Connecting to the outdoors

Randi Stroud Fisher ’74

When Randi Stroud Fisher ’74 was brainstorming ways to take her philanthropy to the next level, she sought clarity in nature. Randi and her husband, Bob, hiked their beloved Mount Tamalpais, a commanding peak in Marin County, California, that offers sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The couple, both active on environmental-based boards, wanted to figure out how they could work together to make an impact. “We talked about what our passions were and what our motivations were and how to make the world a better place,” Randi recalls.

It was on this hike that they decided to form the Pisces Foundation. Now nearly 10 years old, the foundation is built on the belief that “people in nature thrive together,” and it awards grants in three key areas: climate and energy, water, and environmental education. This last area is where Randi’s passion lies, and where she has focused much of her philanthropic energy over the past two decades. “I’ve always held the belief that if we teach the next generation to fall in love with nature, they will take care of their planet and build stronger and more equitable communities,” she says. “Young people are going to face so many environmental challenges that we don’t even understand yet, and my dream is that they will be equipped with the know-how to tackle some of these issues.”

Randi grew up in California’s Sacramento Valley, spending most of her time outside plodding through creeks and building forts. After two years at a large public high school, she transferred to Santa Catalina as a junior and enjoyed the natural spoils of Monterey. “We took field trips to the tide pools and other natural settings that were very inspiring and really helped reinforce what we were learning on campus,” she says. She continued to feed her love of the outdoors at the University of Colorado at Boulder, nestled in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Like many of her peers, Randi was also heavily influenced by art history at Catalina. She earned a B.A. in fine arts and psychology from CU and an M.A. in arts administration from New York University, and worked at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Then around the time she and Bob started having kids, Randi embraced a small children’s museum called the Bay Area Discovery Museum, which is devoted to the arts and sciences. For 10 years, serving part of that time as the board chair, she helped lead renovations of the historic buildings that make up the museum, located on a former army base at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Randi learned the ropes of a nonprofit and absorbed as much as she could from an array of mentors.

For the next decade, she served as a trustee of the California Academy of Sciences, where she helped complete a major renovation project. Her proudest accomplishment, however, was the creation of an after-school program called the Science Action Club. The program provides hands-on STEM activities and nature challenges to hundreds of clubs across the country. “It was so amazing to be part of an expanding vision to drive impact outside the walls of the academy,” Randi says.

In a similar vein, Randi teamed up with classmate Arden Bucklin ’74 to start an organization called Education Outside, which was committed to advancing science and environmental literacy in public schools. The organization engaged AmeriCorps members to teach a standards-based curriculum during the school day, using school gardens as dynamic laboratories. And it reached thousands of students during its run. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and the most gratifying,” says Randi. “Arden and I were in the trenches together, and it taught us a lot.” The financial burdens became too much to maintain, however, and the organization folded.

Randi Fisher ’74 co-founded the Pisces Foundation with her husband, Bob.

Collaboration is a key component of Randi’s work as a philanthropist. The Pisces Foundation both builds and funds networks that support different segments of the environmental community. Soon after starting the foundation, Randi launched the Blue Sky Funders Forum, which has brought together nearly 40 funders committed to “supporting equitable access to meaningful outdoor experiences and connections to nature.” On the grantmaking side, the foundation looks for networks that support smaller grassroots organizations on the ground. “Part of our strength is that we collaborate, knowing that connection, joint priorities, and collective action accelerate progress and produce greater results,” Randi says.

As was the case for many organizations, the past year and a half caused Randi and her team to pause and reflect on the nature of the foundation’s work. “The pandemic brought up a whole host of different circumstances, and I think one of the biggest pivots at the Pisces Foundation has been looking at equity with a lot more emphasis and really engaging in some practices that we hadn’t done before,” she says. One of those practices is called trust-based philanthropy, which, as the name suggests, challenges funders to start from a place of trust with their grantees. That means providing unrestricted, multiyear funding, making it the funder’s responsibility to learn about grantees, streamlining the grant application process, and cultivating relationships that go beyond check-writing. As Randi explains, it’s about “treating grantees more as partners and giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

The human connection is one of the most rewarding aspects of philanthropy for Randi. “Philanthropy translates as the love of humankind, and with every grant I give, I keep this at the forefront of my thoughts,” she says. Santa Catalina helped foster that view. Beyond the intellectual and academic rigor, Randi says she benefited from being part of a community that gives back and from learning to look at the world through a humanistic lens. The friendships she formed have also been pivotal, and they reinforced the value of relationships. “I’m really lucky that I have Catalina alums in my life. They’ve been so instrumental to my own personal growth,” she says.

In addition to her work with the Pisces Foundation, Randi serves on two boards, the National Park Foundation and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. She is currently helping to raise funds for the Presidio Tunnel Tops project, a new 14-acre waterfront park near the Golden Gate Bridge that includes a major educational component. The park is slated to open next spring.

Serving on these boards is yet another way Randi maintains a connection to the natural splendor around her—not that she needs much help. She describes the outdoors as part of her family’s religion. And so, just as she has helped usher in new generations of environmental stewards through grant making, she is looking forward to making a difference closer to home, spending time with her two young grandsons—and inspiring them to love nature as much as she does.