Women's Fund of Santa Barbara Celebrates 10 Years of Collective Giving
If simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, then the Women's Fund of Santa Barbara has distinguished itself as one of the most sophisticated giving groups on the Central Coast. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Women's Fund has steadfastly held to a single vision: to change lives together.

An award of $90,000 from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara will go to SBCC’s Single Parent Achievement Program to provide child-care support for low-income single mothers, allowing them to attend college.

"Thanks to this generous grant from the Women's Fund, SBCC is able to expand the Single Parent Achievement Program, providing one full year of exceptional child care,” said Vanessa Bechtel, executive director of the SBCC Foundation.

On May 19, 2014, the Women's Fund of Santa Barbara was honored at the Girls Inc. of Carpinteria Women of Inspiration Luncheon. In 2013, the Women's Fund gave a transformative grant. 

The grant funded a year of training for one first- and one second-year cohort (50 girls) participating in the year-round, coordinated five-year Eureka! Program.

This UCSB summer program is designed to expose young women from disadvantaged backgrounds to the university experience and to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Women's Fund of Santa Barbara marks decade of 'Changing Lives Together.' The organization distributes $550,000 in grants to nine local nonprofits, with members' contributions to date totaling $4.7 million.

On Monday, April 28, 2014, 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.

For many girls, the prospect of attending college seems like an unattainable dream. But thanks to Girls Inc. and its innovative Eureka! program, cohorts of lucky young women are learning the steps necessary to make that dream a reality.

There is no compelling reason as to why girls do not enter the fields of science, technology, engineering or math at the same rate that boys do, except for a possible lack of support from family or community along the way. The Eureka! program is designed to provide girls with that added bit of encouragement, and a whole lot more, to…

By any measure, the Women's Fund appears to be thriving. Ten years ago, it had 68 members who gave away $140,000. Today, its membership has swelled to nearly 600, the vast majority belonging to groups with names like "Instead of Shoes" or Benevolent Babes." Now, it gives away roughly half-a-million a year. Typically, the grants are pretty beefy, ranging in size from $50,000-$100,000. Over the years, the fund has given away $4.1 million to 55 groups. Of that, more than a million came in the form of matching grants provided by Ofalea Foundation and Betty Elings Wells. Santa Barbara…

Nearly 200 members and guests of the Women's Fund of Santa Barbara witnessed the power of collective philanthropy...see page 12 for the full story.

Ninth annual site visit highlights the work of local nonprofit organizations benefiting from $525,000 in contributions.

It's often said that seeing is believing, and that was certainly the case for more than 150 members of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara last Thursday as they toured local nonprofit agencies to see what their most recent $525,000 in grants were doing to help the community.

The annual site visit included tours of three nonprofit facilities — …

Victoria Juarez, Executive Director, and Craig Price, Board Trustee of Girls Inc. of Carpinteria, attended the Women’s Fund annual awards luncheon to accept a $50,000 grant for the Girls Inc. Eureka! project, a five-year program for girls beginning the summer before eight grade and continuing through the twelfth grade.

"The Women's Fund of Santa Barbara is thrilled to be supporting the Eureka! Program of Girls Inc. Carpinteria," said Sally Tannenbaum, member of the Women's Fund. "Our members believe the program is compelling and look forward to hearing success stories of girls from…