Giving Tuesday 2023: Give the Gift of Giving
This Giving Tuesday, the Santa Barbara Independent is encouraging our readers to participate in Giving Tuesday by highlighting area nonprofits and their great work. Below, you will find a sliver of the nonprofits doing good work in the Santa Barbara community.
We encourage our readers, if able, to contribute this season to a nonprofit listed below or your favorite nonprofit.
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ASAP Cats
The mission of the Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP) is to save the lives of cats in Santa Barbara County by providing shelter, veterinary care, behavioral support, adoption and foster services, education, and community outreach.
Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara
The Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara is committed to serve as a community resource center that empowers women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to advocate for themselves and make informed decisions regarding breast health. At the BCRC, women are heard and find emotional support in actively navigating their cancer treatment and survivorship health.
C.A.R.E.4Paws
C.A.R.E.4Paws works to reduce pet overpopulation and improve pet family welfare.
Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara
The mission of the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara is to ensure superior cancer care for all residents of Santa Barbara County, regardless of means. The Cancer Foundation is the largest contributor to the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, the leading provider of outpatient cancer care on the Central Coast.
Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI)
Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI) is dedicated to positively impacting conservation through marine mammal rescue, rehabilitation, research and education to promote ocean and human health. CIMWI’s core work is the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured, malnourished, orphaned, entangled and oiled marine mammals with the goal of returning them to the wild.
CLUE S.B.
CLUE Santa Barbara is a network of interfaith community leaders and members organizing to address the root causes of economic injustices to those marginalized in Santa Barbara County. Our four workgroups partner with allied organizations to address the root causes of injustices in housing and homelessness, criminal justice reform, labor trafficking, and environmental challenges. We reach out to faith organizations, learning their concerns and acting together to create a more just community.
Community Environmental Council
CEC builds on-the-ground momentum to reverse the threat of the climate crisis. We transform the systems that fuel it. We safeguard the community from its impacts. We lead, we partner, we act. And every day, we inspire people to create a more resilient California Central Coast.
Direct Relief
Direct Relief is a humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies — without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay.
Dream Foundation
Dream Foundation, the only national dream-granting organization for terminally ill adults, fulfills final Dreams that provide inspiration, comfort, and closure at the end of life. More than 34,000 final Dreams have been served since the foundation’s inception in 1994. Dream Foundation receives no state or federal funding — we rely solely on private donations.
Environmental Defense Center
The Environmental Defense Center works to protect and enhance the local environment through education, advocacy, and legal action.
Families ACT!
FamiliesACT! is a grassroots organization of individuals and families with lived experience of Santa Barbara County’s mental health and criminal justice system and of its revolving door of repeated ER visits, incarcerations and periods of homelessness.
We work to create fundamental change in county policies and practices that contribute to the neglect, abuse, and criminalization of persons with mental health and substance use disorders. We act as a catalyst to educate and guide Santa Barbara County decision makers as they address gaps in our continuum of care and improve access to services.
Our goal is to partner with all stakeholders in creating just, compassionate and effective treatment options – including psychiatric beds, residential treatment facilities and supportive housing communities – designed to help people recover their health, self-worth and dignity.
Family Service Agency
Our mission is to strengthen and advocate for families and individuals of all ages and diversities, helping to create and preserve a healthy community.
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County
The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County is ending hunger and transforming the health of Santa Barbara County through good nutrition.
Friends of State Street
Friends of State Street is a 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on community engagement initiatives that support and partner with local businesses, organizations, and surrounding neighborhoods as our city’s State Street Master Plan process evolves now and into the future.
Friendship Center Adult Day Services
Friendship Center’s unique programs bring daily joy, activity, and purpose to the lives of older and dependent adults living with dementia, as well as providing invaluable peace of mind to their devoted caregivers who know their loved one is safe, celebrated, and engaging with others.
Grace Fisher Foundation
The Grace Fisher Foundation exists to connect people living with disabilities to music, art, dance, and other forms of artistic expression in order to provide an accessible space for community inclusion, education, creation, and self-discovery.
The Granada Theatre
The Granada Theatre partners with local performing arts organizations and the highest quality national producers to provide culture, connection and enrichment to all of Santa Barbara.
Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County
Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity builds homes, communities, and hope.
