Affordable, high-quality child care is foundational to family stability, workforce participation, and regional economic vitality.
The Santa Barbara Foundation’s Child Care Initiative is advancing a coordinated, countywide strategy to strengthen child care infrastructure. Reflected in the 2025 Santa Barbara County Child Care Facilities Master Plan, the County has established a goal of creating 3,000 new licensed child care spaces by 2030, with a priority on infant and toddler expansion. While recent public and philanthropic investments have expanded capacity — including more than 2,000 new licensed spaces created between 2020 and 2025 — access remains uneven and affordability continues to be a significant barrier for working families. Read more about the impact these investments: From Crisis to Capacity: ARPA Child Care Impact Report by Santa Barbara Foundation.
The William & Lottie Daniel Fund Child Care Scholarship Grant serves as a key strategy within this broader infrastructure plan. While facilities investments expand supply, the Daniel Fund creates additional opportunities for affordable childcare and equitable access for working families across Santa Barbara County.
Affordability remains one of the most urgent challenges facing families. The annual household income required for a family of four (two adults, one infant/toddler, and one preschooler) to meet basic needs in Santa Barbara County is $162,153. Many families earn too much to qualify for public subsidies, yet not enough to afford the true cost of care. Scholarships help bridge this gap — stabilizing families, supporting workforce participation, and ensuring children have access to safe, nurturing, developmentally appropriate early learning environments.
By supporting licensed nonprofit child care programs that prioritize quality and accessibility, the Daniel Fund advances the Foundation’s commitment to strengthening families, promoting economic mobility, and building a resilient child care system for Santa Barbara County.
Grant Purpose & Priorities
The Daniel Fund provides scholarship funding to licensed nonprofit child care programs to subsidize tuition costs for eligible working families in Santa Barbara County.
The Daniel Fund supports licensed nonprofit programs serving children from birth through 6th grade. In alignment with Countywide child care needs, priority is given to programs serving children ages 0–5, particularly infants and toddlers, where the shortage of licensed care is most severe.
For Programs serving children 0-5 years of age:
- Implement age-appropriate curriculum for kindergarten readiness
- Engage in quality improvement processes, such as Santa Barbara County’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) and/or NAEYC accreditation.
- Adopt best practices for parent engagement, such as the Family Standard in accreditation and/or the Five Protective Factors Framework.
- Use standardized child development assessment or screening tools, such as Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) or the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile.
For Programs serving school-age children (grades TK-6):
- Demonstrate participation in quality improvement processes, such as Child and Youth Development Program Accreditation.
- Align with student achievement goals set by local school district.
Funding Information:
- Maximum award: $50,000
- Grant term: up to one year from the award date
- Final report due: Within 13 months of award and submitted via the SmartSimple platform
Applicant Eligibility Requirements:
Applicant organizations must:
- Be a certified 501(c)(3) non-profit or apply through a qualified 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. Applications that do not contain a valid EIN (Tax ID) number will not be considered.
- Public entities such as schools, universities, and libraries may apply through an affiliated or supporting 501(c)(3) organization.
Applicant program must:
- Currently operating an established licensed child care program serving Santa Barbara County children/families.
- Be fully licensed by the State of California to provide child care for the age groups served.
- Be in compliance with the applicable local, regional and state codes governing child care facilities.
- For any licensing questions, please contact the Child Care Duty Officer at Community Care Licensing by calling (805) 562-0400.
- Employ qualified staff appropriate to the age groups served.
- The Daniel Grant Program is designed to support working parents/guardians therefore applicant agencies must operate at least during standard business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
- Licensed child care programs for school-age children must be open on weekdays when school is not in session.
- Provide a year-round child care program with minimal closures. Programs may not close for more than two consecutive weeks per year.
Family eligibility requirements:
Scholarships may be awarded only to families who:
- Reside in Santa Barbara County.
- Have working parent(s)/guardian(s). For the purposes of this program, “parents” include single parents, dual parents, and authorized representatives of children not in the care of their natural or legal parent(s).
