Imagine a kid. He’s your son, and he has big plans. He wants to attend college and launch a startup. […more…]

“With Wayfinder, we don’t feel like my son has a disability. We feel like everyone else.” This is the gift […more…]

“I think our youngest client this year was 10 years old. Sadly, the age has been skewing lower. Three or […more…]

The California Missions matter. Historic preservation keeps alive our history and it allows us to remember the stories and experiences […more…]

Until a person can eat, sleep, and have a roof over one’s head, their mental and physical energy is consumed […more…]

In every great city is a community park that serves as its beating heart. Elings Park in Santa Barbara has […more…]

Who are we? The Visual Arts and Design Academy (VADA) at Santa Barbara High School is a unique “school within […more…]

On a recent morning at Holocaust Museum LA (HMLA), Betsy, a docent, was leading a tour group of 20 LA […more…]

On a cool September Sunday, a group of Marine Watchdog kayakers paddled into a sea cave on the rocky coastline […more…]

When a calamity befalls us, we are reassured that our First Responder protectors are on the job and doing their […more…]

In Santa Barbara, the Reverend Dr. David Moore, Jr. is a well-known figure at the crossroads of faith, advocacy, media, and community service. He stands out as one of the few Black leaders in a county that has witnessed a significant exodus of its Black population to more affordable cities. With a doctorate in theology from the University of South Africa, Moore plays a pivotal role in the community, serving as pastor for Santa Barbara’s Beloved Community Church and Jesus Collective. Additionally, he holds the position of vice president at the Santa Barbara affiliate of the NAACP, while also contributing [...more...]

Despite living with RUNX1 familial platelet disorder (RUNX1-FPD), Tim Babich lived a happy life with his wife, Monica. After the […more…]

The Community Farm is surely the jewel in the crown of communal self-reliance. Here we have a plot of food-producing […more…]

Santa Barbara Humane, founded in 1887, was one of the first animal welfare agencies in the country, opening nearly seven […more…]

More than one billion people worldwide live with treatable vision loss due to a lack of quality eye care. While […more…]

Jackie Carrera, President and CEO, Santa Barbara Foundation. (photo by Dean Zatkowsky) Santa Barbara Foundation’s latest report on the State of Nonprofits in Santa Barbara County, published in autumn of 2023, indicates that the total of such organizations has now soared past 2,000 – a significant number considering that the county’s total population is just a tad over 455,000. It might seem both difficult and daunting to navigate among nonprofits, given that there are multiple, often single-issue organizations, serving nearly every imaginable sector, all of which do important, impactful work.  That’s where the Santa Barbara Foundation (SBF) comes in, and [...more...]

For Yvette Birch Giller, president and COO of Santa Barbara’s Mosher Foundation, philanthropy is a family affair. Working alongside both her father, Ed Birch, the Foundation’s chair and CEO, and her mother, Suzanne Birch, a trustee and education program specialist, Giller, after 13 years at Mosher, is preparing to take the reins from the man she calls her mentor, her role model, and her biggest cheerleader. Today, Giller finds herself at the nexus of the gradual sunsetting of Santa Barbara’s legendary philanthropic foundation trailblazers, and the dawn of a new generation of foundation leaders. And Giller has the benefit of [...more...]

Tammy Johnson, Santa Barbara Foundation’s Vice President of Philanthropic Services since April of 2022, didn’t set out to work in philanthropy. The daughter of a 35-year Southern California Gas Company employee, Johnson grew up in La Puente in the San Gabriel Valley, attending the public school system through high school. It was there that a guidance counselor pointed her toward what she thought might be her career. “He encouraged me to think about journalism because I was a school leader always doing the announcements over the PA, and I was a pretty strong writer,” Johnson recalls. “But I was still [...more...]

Once upon a time, an attorney from the Windy City (Chicago, for the uninitiated) decided to move on from the slings, arrows, and less definable rigors of the storied private equity firm in whose glass tower he’d long toiled. That is, he retired. Seeking greener pastures, sandy beaches, and maybe a low-slung, non-intimidating mountain range, Christian McGrath chose Santa Barbara as his new headquarters. Long an advocate and engaged participant in the not-for-profit world of Chicago, he knew he would likewise seek out and immerse himself in that community in Santa Barbara. But where to start? To his mild surprise, [...more...]

At Girls Inc. Carpinteria, the work of empowering girls to ensure they have the tools to reach their full potential […more…]