She fell in love with the outdoors as a young girl exploring Northern Minnesota during camping and canoeing trips in the summer. He fell in love with the outdoors through youth programs such as the Cub Scouts and getaways at the family cabin near the rural Michigan town of Roscommon.
Today, Cliff and Carolyn Colwell are unwavering in their efforts to preserve the environment for future generations through their generous philanthropy and partnership with San Diego Foundation.
“We want our children and our grandchildren to be able to appreciate and enjoy the outdoors as much as we have, and we see that being threatened,” said Carolyn.
“We have to protect what we have left,” added Cliff.
A Lifetime of Giving
Cliff and Carolyn are products of the Midwest; she’s from St. Louis, he’s from Flint, Michigan. Their deep faith and varied interests brought them together while they were students at the University of Michigan, where Cliff attended medical school and Carolyn attended the School of Nursing.
Both moved to San Diego after Cliff served in the Air Force and both went on to enjoy successful careers in medicine. Carolyn taught nursing at SDSU for 28 years before retiring in 2000. Cliff, a San Diego Padres team physician for 25 years, is a former director of the Shiley Center for Orthopedic Research and Education at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla and once held the Donald and Darlene Shiley Chair in Orthopedic Research.
It didn’t take long for the couple to get involved locally.
“Soon after coming here, we wanted to get connected to the community at large, and that took us to the San Diego Foundation because we had no background knowledge of what environmental issues were going on here or where we could have an impact with our time, and if we ever got any money, also help financially,” Carolyn said.
A Deep Commitment to the Outdoors
Carolyn served on SDF’s inaugural Environmental Working Group. Both have contributed generously to SDF’s , which has supported more than 90 local nonprofits and enabled more than 84,000 youth and families access to the region’s stunning natural environment. Cliff and Carolyn are active with the Torrey Pines Conservancy and serve as docents at the Torrey Pines Reserve.
Both are deeply committed to preservation efforts at Anza Borrego State Park. And the couple have been honored by the Volcan Mountain Foundation for their decades-long efforts to establish the San Dieguito River Park’s Coast to Crest Trail, which stretches from Volcan Mountain near Julian to the coast at the San Dieguito Lagoon in Del Mar.
“What strikes me when I think about Carolyn and Cliff is the steadiness in their commitment,” said Eric Jones, President and Executive Director at the Volcan Mountain Foundation.
“They’ve been involved with us for more than 25 years and have never shied away from taking a leadership role or encouraging others to get involved.”
Their focus on the environment does not detract from their unwavering support in other areas, such as arts and culture, Christian causes, education, and health and human services.
In fact, the couple recently provided a five-year, $500,000 grant to the San Diego State University Nursing program’s Brawley campus, a gift that matched the largest cash contribution ever made to the Imperial Valley location, to address a critical shortage of nurses in the region.
Making a Transformational Change – Together
Carolyn and Cliff embody the vision of San Diego Foundation’s Fifty & Forward Campaign, which is driving the Foundation’s 50th-anniversary goal of granting $500 million to realize our region’s greatest opportunities in three key areas: education, children and families, and the environment – and raising $1 billion to help shape our community’s future.
All San Diegans can help protect our region’s stunning landscapes and environment and ensure we have clean air, clean water and green parks for generations to come.
Celebrate SDF’s 50th anniversary by joining Carolyn and Cliff Colwell and other SDF donors to help make a transformational change for the issues you care about most – and the issues that mean the most to our community.
“We’ve had a wonderful opportunity in this community.I It’s been an unbelievable life,” said Cliff.
“We’ve never gone to bed without being fed, if we decide to sleep on the ground, it’s because we decided to sleep on the ground while camping… we just want to give back. We’ve been fortunate that both of us are working people and we have an opportunity to give it away. There’s a lot of need out there.”
Added Carolyn: “We’ve met several, lots of people through the San Diego Foundation, and they’re all people we admire and respect and enjoy, and all are dedicated to making the world a better place.”
Learn more about the SDF Fifty & Forward Campaign at SDFoundation.org/50.
