A Story of Purpose After Retirement

July 22, 2025 | By NRCF Vol­un­teer

Hei­di: NRCF Vol­un­teer Spot­light

As the for­mer CEO of The Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion San Luis Obis­po Coun­ty, Hei­di McPher­son has wit­nessed first­hand the pow­er of phil­an­thropy and the depth of need that exists in com­mu­ni­ties across the nation. So when San Diego Foun­da­tion Pres­i­dent and CEO Mark Stu­art asked her to con­sid­er vol­un­teer­ing as a Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund (NRCF) essay review­er, her response was a resound­ing yes.

“This is one of the things I did­n’t have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to do while serv­ing as CEO of The Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion San Luis Obis­po Coun­ty,” she explains. “Now that I’m retired, I’m grate­ful to have the chance to review appli­ca­tions for NRCF. This is the per­fect way to stay involved in my pas­sion for address­ing com­mu­ni­ty needs.”

A Per­son­al Mis­sion

For Hei­di, NRCF’s mis­sion res­onates both per­son­al­ly and pro­fes­sion­al­ly. “I have friends and fam­i­ly who iden­ti­fy as LGBTQ+ com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers. We’re doing the best we can as allies. We can nev­er ful­ly under­stand what it’s like to actu­al­ly walk in their shoes, but we can speak up and speak out.”

The cur­rent polit­i­cal cli­mate adds urgency to her com­mit­ment. “The back­drop of what’s hap­pen­ing in the world right now is sick­en­ing and adds anoth­er very chal­leng­ing lay­er. It’s a tough time to nav­i­gate as a human being,” she states with vis­i­ble con­cern.

A Life­time of Advo­ca­cy

Hei­di’s ded­i­ca­tion to social jus­tice spans over five decades, root­ed in a call­ing she’s felt since her ear­li­est mem­o­ries. “It was a call­ing from as far back as I can remem­ber to address the inequities in soci­ety. My very first involve­ment in col­lege was being elect­ed to the board of trustees to advance divest­ment from South Africa. I haven’t stopped since that day. Apartheid was just the start.”

That ear­ly activism set the tra­jec­to­ry for a career ded­i­cat­ed to sys­temic change through strate­gic philanthropy—a path that led her to rec­og­nize the unique pow­er of orga­ni­za­tions like NRCF.

The Qui­et Pow­er of Phil­an­thropy

“Phil­an­thropy may be qui­et, slow and steady, but phil­an­thropy can change the world. It can tru­ly change lives,” Hei­di reflects. “NRCF is a strik­ing exam­ple of how phil­an­thropy changes lives, par­tic­u­lar­ly for these stu­dents who are gen­uine­ly at risk. Their liveli­hoods are at stake and their futures hang in the bal­ance.”

She’s par­tic­u­lar­ly impressed by NRCF’s scope and ambi­tion. “Their exis­tence is being chal­lenged by the cur­rent polit­i­cal envi­ron­ment, and I tip my hat to San Diego Foun­da­tion. The Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion San Luis Obis­po Coun­ty also had schol­ar­ships for diverse pop­u­la­tions, but it was­n’t statewide with a goal to grow across our nation—which is absolute­ly inspir­ing and need­ed.”

The Call to Action

For Hei­di, social jus­tice work isn’t a choice—it’s a fun­da­men­tal part of who she is. “Social change is some­thing that runs through your blood. You have to do the work. It’s part of you. NRCF is how I answer the call. We can cre­ate change.”

She acknowl­edges the chal­lenges inher­ent in schol­ar­ship work. “Every stu­dent has a dif­fer­ent sto­ry. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there isn’t an infi­nite amount of mon­ey. There will always be more demand than can be met. But we can’t be dis­cour­aged. We must keep mov­ing for­ward.”

Hope for the Future

What moves Hei­di most about her vol­un­teer work is the com­plex­i­ty and rich­ness of the stu­dents’ sto­ries. “The jour­neys they wrote about were not only about being LGBTQ+—they encom­passed so much more. They artic­u­lat­ed clear­ly what they want to do with their lives, show­ing that being LGBTQ+ does­n’t sole­ly define them. It’s a win­dow of self-dis­cov­ery.”

This holis­tic view of iden­ti­ty aligns with her core phi­los­o­phy about human poten­tial. “I’m excit­ed about this schol­ar­ship pro­gram. It gives me hope for the future. Gay or straight isn’t the point. I don’t care who you love—that does­n’t define who you are.”

One Essay At A Time

“I loved read­ing in these schol­ar­ship essays about what the stu­dents want­ed to accom­plish,” Hei­di shares with evi­dent enthu­si­asm. “It’s not about being gay. It’s sim­ply about being the best you can be.”

Through her work with NRCF, Hei­di con­tin­ues a life­time com­mit­ment to jus­tice, one essay and one stu­dent at a time. Her vol­un­teer ser­vice rep­re­sents the inter­sec­tion of per­son­al pas­sion and pro­fes­sion­al expertise—a reminder that retire­ment does­n’t mean step­ping back from the fight for equi­ty, but rather find­ing new ways to make a mean­ing­ful impact.

From col­lege activism against apartheid to sup­port­ing LGBTQ+ stu­dents today, Hei­di’s jour­ney exem­pli­fies how sus­tained com­mit­ment to social jus­tice can cre­ate rip­ple effects across gen­er­a­tions, com­mu­ni­ties and caus­es.

Want to Make a Dif­fer­ence?

Here’s how you can sup­port LGBTQ+ stu­dents: