Retha Robinson first heard about a job opening at the San Francisco Foundation from a high-school friend.
“She said, ‘Oh, I think my mom is hiring at the San Francisco Foundation.’ And I said, ‘What’s that?’ And she said, ‘Girl, they give away rich people’s money,’” Robinson said. “I said, ‘They do?’ I said, ‘Well, I like to spend, so that sounds good to me.’”
When Robinson joined SFF in 1980, she didn’t expect her stint to last long. Forty-five years later, it’s safe to say that her tenure at SFF has vastly surpassed her initial predictions. As SFF’s 16th employee, Robinson initially served as the foundation’s word processing specialist (using an IBM Mag Card typewriter). After stints working on the foundation’s donor services and operations teams, in 1988 she joined SFF’s Koshland Program team under its director Arnold Perkins. “Retha brings a light to whatever situation she’s in. No matter how gloomy it is, she brings light,” Perkins said in a 2024 interview. “I think that the ancestors put her on earth to light dark places.”
Retha Robinson joined SFF in 1980. SFF archives.
In 1999, Robinson ascended to the role of Koshland director, a position she has held for more than 25 years.
Created in 1982, the Koshland Program, named after SFF co-founder Daniel E. Koshland Sr., uplifts unsung local leaders in the Bay Area—Koshland Fellows—with funding and professional development and networking opportunities. As its leader, Robinson embodies the Koshland Program’s humble spirit of service with her passion for investing in people and communities, as well as the human stories behind every engagement. Ask her about the program and she won’t just talk facts and figures—she’ll also tell you stories about the hundreds of community leaders with whom she’s worked over the decades (and what they and their grandkids are doing now); the neighborhood tours she’s led; the meetings and community activities in which she’s participated; the successful projects she’s celebrated; the laughter, tears, hugs, and connections she’s shared over the years; and the ways that she’s seen the Koshland Program carry out its namesake’s vision of connecting Bay Area residents—and helping them thrive.
Connecting With Community
Born and raised in San Francisco’s Lakeview neighborhood, Robinson was always drawn to the idea of working with different people.
“I’ve always grown up in diversity,” she said. “It’s always been in my spirit to be collaborative, to be equitable.”
When she joined the Koshland Program, Robinson found a new way to put that passion for equity and community involvement into action.
“When the Koshland Program became available to me … I was just like, ‘Oh, this is what I want to do. I want to be out in community working with folks and really getting a sense of what people are doing to help others,’” she said.
An Unsung Hero
Part of Robinson’s work involves identifying community leaders who are already doing the work.
“We go out and sit and talk to people and just ask them, ‘Who in your neighborhood do you call when there’s a problem?’” she said. “As you hear these names over and over, you realize these are the folks that people look to make change in community.”
But for many of her colleagues, Robinson is one of those people.
“I would have to say just getting to know Retha was a huge gift,” said Bob Friedman, Koshland’s grandson.
“Be it a board member, a colleague, a person in the community, Retha brings her wholehearted enthusiasm and offer of help and friendship,” said the late Phyllis Koshland Friedman, Koshland’s daughter and a close friend of Robinson. (In fact, in 2022 SFF created an annual award supporting young women of color leaders in the Bay Area that is named in honor of Phyllis K. Friedman and Retha Robinson.)
Phyllis Koshland Friedman and Retha Robinson in 2014. SFF archives.
Robinson’s colleagues aren’t alone—countless people across the Bay Area have witnessed and benefited from her work, however emphatically she turns the spotlight back on the Koshland Fellows with whom she works.
“I’ve just got an eye for selecting the right group of people to bring them together. But they’re the ones doing all the work,” Robinson said.
But she does allow herself a little credit: “You take the letters in my name, Retha, and it’s ‘heart,’ right? So I think I was just born to do this kind of work.”
Countless Koshland Program colleagues, donors, Koshland Fellows, and Bay Area residents would heartily agree.
