Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara included, from left to right: Bob Bogle, Executive Director, Casa Esperanza; Elizabeth Diaz, Domestic Violence Attorney, Legal Aid Foundation of SB; Elsa Granados, Executive Director, Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center; Jo Ann Caines, Principal, La Cumbre JHS, Posse Program: Opening Doors to College; Vanessa Patterson, Executive Director, Foundation for SBCC: Single Parent Achievement Program; Terri Allison, Executive Director, Storyteller Children’s Center; Marsha Marcoe, Associate Executive Director, Domestic Violence Solutions; Nathalie Gensac, President, Youth Interactive Santa Barbara; and John Fowler, President/CEO, Peoples’ Self-Help Housing. Courtesy photo.

Last week the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara awarded grants totaling $550,000 to nine local nonprofit agencies at its 10th Annual Presentation of Funds Luncheon.  This luncheon celebrates the end of the annual Women’s Fund grant cycle, and recognizes and honors its newest grantees, voted on by the membership of nearly 600 women.

Since it began in 2004, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara has awarded grants now totaling $4.7 million to 64 local nonprofit programs impacting more than 83,000 local women, children and families in Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria.

The nonprofits receiving 2013-2014 Women’s Fund awards are: Casa Esperanza – $50,000 for shelter and support to transition women out of homelessness; Domestic Violence Solutions – $50,000 for a security systems upgrade and a safe playground surface; Legal Aid Foundation of SB – $75,000 for a domestic violence attorney for women and children; Peoples’ Self-Help Housing – $50,000 for after-school/summer educational enhancement programs for children of low-income families; Posse Program: Opening Doors to College – $75,000 for a tutorial and mentoring partnership for high-achieving low-income students; SBCC: Single Parent Achievement Program – $90,000 for childcare support for low-income single mothers allowing them to attend college; Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center – $50,000 for crisis intervention and long-term counseling services; Storyteller Children’s Center – $50,000 for a food program for low-income preschool children; and Youth Interactive Santa Barbara – $60,000 for entrepreneurial and job skills programs for underserved youth. (Click here to read a SEASONS Magazine story about Youth Interactive Santa Barbara.)

“When we began ten years ago, we were inspired by a new concept in women’s philanthropy: giving large and well-researched local grants without spending money on recruiting and fundraising,” said Carol Palladini, Women’s Fund Founding Chair. “In 2004, a small group of women said there had to be a better way to make a difference in our local community.  We were weary of planning and attending fundraisers.  We wanted to make a bigger impact than most of us felt we were doing alone.  And we wanted to celebrate the strength and generosity of women.”

(Click here to read a SEASONS Magazine story about Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara.)

 For additional information about the Women’s Fund, visit womensfundsb.org.

—Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS Magazine on May 4, 2014.