grantmaking Committee. She is a past co-chair of the board of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, and a past trustee of Pitzer College in Claremont, California.

Prior to working with the Durfee Foundation, Carrie practiced law, first with the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, DC, and later with a private firm in San Francisco. Carrie received her B.A. from Stanford University, her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a Georgetown University Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and two sons.