Nonprofits across Santa Barbara County are bracing for a funding cliff — some already teetering close to the edge. To keep them from slipping off, the Santa Barbara Foundation has launched the Critical Needs Response Fund, a rolling grant program meant to provide quick support when the ground vanishes.
The fund, announced last week, will provide grants of up to $50,000 to nonprofits delivering essential services. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with the first round of decisions expected October 1.
“We’ve been tracking pretty aggressively the impacts to our nonprofit communities in Santa Barbara County since the cuts we started hearing about in January and February,” said Liz Thasiah, the foundation’s vice president of programs. “To date, we personally have tracked around $30 million in funds that nonprofits have experienced losing in Santa Barbara County.”
That number is just a fraction of what the county stands to lose. By the foundation’s estimate, more than $500 million in federal support is at risk as recent policy changes ripple through everything from health care to food security programs.
The Critical Needs Fund cannot fill that gap, Thasiah admitted, but it’s meant to help local organizations stay afloat. “We know that we can’t fill the gap of $500 million in federal cuts to our county. But what we do know is that our nonprofits are the heartbeat of a lot of our community,” she said. “This fund is really designed to create breathing space for these nonprofits — to support their workforce, to address critical expansion needs within immigrant communities, and to help them purchase additional food that can be on the shelves.”
The Santa Barbara Foundation is partnering with family fundholders, private foundations, and local corporations — including Montecito Bank & Trust and the Patricia Bragg Foundation — to seed the program. Community members can also donate directly.
Foundation President and CEO Jackie Carrera called the fund a continuation of the foundation’s century-long role as a first responder to community needs. “By providing timely and targeted support, we can help alleviate the pressures faced by our local nonprofits and residents during times of crisis,” Carrera said in a statement.
Thasiah emphasized the long view: the grants aren’t a stopgap so much as a cushion for resilience. “We just want to wrap around the support for a nonprofit sector that cares for us so deeply and looks after the well-being of our community,” she said.
Nonprofits can find application guidelines at sbfoundation.org/CriticalNeeds.
