News Articles

DVS Shelter Rolls out new Playground funded by the Women's Fund

3/9/2018

Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS) for Santa Barbara County has announced the completion of its new emergency shelter playground.

“DVS is incredibly grateful for the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, the generosity of its members, and its tremendous impact in the community,” said Charles Anderson, executive director of DVS.

This project, sponsored by a grant received from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, improves the aesthetics, safety and enjoyment of the present shelter facility by fully replacing a 25-year-old institutional-grade playground.

Helping children who have... Read More

Get to Know...Health Cares, a new membership group

10/30/2017

To get to know this new membership group, Health Cares, we interviewed Sabina White and Leslie Mathers-Winn.

Some years ago, Sabina started a group, Compassion in Action, and this year she reached out to her UCSB friends and Health Cares was launched. Her good friend, Leslie, agreed to be captain. Sabina, a member of three groups now, gave us some information about her experience with the Women’s Fund.

I first heard about the Women’s Fund in 2013 through a friend who was a member of a group. When I asked her how to join, she was a little uncertain,... Read More

Women's Fund Grantees Share How Grants Have Changed Lives

10/1/2017

On September 26, members and guests of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara gathered at the The Fess Parker to hear presentations by their most recent grant recipients on the impacts of the $485,000 in grants bestowed last spring.

An all-volunteer, collective donor group with about 750 members, the Women’s Fund combines the donations of its members into significant grants focused on the critical needs of women, children and families in south Santa Barbara County.

Grant Recipients Open Doors to Visitors from the Women's Fund

8/29/2017

The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara will host the Site Visit Kick-Off, 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, at The Fess Parker. The annual event, now in its 13th year, features progress reports from the local nonprofits that received $485,000 in Women’s Fund grants this past spring.

Grantees will describe to Women’s Fund members and their guests the impact the grants have had on their organization and their clients.

Sunset Rotary Hosts the Women's Fund

8/24/2017

Laurie Tumbler and Shelley Hurst of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara paid the Sunset Rotary a visit this week to review how the Fund serves the communities from Goleta down to Carpinteria. The volunteer-driven collective donor group has funded more than $6 million to various organizations since 2004—close to $1 million of that right here in Carpinteria. The following local organizations have received grant funds: Carpinteria Children’s Project, Girls Inc. of Carpinteria, Community Action Commission (Senior nutrition), Peoples’ Self-Help Housing (Dahlia Court and Casas de las Flores... Read More

AHA! Teaches Students How to Build Peace

8/14/2017

An AHA! initiative called Peace Builders was recently expanded into four junior high schools—Santa Barbara, La Colina, La Cumbre, and Goleta Valley—after receiving a grant from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara. The Peace Builders program consists of interactive workshops and bimonthly meetings that promote camaraderie in the classroom as well as empathy and curiosity among students and their peers, said Melissa Lowenstein, Programs Coordinator and Facilitator. “The idea is that we really want to empower the kids and have it be their program."

Young women make a difference in the Tiny House project

7/17/2017

First, a little background—in May 2016, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara gave TRADART Foundation a $50,000 grant, earmarked for materials to build three Tiny Houses on the campuses of Santa Barbara’s three high schools—Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos. To ensure the sustainability of the program, upon the completion of the Tiny Houses, they are to be sold and the proceeds used to fund the construction of three more houses.

Once construction on the houses began, it was clear to the Advanced Woodworking and Construction Technology project instructors that completion of the... Read More

Get to Know...Women's Fund 2017-18 Steering Co-Chairs

6/5/2017

Every year after the Presentation of Grants, the Women’s Fund Steering Committee Co-Chairs change, and a new year begins under their leadership. This year our co-chairs are Shelley Hurst and Laurie Tumbler. Laurie returns after having served last year with Nancy Harter, and Shelley is brand new to the position.

So that you can get to know them better, we caught up with them at a local café during one of their frequent meetings.

First we asked them some questions about their new positions as Steering Co-Chairs. Here are their responses:

What are... Read More

Get to Know...D'Penguineer Friends, a Women's Fund membership group

6/5/2017

We wanted to get to know D'Penguineer Friends, so we intreviewed Group Captain, Parm Williams.

What inspired you to join the Women’s Fund and when did you join?
Jo Gifford, a Women’s Fund founding member, asked me to join the Women’s Fund in 2004. I joined in 2005 as part of a two-member group with Sarah de Tagyos. Our group name was “PS”—for Parm and Sarah—not very creative, but it worked for us! We both were so impressed with the Women’s Fund that we volunteered for committees right away. I chaired the Membership Committee from 2005 to... Read More

Women's Fund Awards $485,000 in Grants

5/14/2017

On May 8, 2017, 345 members and guests of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara gathered for the 13th annual Presentation of Grants Reception at the Fess Parker Doubletree hotel. Grants totaling $485,000 were distributed to area nonprofits for eight programs: the Accelerated Reader Program, AHA! (Attitude, Harmony, Achievement), Casa Pacifica, Channel Islands YMCA (for Noah’s Anchorage), Domestic Violence Solutions, PEAC (Program for Effective Access to College), Peoples’ Self-Help Housing, and St. Vincent’s.