Grants in Action
The relationship between the Women's Fund and our grantees isn't over when a nonprofit receives a grant. The agencies we work with keep us posted on the progress of the projects we fund. And sometimes we actually get to come visit.
Site Visits allow our members to witness the impact of the work we're supporting firsthand.
Keeping members informed of our grantees’ progress is part of our grantmaking process. When possible we do this either through in-person or online visits.
Our forums allow us to fulfill an important part of our mission: to educate and inspire women to engage in making lasting change in our community.
By learning more about the ongoing challenges facing our neighbors, we can learn how to better target our dollars.
In December the Women's Fund held a Grants In Action forum to hear from leaders of three local nonprofit organizations that, combined, received $250,000 in grants in 2022. These projects provide wrap-around services in rebuilding lives and securing housing for those experiencing homelessness.
Watch the VIDEOS: Full Event DignityMoves SB ACT Channel Islands YMCA
The COVID pandemic propelled the establishment of long-advocated, multi-agency collaboration to help people experiencing homelessness and move more people home. This forum begins with films about our grantees Doctors Without Walls-Santa Barbara Street Medicine, PATH, and the New Beginnings Safe Parking Program.
Watch the VIDEO
Learn about the empowering network of Latina community health workers – the Promotores. The Women's Fund of Santa Barbara awarded a grant to provide training for 24 amazing women. These Health Navigators go into the community to help underserved populations access available helath care.
Watch the VIDEO
For more than 130 years, the Cecilia Fund has provided funds directly to medical providers to cover the critical healtch care procedures, treatments or services for patients who can't afford them. Hear doctors, social workers and a client ell the story of life-changing and often life-saving grants.
Watch the VIDEO.
Children Who Beat the Odds, spotlights parents and their children who have been involved in and nurtured by many of the Carpinteria Children’s Project programs. The families’ involvement spans years -- since the eldest children (now in middle school or high school) were toddlers. It warmly depicts the impact of the agency’s mission and programs.
Watch the VIDEO.
There is extrordinary need in the community right now for mental health services for our young people. One-in-four children between ages 9 and 18 suffer from anxiety, depression, or attention and behavioral disorders. Hear how two Women's Fund grants are helping to address this problem by supporting CALM and Casa Pacifica.
Watch the VIDEO.
Learn from two Women's Fund grantees - Carpinteria Children's Project and Children's Resource and Referral of Santa Barbara County - about the positive impact of early childcare education in helping build strong families. Our grantees also highlight the critical need to expand the number of available childcare spaces in our community.
Watch the VIDEO.
In December 2021, Women’s Fund members visited the state-of-the-art STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Lab at El Camino Elementary School. This lab was funded by a $65,000 grant to the Goleta Education Foundation in 2020.
Read the STORY.
This virtual visit showcases the Library-on-the-Go Van, made possible by a $100,000 Women's Fund grant in 2020. See how much the library helps people in underserved neighborhoods.
Watch the VIDEO.
During the pandemic many children fell behind in their schoolwork. This Women's Fund grant provided scholarships to an Educational Summer Camp at the Boys and Girl's Club that gave kids a chance to catch up.
Watch the VIDEO.
Visit our Video Gallery to see prior Grants in Action presentations.