A Century of Service

United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) marks its 100-year anniversary in 2023. As the organization celebrates this century of service to the Santa Barbara community, UWSBC is looking back at its history of community-building and forward to continued work on behalf of the thousands of students and families they serve each year. 

Innovation and quality programming has always been UWSBC’s way. UWSBC consistently creates and leverages effective community partnerships to deliver direct programs and services to thousands of residents in need throughout the county each year. Throughout the last 100 years, UWSBC has built a proven model of community organizing, fundraising, and program development to strategically target the community’s evolving needs.

In the wake of the twin disasters of the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris flow, UWSBC expanded its crisis response programs and initiatives to rapidly respond to a massive increase in need. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, UWSBC again marshaled its resources, leadership, and collaborative partnerships to develop programs supporting thousands of local families with emergency childcare services, remote and hybrid learning support, and rental and
utility assistance.  

“The beauty of the flexibility of our model is that we’re able to quickly address any major issues within our scope of work that suddenly arise,” says President and CEO Steve Ortiz, who joined UWSBC in 2005. “There’s recognition and trust in our brand, strength in our existing relationships, and faith in our ability to coordinate large efforts in a way that allows all the players in a robust collaboration to employ their best resources.” 

Recent years have seen UWSBC achieve record levels of annual revenue and program support – its crisis response efforts alone mushroomed from $4 million in 2020 to more than $53 million in late 2022. Over 8,000 local families have been the beneficiaries of this effort, building more resilient foundations for household and financial stability. 

“Thanks to our partners and supporters, we’ve experienced incredible growth, and we will continue to evaluate and improve our structure to maintain our role as a key leader in impacting needs to keep our community strong, safe, and healthy,” Ortiz says. “Whatever the need, people can expect that the United Way will be there.”