We fund qualified public charities engaged in educational, scientific, religious, and charitable activities.  We have chosen grant-making arenas where we believe we have an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in Santa Barbara and the world around us.  While the funding areas are expressed separately, we understand that there will be projects that have beneficial impacts in more than one area and we welcome those.

In 2010 and beyond, we will be devoting more of our resources to collaborative projects that aim to make change on a population level; for example in a community, in a neighborhood or at school.  Typically making population level changes is beyond the capacity of a single non-profit organization and we are interested in working with either entire collaboratives or groups working within those efforts.  You will find links to a few examples of these throughout the site.

What does all this mean for potential grantees?  Whether or not you are a new applicant or have received funds from us before, we ask that you read the program descriptions carefully to see if you think there is a solid fit between your goals and ours.  If you have questions, please call and ask before you spend your valuable resources on applying.