Hearts Aligned Inc.
Hearts Aligned helps critically ill children and their families living in Santa Barbara County by providing financial assistance, personal support and patient advocacy.
Hudson Ministries – Arise 5K
ARISE Women’s Conferences supports women from domestic violence shelters and drug rehabilitation homes and helps them arise from their past to a new life. This year’s 5K Walk and Run is a community friend-raiser and fund-raiser for Santa Barbara Rescue Mission’s Bethel House Women’s Residential Treatment Program. Donate or sign up to run at arise5k.org.
Ice in Paradise
Our mission is to provide a wide variety of recreational ice skating programs for all members of our community to enjoy at affordable prices within a state-of-the-art-facility. We strive to deliver this in a safe, friendly, and fun environment with unparalleled customer service.
Immigrant Legal Defense Center
The Immigrant Legal Defense Center promotes equal access to justice and due process by providing free legal services to indigent children and adult immigrants seeking relief from deportation, and by educating immigrants on their basic civil rights. We believe that no one should face immigration court alone.
Janus Community Counseling Services
Our mission is to help the community access mental health services by providing affordable counseling services to those who need it most.
Jodi House
Jodi House empowers brain injury survivors to not merely survive but thrive. Our supportive day program helps survivors in their cognitive, physical, and emotional recovery, while also providing respite to caregivers.
Junior League of Santa Barbara
The Junior League of Santa Barbara, Inc. is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.
League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara
For over a century LWV has been “making democracy work.” Our mission is to empower voters and defend democracy. We register and inform voters about candidates and ballot measures. We don’t endorse candidates or parties, but we take positions on local issues such as housing, criminal justice and the environment.
Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County
The mission of the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County is to provide high-quality civil legal services to low-income and other vulnerable residents in order to ensure equal access to justice. We change lives through direct representation, legal advice and information, and community education.
Los Padres ForestWatch
Los Padres ForestWatch protects wildlife, wilderness, water, and sustainable access throughout the Los Padres National Forest and the Carrizo Plain National Monument. We achieve this through education, advocacy, and when necessary, legal action for the benefit of our communities, climate, and future generations.
The Marjorie Luke Theatre
The goal of The Marjorie Luke Theatre is to provide a high quality, accessible, affordable performing arts venue that offers culturally diverse and relevant programming to the Santa Barbara community and students of Santa Barbara Unified School District.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee, Santa Barbara
The mission of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara is to foster positive relationships between the many diverse groups in the Santa Barbara community and the surrounding areas; to sponsor programs and events which exemplify the teachings of Dr. King; and to observe and celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.
Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund
To promote social justice and protect the environment, SBCAN — in partnership with the Santa Barbara Independent — supports research and reporting on environmental and social justice issues. Your tax-deductible donations to the SBCAN Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund will help ensure that these issues will continue to be researched and reported on in the Santa Barbara region.
Momentum WORK, Inc.
Momentum WORK, Inc. is dedicated to empowering people with disabilities by providing access to innovative services that support their personal and professional growth.
New House Santa Barbara
New House dedicates itself to providing a clean, sober and healthy environment that allows men with alcohol and other drug problems to begin their journey of recovery and to reclaim their dignity, self-esteem, and sense of purpose.
New Directions for People With Disabilities, Inc.
We believe that people with developmental disabilities deserve the same opportunities in life that others expect and enjoy. Our profoundly enriching travel programs expand the self-esteem of every traveler. Through our unique programs, people with disabilities are increasingly understood, appreciated, and accepted as important and contributing members of our world.
Partners in Housing Solutions
Partners in Housing Solutions helps people who are experiencing homelessness to secure and retain permanent housing through our network of private landlords.
Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation (SB ACT)
The Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation (SB ACT) exists to equip the community to lovingly engage the marginalized while actively working for the betterment of their physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental needs.
Santa Barbara Beautiful
The purpose of Santa Barbara Beautiful is to stimulate community interest and action toward the enhancement of Santa Barbara’s beauty as a complement to current and future government and private activity.
Santa Barbara Beautiful is an organization of volunteers dedicated to beautifying our area in a variety of ways — not only by working independently but also by cooperating with city departments, neighborhood associations and other agencies.
