Fund for Santa Barbara
/OVERVIEW: The Fund for Santa Barbara supports movements for social justice in Santa Barbara County.
IP TAKE: The Fund for Santa Barbara maintains that “social conditions improve most dramatically when those who have been denied power and justice lead on their own behalf to confront, challenge, and change the conditions that have denied them access to justice and equity.” The fund’s grantmaking supports grassroots and youth-led movements for social, racial, environmental and economic justice among the communities of Santa Barbara County. Its grants tend to be modest, but there is opportunity for multi-year support here. It accepts funding applications for all of its programs and offers virtual workshops on the application process. This funder gets good reviews for being supportive, culturally sensitive and responsive.
PROFILE: Established in 1980, the Fund for Santa Barbara (FSB) is a community foundation with office locations in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria, California. Nancy Alexander and founding board members helped to launch the foundation, which originally used Los Angeles’s Liberty Hill Foundation as a fiscal sponsor. FSB became an independent funder in 1985. The fund focuses on "advancing progressive change by strengthening movements for Economic, Environmental, Political, Racial, and Social Justice.” Its grants work to support and amplify “grassroots community organizing fighting inequities on the frontlines; groups that address systemic oppression, and leveraging community power for progressive social change.” Grantmaking is mainly limited to the city of Santa Barbara and other communities of Santa Barbara County. In addition to funding, FSB supports community partners with technical support, leadership development, networking and community outreach events and programs.
Grants for Racial Justice, Economic Opportunity, Environment and Democracy
FSB names economic, environmental, political and racial justice as the main objects of its engagement and grantmaking, and several of its grantmaking vehicles address these intersecting issues collectively. Instead of organizing its grantmaking around individual issues, its funding opportunities designate the type and duration of support offered.
The Movement Building Grant Program offers support to “organizations at the forefront of movement building to create systemic change.” Grants for “unincorporated groups and new applicants” are awarded in amounts of up to $10,000, and “established partners” may receive up to $20,000. Applications are accepted for a single annual grantmaking cycle, with due dates that have typically fallen in mid-April. The fund offers on-line grant application workshops for prospective grantees and provides detailed information about eligibility here.
The Multi-Year Movement Building Grant Program expands upon this work by offering concurrent funding to existing grantees “that have a funding history with the FUND.” Multi-year grants consist of an additional $10,000 per year for a duration of three years. Application procedures are similar to those of the Movement Building program, although applicants must demonstrate that planned projects and activities “build on each other and fall within the 3-year funding timeframe.” The fund provides detailed application guidelines and accepts applications for multi-year funding with a due date that usually falls in April.
Emerging Needs Grants offer financial assistance to groups experiencing needs that “that could not have been foreseen by the organization.” Grants of up to $5,000 are “[o]ffered year round until funds are exhausted.” To apply for an emerging needs grant, read the foundation’s application guidelines and email grants@fundforsantabarbara.org with a detailed request.
The fund’s Youth Making Change program supports Santa Barbara County organizations led by people between the ages of 14 and 24 with grants of up to $3,000. Grants are awarded each fall and target projects that “attempt to fix a problem affecting youth by providing a solution.” To apply, organizations must have “a sponsoring organization, such as a school or community group.” Information about due dates is posted in the fund’s application portal in the spring. The fund also accepts board member applications for this program via an online form.
The Racial Equity Fund of Santa Barbara focuses more specifically on issues of racial justice and was initiated by “Black femme leaders who demanded that the County of Santa Barbara invest in the Black community in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing racial justice movement.” In response, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors” allocated $500,000 “to begin to address equity issues in the county.” A portion of this commitment was used to start the Racial Equity Fund, the mission of which is to “invest in and strengthen organizations that address anti-racism through systems change strategies in Santa Barbara County.”
Grants from this program work specifically to “effect the culture and policy for systemic change necessary to advance racial equity and justice and reverse the legacy of slavery and the effects of racism.”
This program awards grants of up to $100,000, but information about the application process and due dates is not posted on the website at this time.
Prospective grantees should email grants@fundforsantabarbara.org for additional information.
Grants related to the above programs have supported Santa Barbara County organizations including Collective Culture Creating Change of Lompoc, Freedom 4 Youth, the Black Student Union of Santa Barbara High School, the Central coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, the House of Pride and Equality and the Santa Maria-Lompoc National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Grants for Housing, Homelessness and Community Development
FSB’s Mickey Flacks Social Housing Fund focuses specifically on housing equity in Santa Barbara and pursues a mission to “invest in and strengthen organizations/groups advocating for and actively leading social housing justice campaigns.” This fund names areas of focus for cooperative housing, organizing around housing policy development, tenant organizations and “seed money for innovative housing initiatives.” One-year grants of up to $5,000 are available to organizations that meet the fund’s eligibility requirements. Due dates are not posted at this writing, but interested grantseekers may email the fund at grants@fundforsantabarbara.org for additional information.
Past housing grantees include the Santa Barbara Tenants Union, the Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center, the North Santa Barbara Manufactured Home Team and Color Bloq, which received funding for “the creation of a community-driven safe LGBTQ+ housing list for Santa Barbara.”
Important Grant Details:
FSB’s grants range from $2,000 to about $78,000, although individual programs name grant limits.
This funder is strictly focused on local organizations working toward social, racial, economic and environmental justice in Santa Barbara County.
Grantmaking prioritizes grassroots and youth-led groups.
Some local chapters or large national organizations have received grants.
The foundation maintains an application guidelines and FAQ page, but information about due dates for each program is somewhat unclear, as not all programs run at the same time. For updates see the fund’s grantee portal.
See the fund’s grantmaking history page for additional information about past giving.
For general inquiries about grantmaking, email the foundation at grants@fundforsantabarbara.org. The fund’s Santa Barbara office can be reached via telephone at (805) 962-9164, and the Santa Maria office can be reached at (805) 922-1707.
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