Growing from a Field of Interest Fund held at the Santa Barbara Foundation, with only 67 members in 2004, to a nonprofit with over 1,100 members today, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara has come a long way and made a significant impact in our community.

Growing from a Field of Interest Fund held at the Santa Barbara Foundation, with only 67 members in 2004, to a nonprofit with over 1,100 members today, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara has come a long way and made a significant impact in our community. To date, the Women’s Fund has distributed nearly…

Our mission has remained the same, but the number of members has grown significantly from 2004 when a group of women created the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara. The 12 founders grew into 67 contributors that first year – including three groups. 

Jane Honikman, the captain of Caregivers, one of the three original groups, says the founders wanted to support local nonprofits that worked with women and children in the community; however, they wanted to forego the gala method of fundraising so popular at the time.

Jane helped initiate the concept of giving groups, as a way to give…

The Santa Barbara Immigrant Legal Defense Center (ILDC) has hired Maria Vega as its first full-time staff attorney. Vega will lead the nonprofit’s efforts in providing legal representation to local community members facing deportation. 

Vega joins the ILDC with extensive experience in public interest and immigration law, after time at both the Northwest Justice Project and Colectiva Legal del Pueblo in Washington. She is a graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, where she was honored for her service to the community and her dedication to human rights work.Vega attended…

In the recent member survey, a majority of you said you’d like to learn more about the impact of Women’s Fund grants in our community. Grants in Action (GIA) events, being scheduled throughout the fall and winter of 2020 and 2021, are a great way to get more information.

Attending a GIA event, which includes both site visits and educational forums, helps you learn how the Women’s Fund grants impact the work of our grantees, expand your knowledge grantees’ work, and understand the critical issues affecting the lives of women, children and families. 

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A bright spot in education in these challenging times, the Goleta Education Foundation is thrilled and grateful to announce receipt of a $65,000 grant awarded by the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara to create a STEAM lab at El Camino School. The existing computer center, with fixed seating and outdated equipment, will be transformed with flexible seating, interactive monitors, laptops, and tablets. The lab will also be equipped with digital media production equipment, a green screen, and video design and editing software. Hands-on learning will promote student competency in science,…

At its 16th annual Celebration of Grants held on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara awarded grants totaling $685,000 to nine local nonprofit agencies  The event marked the end of the 2019-2020 Women’s Fund grant cycle and honored its newest grantees, voted on by the membership of nearly 1,100 women. Since 2004, these generous women have been combining their charitable dollars into significant grants.  To date, nearly $7.9 million has been distributed to 111 local area nonprofit programs serving over 100,000…

These are difficult times. The coronavirus has impacted us all in so many different ways. Our hearts break for those who are enduring the virus, those exposed, and those living in areas where the numbers keep rising exponentially.

For 15 years we have been committed to helping the most vulnerable in our community—women, children and families struggling to get by. Today that work is more important than ever. So, what do we do in a crisis when critical needs change on a daily basis?

At this point, stay the course. We are known—and counted on—as a funder to local nonprofits on…

It’s been proven: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can lead to serious health problems and shortened lives.
On October 29, Women’s Fund members and guests gathered at the New Vic Theater to hear a riveting forum about a ground-breaking ACE study. We also heard how a collaboration between Women’s Fund grantees CALM, SB Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC) and Isla Vista Youth Projects (IVYP) is creating a childhood safety net for ACEs victims and their families. 

An ACE score measures ten types of childhood trauma: physical, emotional and sexual abuse; physical and…

At their eighth annual Table of Life Gala In September, 2019, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara honored the Women’s Fund “which typifies the powerful impact of women taking collective action for the common good.”  

In 2018, the Women’s Fund awarded the Foodbank a grant of $95,000 for a new refrigerated truck. 

In honoring the Women’s Fund, the Foodbank said, "With more than 1,000 members, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara has been one of the most potent forces in local philanthropy for 15 years. The Women’s Fund conducts a rigorous application, research and review process and…

Out of California’s 58 counties, Santa Barbara ties with Orange for the second highest child poverty rate. Grim statistics show that homeless children are three to four times more likely to become homeless adults. These are among the startling facts shared by local experts on September 26 when the Women’s Fund hosted an information-packed evening entitled Homelessness and the Working Poor: Creating a Bridge to Hope.

This forum was the first of an expanded series of Grants in Action programs featuring our 2018-19 Women’s Fund grantees and…