Formed in 1965 by concerned civic leaders, Santa Barbara Beautiful is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501 c3 corporation. Contributions are tax-deductible.
Santa Barbara Birth Center
The Santa Barbara Birth Center provides education, support and services during the childbearing years, working within the Midwifery Model of Care and in collaboration with the greater medical community. Pregnant people are attended by the same midwives throughout their pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum, assuring the highest-quality continuity of care.
Santa Barbara County Action Network
SBCAN is a countywide grassroots organization that works to promote social and economic justice, to preserve our environmental and agricultural resources, and to create sustainable communities. SBCAN advocates a holistic approach to community planning that integrates housing, open space, and transportation to meet the needs of all members of our community and future generations.
Santa Barbara County Food Action Network
The Santa Barbara County Food Action Network connects, aligns, and activates food system changemakers to develop a robust local food economy, a healthy and just community, and a well-stewarded, resilient foodshed.
Santa Barbara County Trails Council
Our mission is to protect public trail access, build and maintain safe and sustainable trails, and promote public engagement in land stewardship and trail use for all types of outdoor recreation.
Santa Barbara Master Chorale
Established in 1984, the Santa Barbara Master Chorale is a community chorus committed to enriching the cultural life of the Central Coast by presenting the world’s finest choral music, accompanied by professional orchestras and soloists, at affordable ticket prices. While accomplishing this, we help participating singers improve their musical knowledge and performance skills, and we actively promote an interest in choral music to diverse audiences, with a special focus on young people.
Santa Barbara Meals on Wheels
Santa Barbara Meals on Wheels delivers affordable, fresh meals daily to elderly and homebound residents of our community. We provide both nutrition and personal interaction so individuals can live independently, with dignity, as long as they are able. We serve 300+ clients and are always looking for volunteer drivers.
Santa Barbara Middle School
Santa Barbara Middle School cultivates in our students passion for life and life-long learning, a deep sense of trust in themselves, strength and courage to succeed at life’s challenges, and compassion and respect for others.
Santa Barbara Rescue Mission
The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission is a ministry of Christian people bringing physical, emotional, educational and spiritual resources to all who struggle with homelessness and addiction.
Santa Barbara Response Network
The Santa Barbara Response Network (SBRN) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that mobilizes caring volunteers trained in Psychological First Aid. SBRN offers Psychological First Aid (PFA) trainings and community responses to those who have experienced a traumatic event and request our assistance (recently suffered injuries, loss of life, community violence, or natural disaster impacts). PFA is an evidence-based method of providing culturally sensitive psychological support to those who have experienced trauma. It aims to reduce initial distress and help foster long-term adaptive coping skills needed to move toward resilience.
Savie Health
Our mission is to provide free medical, behavioral health, dental and vision care to uninsured adults in Santa Barbara County and beyond regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, immigration status, religion, or sexual orientation.
Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation
Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation advocates for families living in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties that have a child with cancer by providing financial, educational, and emotional support.
The Freedom to Choose Project
To transform the lives of individuals impacted by incarceration through compassionate experiential education.
The Starfish Connection Inc.
We offer crisis funding for individuals and families and community storytelling space.
The Tribal Trust Foundation
Supporting the preservation of indigenous cultures and wisdom through philanthropy and education to promote living in harmony with nature and each other.
TV Santa Barbara
TV Santa Barbara (TVSB) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization which operates two community access television channels, 17 and 71. TVSB’s mission is to empower people to make media that matters. TVSB does this by providing residents with the knowledge, resources, and tools to create their own original programming — since 1975.
Unite to Light
Unite to Light envisions a world where every person has access to clean, affordable light and energy. We provide low cost solar lighting and energy to people living without electricity to improve global health, education, prosperity, and fight climate change.
Unity of Santa Barbara
Unity of Santa Barbara is an accepting, positive, spiritual community that honors all spiritual paths. Amazing things are happening here! Help us create something even more amazing both here in Santa Barbara, and around the world! Because together we are a global community of difference makers.
Unity Shoppe Santa Barbara
Unity Shoppe is dedicated to providing residents impacted by temporary conditions of poverty, natural disaster or health crisis with resources, including groceries, clothing, and other essentials, that reinforce human dignity and encourage self-sufficiency and independence.
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