The William & Lottie Daniel Fund Child Care Scholarship Grant (Daniel Grant), administered under the Foundation’s Child Care focus area, supports licensed nonprofit child care facilities that align with Santa Barbara Foundations’ strategic priority and broader community initiatives for child care.
Access to quality child care remains a critical challenge in our community. Many working families earn just above the income threshold for assistance yet still struggle with the high cost of care. In Santa Barbara County, where median household income varies by region, a family earning $84,356 annually may spend up to 40% of their income on child care for an infant and a preschooler. To address this, the State of California raised the income eligibility for subsidized programs from 70% to 85% of the State Median Income (SMI). The COVID-19 pandemic further heightened the demand for affordable child care, which continues to exceed available resources.
The Santa Barbara Foundation believes every individual deserves the opportunity to thrive. To support working families, the Foundation has prioritized expanding access to affordable, high-quality child care in its 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. We invite you to read the Planning for Child Care and Child Care Facilities Needs Assessment reports to gain deeper insight into Santa Barbara County’s needs and opportunities in child care.
Focus
High-quality child care provides safe, nurturing environments with enriching, age-appropriate activities that support children’s development. Research shows that stable and stimulating early learning experiences significantly improve academic and life outcomes.
Grants will be awarded to licensed nonprofit child care programs serving children ages 0-5 and school-age children (grades TK-6), with priority given to programs serving ages 0-5. Eligible facilities must demonstrate alignment with the Foundation’s priorities for child care quality and accessibility.
Eligible Applicants:
Licensed nonprofit child care programs open year-round and serving children 0-5 years of age and school-age children (grades TK-6), with priority given to organizations serving ages 0-5.
Eligibility for Families selected to receive scholarships:
- Reside in Santa Barbara County.
- Be working parent(s)/guardian(s).
- have an agency adopted sliding fee scale,
- Have a child care program with an agency adopted sliding fee scale.
- Contribute a portion of tuition costs for child care.
- Have a child enrolled in the program full-time.
Priorities
For Programs serving children 0-5 years of age:
- Implement age-appropriate curriculum for kindergarten readiness
- Engage in quality improvement process, 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):
- Include curriculum elements that enhance language arts literacy and math proficiency.
- 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 Amounts and Duration
- The maximum grant award is $50,000.
- The grant period is up to one year from the award date.
- A final report, submitted via the SmartSimple platform, is due within 13 months of the grant award.
Eligibility Requirements
- Be a certified 501(c)(3) non-profit or use a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. Applications that do not contain a valid EIN (Tax ID) number will not be considered. Organizations using a fiscal sponsor must review the Eligibility Criteria & FAQs for additional information and instructions. The Foundation accepts applications from public entities such as schools, universities, and libraries through an affiliated or supporting 501(c)(3) organization. Please see the Eligibility Criteria & FAQs for additional qualifying information and instructions.
- Be fully licensed by the State of California to provide child care for the age groups served.
- Be in full compliance with the applicable codes governing child care facilities. For licensing questions, please speak with the Child Care Duty Officer at Community Care Licensing by calling (805) 562-0400.
- Employ well-qualified staff appropriate for age groups served.
- Demonstrate financial sustainability with budgets aligned to program costs.
- Must currently serve children from economically disadvantaged families through established child care programs. Funds may be used to expand the number of slots existing in established programs. If a child’s placement changes during the scholarship period—such as infants/children in foster care or families experiencing homelessness—the scholarship may be reassigned to another eligible family.
- Apply funds solely for subsidizing program fees for current Santa Barbara County residents.
- Ensure children receiving scholarships have a working parent(s)/guardian(s). For the purposes of the Daniel Fund, the term “parents” includes both single and dual parents and the authorized representatives of children not in the care of their natural or legal parent(s).
- Ensure families contribute to the cost of the care. The family’s total cost must be based on the sliding fee scale adopted by the applicant agency.
- Provide a year-round child care program with minimal closures. The Daniel Grant Program is designed to support working parents therefore applicant agencies must operate at least during standard work 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. Additionally, the program must run year-round and cannot close for more than two consecutive weeks per year.
- Please note: Recipients of the Daniel Fund Child Care Grant must include in all advertisements and announcements that scholarships are available, funded by the William and Lottie Daniel Child Care Scholarship Fund and the Santa Barbara Foundation.
Important Dates
| April 15 & 16, 2025 |
Virtual Office Hours, By Appointment |
| April 30, 2025/5pm |
Application Deadline |
| May 1-14, 2025 |
Internal Review Period |
| May 15-23, 2025 |
Follow Up Questions |
| Mid-June 2025 |
Award Notification |
| July 31, 2026 |
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 Erika Schultz, Senior Administrative Assistant, at 805-880-9394 or ESchultz@sbfoundation.org.
Application Process
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. Please follow the instructions below on accessing, completing, and submitting your application to the foundation.
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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