About the Collaboration for Social Impact

Santa Barbara County’s 2,000+ nonprofits range from small volunteer groups to large international organizations. They enhance community life, provide disaster relief, stimulate economic activity, and address societal issues through innovation. To continue offering valuable services and expertise, the social sector relies on ongoing public and private support, playing a crucial role in the county’s vitality and well-being.

The Santa Barbara Foundation believes the key to strengthening the social sector is to ensure its leaders and organizations have the knowledge, skills and resources to fulfill their mission. Strong nonprofits lead to a strong community. The Collaboration for Social Impact elevates SBF’s commitment to advancing the strength and capacity of the nonprofit ecosystem in Santa Barbara County through:

• Capacity Building Grants: Awards to strengthen organizational capacity and programmatic effectiveness. Between 2019-2023, more than 320 Small Capacity Building Grants were awarded totaling $1,510,780. Find out more about the grant opportunities.
• Professional Development: Peer learning cohorts in topics such as board governance, program evaluation, and financial literacy to develop the nonprofit workforce.  Since 2020, more than 500 staff and board members from over 100 organizations participated in programs to develop board and executive leadership, program evaluation, financial resiliency, contingency planning as well as operationalizing diversity, equity, inclusion and access. Check out the Events Calendar for upcoming workshops and trainings.
• Leadership Development: Investments in organizations to improve leadership and management abilities in service of their missions.
• Nonprofit Sector Health & Advocacy: Research informed by nonprofits to help guide stakeholders to collaboratively bolster the sector.

New programming is under development for 2026 to support nonprofit leaders and organizations. Stay tuned for updates!

The Collaboration for Social Impact draws on the expertise of a diverse and experienced group of executive leaders who have long worked on the front lines of nonprofits throughout Santa Barbara County.  Each member resides on the Collaboration’s Advisory Committee for a limited term ensuring new voices inform the evolution of the program.

The current CSI Advisory Committee includes:

• Lisa Brabo, Chief Executive Officer of Family Service Agency
• Ashley Costa, Executive Director of Lompoc Valley Community Healthcare Organization
• Mariela Marin, Executive Director of Community Counseling and Education Center
• Beth Skidmore, Executive Director of Rooted Santa Barbara
• Kai Tepper, Executive Director of Children’s Creative Projects
• Lauren Trujillo, Executive Director of Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation
• Edwin Weaver, Executive Director of Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley
• Steve Windhager, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Annie Whatley is the Director for the Collaboration for Social Impact and the program is supported by Community Engagement Coordinator Maria Caudillo.

If you are interested in contributing to the Collaboration for Social Impact to help bolster the capacity of the social sector, we welcome your partnership and appreciate your support.

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The State of Nonprofits in Santa Barbara County

This report offers a comprehensive overview of the nonprofit industry in Santa Barbara County. Despite facing various disruptions such as recovery from the global pandemic and economic inflation, the report’s findings offer valuable guidance for stakeholders such as funders, practitioners, and government agencies to work together towards bolstering the sector. Furthermore, the data presented in this report can serve as a crucial resource for future and longitudinal studies on the nonprofit industry in Santa Barbara County.

Our hope is that this report will foster greater awareness and understanding, lead to increased investments in the nonprofit sector, help organizations improve their leadership and management abilities, and lift up key areas that require further investigation.

Santa Barbara Foundation would like to acknowledge the researchers at The Center for Evaluation & Assessment at UCSB as well as the many nonprofit professionals who took the time to provide valuable information on the state of their organizations.

Learn more.

Nonprofit Sector Resources

The Santa Barbara Foundation believes that the key to strengthening the social sector is nonprofit leaders and organizations having the knowledge, skills and resources to fulfill their mission. A healthy social sector improves the social outcomes for our communities – strong nonprofits lead to a strong community. To that end, we have curated a catalog of nonprofit sector resources we encourage you to consider in your effort to develop your organization and your own nonprofit career.

Small Capacity Building Grant Program

Small Capacity Building Grants (formerly Express Grants) are awards of up to $6,000 aimed at strengthening the organizational capacity and programmatic effectiveness of nonprofit organizations serving Santa Barbara County.