- Have a child enrolled full-time in the grant applicant’s licensed child care program.
- If a child’s placement changes during the scholarship period, the scholarship may be reassigned to another eligible family. Please keep in close communication with the SBF Program Officer/Director to review any changes.
- Contribute a portion of tuition costs based on the program’s adopted sliding fee scale. (Scholarships are not intended to cover 100% of tuition.)
Use of Funds & Operating Conditions
- Funds must be used solely to subsidize child care fees for eligible Santa Barbara County families.
- Funds may support expanded access within established programs.
- If a child’s placement changes during the scholarship period (e.g., foster care placement or housing instability), the scholarship may be reassigned to another eligible family.
- Grant recipients must acknowledge the William & Lottie Daniel Child Care Scholarship Fund and the Santa Barbara Foundation in program materials and announcements related to scholarship availability.
**Please see the Eligibility Criteria & FAQs for additional qualifying information and instructions**
Important Dates
| April 1, 2026 at 9:00am PST |
Application opens on SmartSimple |
| April 2, 2026
10:00am – 12:00pm PST |
Office Hours (virtual or phone call)
Schedule with Klazarus@sbfoundation.org |
| April 6, 2026
4:30pm – 6:30pm PST |
Office Hours (virtual or phone call)
Schedule with Klazarus@sbfoundation.org |
| April 14, 2026
4:30pm – 6:30pm PST |
Office Hours (virtual or phone call)
Schedule with Klazarus@sbfoundation.org |
| April 30, 2026 at 9:00pm PST |
Application Deadline |
| May 11-15, 2026 |
Internal Review Period |
| May 18-29, 2026 |
Follow Up Questions |
| Mid-June 2026 |
Award Notification |
| Approximately July 2027 |
Final Report Deadline |
Contact Information
If you have questions about whether your proposal is the right fit for the William & Lottie Daniel Fund Child Care Scholarship, please contact Beatriz Garcia, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Initiatives, before starting your application, at 805-880-9382 or BGarcia@sbfoundation.org.
For technical assistance or to schedule a virtual appointment, please contact Kelly Lazarus, Senior Programs Assistant, at 805-880-9353 or KLazarus@sbfoundation.org.
Apply for the Grant
The William and Lottie Daniel Fund Child Care Scholarships program utilizes an online application. Please follow the instructions below to access, complete and submit your application to the foundation. The Santa Barbara Foundation has switched their grants management system to SmartSimple. Applicants must follow the instructions below to register, complete, and submit an application.
To Access the SmartSimple Platform
- Visit the Santa Barbara Foundations online platform
- On the Santa Barbara Foundation SmartSimple platform landing page, on the bottom right please click on “Register.”
You will be asked to choose from 3 different entities:
- Nonprofit
- Fiscally Sponsored Entity
- For Profit
- After identifying which entity fits your organization you will be asked to provide some general information about yourself and your organization (If your organization is not found please use the “click here to add a new organization” link in the instruction box to add manually).
- The initial staff contact is the first authorized representative to register and associate their profile account on behalf of an organization. This individual will also be responsible for providing accurate information in the organization profile and updating this information annually. They will also receive email notifications from the platform. Additional organizational contacts can also register and access applications on behalf of an organization already in the system. These additional users will follow the same registration process as the initial organization contact. The system will conduct a duplicate check and associate the user with the existing organization.
- You will receive a welcome email confirming that your registration is active. Please click the link included in the email to create a password. After creating your password, you can now access the platform to establish your Organization Profile.
- On the top righthand corner you will see the initial of your first name that you registered under. Please click there and a drop-down menu will open. Please select “Organization Profile.” You will be directed to a page with four separate tabs, General, Organization Information, Capacity Building, and Board Information. You will need to answer all mandatory fields in order to access the available grant applications on the platform.
PLEASE NOTE: Once an organization is registered and a profile has been created for a fiscally sponsored organization, please allow up to 24 hours (one business day) for approval to access available applications in the platform.
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