A record $725,000 in grants is made by the Women's Fund of Santa Barbara to the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy and nine other organizations.

In a climate of economic uncertainty, the tendency is to stand pat rather than step forward. The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara didn’t get the message.

On Tuesday, more than 250 women — and a smattering of men — packed themselves in to El Paseo Restaurant to learn who got what when the fund’s 2008 grants were announced. The 5-year-old pooled investment organization has been growing steadily, from 79 members doling out $140,000 to two groups in 2004 to nearly 400 members distributing a record $725,000 to 10 nonprofit agencies this year.