{"id":4393,"date":"2009-01-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4393"},"modified":"2013-11-12T18:08:41","modified_gmt":"2013-11-13T02:08:41","slug":"giving-back-chuck-slosser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4393","title":{"rendered":"Giving Back: Chuck Slosser"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chuck<\/a>

Chuck Slosser (courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

With the same engaging grin and focused attention that have pried philanthropic purse strings loose since he came to town in 1981, Chuck Slosser<\/a> says he’s excited to tackle retirement after 18 years as executive director of the Santa Barbara Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What an amazing ride it has been. When Slosser, now 66 took the helm of the Santa Barbara Foundation<\/a>–Santa Barbara County’s largest private source of funding for nonprofit programs–it had a staff of three, roughly $30 million in assets, and was giving out a few million in scholarships and grants a year.<\/p>\n

Compare that to today’s foundation–under Slosser’s leadership, it now has a staff of 23, more than $300 million in assets, and donates about $27 million each year. He’s justifiably proud, but still ready for a slower pace, saying, “I thoroughly enjoyed the foundation and the work that we’ve done here and the great things that have happened in the community as a result. I’ve never objected to the 9 to 5, but it’s really the 5 to 9.”<\/p>\n

Slosser and his wife of almost 38 years, Stephanie, who retired from UC Santa Barbara’s<\/a> biology department three years ago, plan to travel, play golf and do yoga. He’s also interested in playing more basketball (he’s got a regular game at the Boys and Girls Club<\/a>), taking Spanish lessons, picking up a guitar and a dissertation that have been collecting dust, and perhaps doing some consulting. He smiles. “I really do feel like a kid in a candy store. I want to do that, and I want to do that, and I can’t wait.”<\/p>\n

Clearly, Slosser is a man with many interests, which is why the diverse Santa Barbara Foundation was “a dream job come true.” With an infinite variety of grant recipients–Music Academy of the West<\/a>, Page Youth Center<\/a>, Special Olympics<\/a>, Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse<\/a>, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics<\/a>, Red Cross<\/a>, St. Vincent’s<\/a>, Legal Aid<\/a>, Transition House<\/a>, Girls Inc.<\/a> and Wildlife Care Network<\/a>, to name a few — the foundation was a perfect place for this Renaissance man.<\/p>\n

Originally published in Santa Barbara Magazine<\/a>\u00a0in January 2009.<\/h6>\n

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