As Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund (NRCF) reflects on 2025, one thing is clear: this year marked a turn­ing point for LGBTQ+ stu­dents across Cal­i­for­nia.

What began as a bold idea to sup­port stu­dents regard­less of whether they are pub­licly out has grown into a statewide pro­gram root­ed in dig­ni­ty, pri­va­cy and pos­si­bil­i­ty. Guid­ed by the belief that no stu­dent should have to choose between their edu­ca­tion and their safe­ty, NRCF made mean­ing­ful strides to expand access, ampli­fy stu­dent voic­es and respond to urgent needs.

Here are the top 10 moments that defined NRCF’s impact in 2025.

1. Record-Breaking Scholarship Growth

In 2025, NRCF increased the num­ber of schol­ar­ships award­ed from 40 stu­dents to 140 stu­dents, more than tripling sup­port in just one year. Each $2,500 schol­ar­ship helped stu­dents cov­er essen­tial expens­es like tuition, books, hous­ing, trans­porta­tion and basic needs — pro­vid­ing sta­bil­i­ty dur­ing a crit­i­cal time in their aca­d­e­m­ic jour­neys.

2. Pride Parade Visibility

NRCF proud­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in the San Diego Pride Parade, cel­e­brat­ing com­mu­ni­ty, resilience and belong­ing. See­ing schol­ar­ship recip­i­ents and sup­port­ers rep­re­sent­ed pub­licly sent a pow­er­ful mes­sage: LGBTQ+ stu­dents deserve to be vis­i­ble, sup­port­ed and cel­e­brat­ed on cam­pus and beyond.

3. Expansion from San Diego to All of California

NRCF offi­cial­ly expand­ed beyond San Diego to serve stu­dents across the entire state of Cal­i­for­nia. Schol­ars now rep­re­sent cam­pus­es from Los Ange­les and the Bay Area to the Cen­tral Val­ley, Cen­tral Coast, North­ern Cal­i­for­nia, and even a small num­ber study­ing out of state — reflect­ing the broad and grow­ing need for affirm­ing sup­port.

4. Mark Stuart Featured in Out Magazine

Mark Stu­art, Pres­i­dent and CEO of San Diego Foun­da­tion and founder of NRCF, shared his per­son­al sto­ry in Out Mag­a­zine in an essay titled Why I Helped Cre­ate a Schol­ar­ship for Clos­et­ed (and Out) Youth.

In the piece, Stu­art reflect­ed on grow­ing up gay, nav­i­gat­ing fear and secre­cy, and how those expe­ri­ences shaped the cre­ation of NRCF — a schol­ar­ship designed to sup­port LGBTQ+ stu­dents regard­less of whether they are pub­licly out. The fea­ture ele­vat­ed NRCF’s mis­sion on a nation­al plat­form and under­scored the urgent con­nec­tion between edu­ca­tion, men­tal health, and safe­ty for LGBTQ+ youth.

5. Mental Health Findings Drive Student Advisory Council Launch

A first-ever sur­vey of NRCF schol­ar­ship recip­i­ents revealed sober­ing real­i­ties:

• 79% expe­ri­enced anx­i­ety in the past year
• 63% report­ed depres­sion
• Near­ly two-thirds faced finan­cial inse­cu­ri­ty

These find­ings rein­forced that schol­ar­ships alone are not enough — and helped guide NRCF’s deci­sion to expand stu­dent-cen­tered sup­port beyond finan­cial aid.

Rec­og­niz­ing that stu­dents must be at the cen­ter of solu­tions, NRCF launched its inau­gur­al Stu­dent Advi­so­ry Coun­cil. Com­prised of five schol­ar­ship recip­i­ents with diverse lived expe­ri­ences, the Coun­cil ensures stu­dent per­spec­tives direct­ly shape pro­gram deci­sions, men­tal health resources and future ini­tia­tives.

6. NRCF Featured on Advocate Channel

NRCF reached a nation­al audi­ence when it was fea­tured on Advo­cate Chan­nel , ele­vat­ing aware­ness around the chal­lenges LGBTQ+ stu­dents face and the impor­tance of schol­ar­ships that pro­tect pri­va­cy for stu­dents who may not be pub­licly out.

7. A Growing National Volunteer Network

More than 50 vol­un­teer schol­ar­ship eval­u­a­tors from across the coun­try ded­i­cat­ed their time and exper­tise to NRCF in 2025. Their thought­ful review process helped ensure schol­ar­ships were award­ed with care, equi­ty and integri­ty. Learn more about our vol­un­teers here:

• Find­ing Fam­i­ly: Yuriko Curiel’s Jour­ney from Rejec­tion to Resilience
• A Teacher’s Lega­cy: Cindy Page
• From Schol­ar­ship Recip­i­ent to Cham­pi­on of Dreams: Aman­da Cheyney

8. Scholarship Awardee Luncheon

The NRCF Schol­ar­ship Awardee Lun­cheon brought togeth­er stu­dents, donors and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers to cel­e­brate the impact of edu­ca­tion and phil­an­thropy. For many stu­dents, it was the first time meet­ing fel­low schol­ars and sup­port­ers in per­son — fos­ter­ing con­nec­tion, pride and belong­ing.

9. The Bob & Gerry $25,000 Challenge Match

Long­time sup­port­ers Bob Ben­zel and Ger­ry Sul­li­van inspired gen­eros­i­ty across the com­mu­ni­ty by offer­ing a $25,000 dol­lar-for-dol­lar chal­lenge match, dou­bling dona­tions through year’s end and expand­ing NRCF’s abil­i­ty to meet urgent stu­dent needs.

10. Launch of the Campus Ambassadors Program

To close out the year, NRCF launched its Cam­pus Ambas­sadors Pro­gram, empow­er­ing stu­dents to raise aware­ness, fos­ter peer con­nec­tion, and help future schol­ars find affirm­ing sup­port with­in their own cam­pus com­mu­ni­ties.

Looking into 2026 and Beyond

In just one year, NRCF grew from a promis­ing ini­tia­tive into a statewide pro­gram ground­ed in com­pas­sion, trust and stu­dent voice. As NRCF looks to the future, the mis­sion remains clear: remove bar­ri­ers, pro­tect pri­va­cy and help LGBTQ+ stu­dents ful­fill their high­er edu­ca­tion dreams.