Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara

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OVERVIEW: This women’s grantmaking group is affiliated with the Santa Barbara Foundation but researches and awards its own annual grants. Its work is responsive to community needs and supports organizations working in health, human services, education, women’s causes and more.

IP TAKE:  The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara adjusts is grantmaking each year based on research conducted by its members. The fund aims to serve pressing community needs, and most of its grants support human services providers in south Santa Barbara County. It does not run an application program, choosing instead to preselect its grantees. Networking with members through volunteering or events might help your organization gain this funder’s attention.

PROFILE: The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara (WFSB) is a collective donor group based in Santa Barbara, California. Its mission is to “combine our charitable dollars into significant grants addressing the critical needs of women, children, and families in south Santa Barbara County.” This funder also “educates and inspires women to engage in making lasting change in our community.”

WFSB adjusts the focus of its grantmaking each year based on current community needs and the grantmaking interests of its members. Members of the organization “research and identify nonprofits” for consideration. In recent years, grantmaking has gone to organizations working in the areas of health, mental health, education, immigrants and refugees, violence prevention, homelessness, food systems, disabilities, elder services and more. Grantmaking is conducted through the Santa Barbara Foundation and only supports organizations located in and/or serving south Santa Barbara County.

Grants for Public Health, Mental Health and Disabilities

Health and mental health have been at the forefront of WFSB’s giving regularly over the years. In a recent year, the fund named “assistance for people facing mental health issues” and “safety for people with disabilities” as a main areas of interest. Past grantmaking, however, has addressed health-related issues including addiction, women’s cancers, wellness programs, community clinics and more.

Mental health grantees include the Family Service Agency and the New Beginnings Counseling Center. Recent grantees working with disabled populations include the Alpha Resource Center of Santa Barbara and Hillside, which “[p]rovides safe, efficient transportation for people with severe disabilities who depend on wheelchairs.” Past grants for health supported the Breast Cancer Resource Center, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics and Doctors Without Walls-Santa Barbara Street Medicine.

Grants for Women, Girls and Violence Prevention

As a women’s giving group, this funder has, over the years, supported many women’s and girls’ causes. A recent round of funding articulated interest in “peer counselor for formerly homeless mothers” and “[l]egal help for survivors of abuse.”

Women’s and girls’ grantees include St. Vincent’s Family Strengthening Program for homeless mothers, Women’s Economic Ventures, which supports women entrepreneurs, and Domestic Violence Solutions, which runs outreach, counseling and financial stability programs for victims of abuse.

Grants for Education, Work and Opportunity

Education, including vocational education and job training, have been areas of focus for this funder in past years, although this is not a current giving area. Past giving has supported organizations ranging from early childhood education providers to educational programs for returning adult students.

Grantees include the Goleta Education Foundation, the Santa Barbara Education Foundation and the Carpinteria Children’s Project Early Childhood Literacy Lab, among others.

Grants for Housing, Homelessness, Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture

While homelessness has been an area of ongoing interest for this funder, in a recent year, WFSB named housing solutions for the homeless and produce distribution as areas of interest.

Grantees include 2nd Story Associates, which “[p]Provides furnishings for 28 apartments housing chronically homeless people” and Food from the Heart of Santa Barbara, which used funding to purchase “a truck to transport donated produce to people facing food insecurity.” Other grantees in these areas include PATH Santa Barbara, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and People’s Self-Help Housing.

Grants for Immigrants and Refugees

For a recent grantmaking cycle, WFSB named interest in providing “[l]egal Aid for immigrant children” and made a grant to the Santa Barbara County Immigrant Legal Defense Center, which provides case management and legal services to “unaccompanied, low-income immigrant children.”

Important Grant Details

Grants range from $30,000 to $140,000.

  • This funder supports a broad range of community needs, but areas of specific change from year to year.

  • Human services appear to be the foundation’s largest area of overall giving.

  • This funder does not run an application program, preselecting its local grantees through its own research process.

  • The website offers profiles of the foundation’s current and past grantees. See the Grants in Action page for additional information.  

Submit questions to WFSB via its contact page or by telephone at (805) 303-1205.

PEOPLE:

  • Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

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