National Disaster Search Dog Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 19, 2024

Thirty years ago this coming April, FEMA-Certified Canine Search Specialist Wilma Melville and her black lab Murphy spent a week […more…]

Mission Scholars
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2024

Nonprofits understandably like to make a big deal about anniversaries, noting with pride and gratitude how long they have been […more…]

Hillside: A ‘Shining’ Example for the Community
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2024

Next year marks the 80th anniversary for Hillside, the residential home for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who receive […more…]

Legal Aid: Continuing to Close the Justice Gap
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 14, 2024

Earlier this fall, the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County (LAFSBC) marked its 65th anniversary with an early evening […more…]

Kenny Slaught: Building a Legacy of Compassion
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2024

Kenny Slaught boasts more than four decades of professional experience in Santa Barbara’s real estate industry. The founder and president […more…]

Susan Rose: Working Together to Solve Pressing Issues: Government, Philanthropists, and Nonprofits
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2024

Susan Rose’s decades of experience in public administration, education, and community activism has seen her do everything from advocate to […more…]

Wendy Eley Jackson: Writing a New Story for Philanthropy and Social Change
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2024

Before signing on as a lecturer in the film department at UCSB in 2019, Atlanta native Wendy Eley Jackson spent […more…]

Sansum Diabetes Research Institute
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2024

Last month, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute (SDRI) reached a major milestone with its year-long $20 million capital campaign to facilitate […more…]

Santa Barbara Humane
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2024

Organizations don’t last 137 years if they’re not capable of changing with the times.  For Santa Barbara Humane, the local […more…]

Sansum Clinic – Sutter Health
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2024

On October 2, 2023, Sansum Clinic became part of Sutter Health, a significant milestone that altered Sansum’s then 103-year history […more…]

SEE International
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 1, 2024

It was back in 1974 that Dr. Harry Brown founded SEE International to address the global lack of access to […more…]

Family Service Agency
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 25, 2024

It’s been a landmark year for major anniversaries in Santa Barbara. The Granada Theatre launched its year-long Granada 100 celebration […more…]

RiteCare Childhood Language Centers
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 18, 2024

There are 19 RiteCare Childhood Language Centers across California, a program of the California Scottish Rite Foundation that provides life-changing […more…]

Visual Arts and Design Academy
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 11, 2024

Mark your calendar for July 20. That’s the date when the contractors will hand over the keys to the new […more…]

Holocaust Museum
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 27, 2024

Holocaust Museum LA was founded in 1961 by a group of survivors who met each other in an ESL class […more…]

RUNX1
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 20, 2024

The RUNX1 gene provides instructions for making RUNX1 protein, which plays a vital role in the production of blood stem […more…]

Explore Ecology
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 6, 2024

An impact report is normally more of an obligation or a chore for a nonprofit rather than something to brag […more…]

Elings Park
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 23, 2024

Dean Noble, executive director of Elings Park, is fond of comparing Elings to some famous public parks in urban areas.  […more…]

Sweet Wheel Farms
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 16, 2024

Although Summerland had relatively minor flooding and damage following the torrential rainstorm and resulting debris flow in January 2018, the […more…]

NatureTrack
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 2, 2024

NatureTrack has a simple but vital mission: To foster a lifelong fascination with nature through outdoor field trips. The nonprofit […more…]

M.E.R.R.A.G.
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 25, 2024

When M.E.R.R.A.G. was formed in 1987 as Montecito Emergency Response and Recovery Action Group, the uber-local organization started serving a […more…]

PATH
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 18, 2024

A significant number of nonprofits and other organizations have been working to end homelessness in Santa Barbara and across California. […more…]

CEC Earth Day
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 11, 2024

One of Santa Barbara’s longest-running community-organized festivals, our Earth Day celebration is also one of the oldest in the country, […more…]

Catholic Charities
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 4, 2024

As centennial celebrations go, the commemoration may not be as center-of-attention as that of the Granada Theatre or Old Spanish […more…]

Granada Theatre
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 28, 2024

Are you wondering why there’s a whole lot of hoopla about the Granada Theatre 100th birthday beyond merely marking a […more…]

New Beginnings
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 21, 2024

New Beginnings’ Safe Parking program turned 20 earlier this year, a milestone you need to celebrate. On the other hand, […more…]

SBCC Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 14, 2024

It was Geoff Green, the longtime CEO of SBCC Foundation, who created and spearheaded the organization’s SBCC Promise, the program […more…]

California Missions Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 7, 2024

Most locals are probably aware of the best Santa Barbara place to visit every Memorial Day weekend for a glimpse […more…]

Brady United Against Gun Violence
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 29, 2024

Brady United Against Gun Violence, aka the Brady Center, marks its 50th anniversary since its founding. But the organization that […more…]

AHA!
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 15, 2024

Roxana Petty is understandably proud that AHA! is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024, marking a quarter-century since the nonprofit’s […more…]

Santa Barbara Symphony 
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 8, 2024

For the Santa Barbara Symphony, the 2023-24 season expresses a number of the outreach efforts in its mission: to enrich […more…]

Wayfinder Family Services
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 1, 2024

When Gina was preparing to adopt a baby girl, she experienced a rush of thrilling emotions that comes with going […more…]

UCSB A&L
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 18, 2024

UCSB Arts & Lectures’ fall season was one for the ages, with enviable events throughout the breadth of its programming. […more…]

Sanctuary Centers
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 11, 2024

Last month’s groundbreaking ceremony marked Sanctuary Centers’ initiation of its forthcoming new building. To witness the launch of this transformative […more…]

Gwendolyn Strong Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 4, 2024

You’d be hard-pressed to find a local nonprofit that brought its outsized quest to fruition more speedily than did the […more…]

Family Service Agency
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 21, 2023

Seniors experiencing depression or related mental health challenges have a new resource to help them retain their independence and improve […more…]

Sansum Clinic
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 7, 2023

The Montecito Journal’s 2024 Giving List book for Santa Barbara was just published last month in time for Giving Tuesday, […more…]

Santa Barbara Museum of Art
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 30, 2023

It might seem disingenuous to employ the expression “a blessing in disguise” when it comes to Covid. But the truth […more…]

A Community Philanthropic North Star
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 17, 2023

Santa Barbara Foundation’s latest report on the State of Nonprofits in Santa Barbara County, published in autumn of 2023, indicates […more…]

Fulfilling Philanthropic Journeys
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 17, 2023

Tammy Johnson, Santa Barbara Foundation’s Vice President of Philanthropic Services since April of 2022, didn’t set out to work in […more…]