Dear CPF Friends:
2026 is a pivotal year in the history of CPF! After 22 years of exemplary leadership, our beloved Executive Director, Cindy Heitzman, has announced that she is retiring. Later this year, a new Executive Director, selected after a comprehensive search process, will be stepping into the role, building new momentum for our organization as we move forward into the future.
Over the past two decades, CPF has shown remarkable resilience dealing with the many challenges confronting small non-profit organizations in a post-Covid media saturated environment with changing charitable giving patterns. With its three-person staff, CPF’s success is due, in no small degree, to Cindy’s nimble, transformative leadership and our exceptionally dedicated support staff. Many important CPF programs emerged under that leadership, including the launch of the Underrecognized California program (URCA) (scroll further down on the webpage for a description of URCA and suggestions for how you can support it).
The CPF Board of Trustees views this moment as a unique opportunity to envision a new future for our organization – one that further expands the capacity of CPF and the reach of its programs and initiatives, while fostering new alliances that broaden the audience for preservation. We are calling this unique opportunity CPF Future Forward!
CPF Future Forward! provides all of us with an opportunity to celebrate all that we have accomplished under Cindy’s leadership, to recognize and thank her for her outstanding contributions, and to build upon those contributions for the greater future success of CPF. We invite you to deepen your commitment today to CPF’s mission in Cindy’s honor. Please consider giving generously to secure CPF’s future and broaden its impact and reach. Some specific suggestions follow on how your gifts can have a measurable impact.
DONATE TO BUILD
CPF CAPACITY
Donate to Build Capacity
In honoring Cindy’s legacy and supporting the future of CPF, your gift helps strengthen the organizational foundation that makes all of CPF’s work possible. Capacity-building support allows CPF to invest in staffing, fundraising, advocacy outreach, communications, and the infrastructure needed to sustain and expand statewide preservation programs. These unrestricted and strategic gifts help CPF respond to urgent needs, build new partnerships, support signature programs, and prepare for a strong future under new leadership. Your contribution ensures that CPF can continue serving communities across California with the leadership, expertise, and responsiveness that have defined the organization for decades.
SUPPORT UNDERRECOGNIZED CALIFORNIA
Support Underrecognized California
Launched in 2023, Underrecognized California funds the identification, nomination, and formal recognition of historic places that reflect richer, more complex histories and highlight stories too often left out of the official record. The program pairs students with professional preservation firms through paid internships, helping train new professionals from diverse communities while advancing meaningful documentation work. Funding supports intern stipends, complex research assignments, travel and archival expenses, and stipends for community historians who share invaluable knowledge. Your gift helps CPF expand this important work and ensure that more of California’s diverse heritage is recognized, honored, and protected.
EXPAND STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING
Expand Student Scholarship Funding
Since launching its student scholarship program in 2018, CPF has helped open doors for the next generation of preservation leaders. Hundreds of student members have received complimentary access to CPF programs and the annual California Preservation Conference, connecting them with practitioners, mentors, and statewide conversations shaping the field. Dozens more have benefited from student speaking scholarships, diversity and inclusion initiatives, mentorship opportunities, travel support, and stipends. Your gift helps remove financial barriers so students across California can share their work, build professional networks, and see themselves as part of the preservation movement’s future.
How to Donate
Simply submit the details below to make your commitment.