The Santa Barbara Foundation (SBF) believes every child deserves safe, quality child care and early education. Child care is critical to a child’s development, helping them build learning foundations and healthy relationships.
In Goleta, the demand for child care services significantly outpaces supply, with many providers unable to meet the growing need. According to the 2024 Santa Barbara County Child Care Facilities Needs Assessment, the county faces a deficit of 9,371 licensed spaces for children ages 0-5. This shortage impacts Goleta, where local parents and providers are experiencing rising costs and constraints on available care options. Families in Goleta may struggle to find affordable, high-quality child care, which directly affects their economic mobility and the healthy development of their children.
The Santa Barbara Foundation’s Goleta Child Care Grant Program aims to address these critical challenges by increasing the capacity of child care providers and supporting the workforce that serves the city’s youngest residents. This year’s funding will focus on building resiliency in Goleta’s child care sector to better meet the needs of local children and families.
This grant program is made possible through Measure B, City of Goleta’s one-cent sales tax, approved by voters in 2022. This local revenue supports essential community services, including public safety, infrastructure, and initiatives that enhance the quality of life for Goleta residents. A portion of this funding has been dedicated to child care programs, reflecting the City’s commitment to accessible, affordable childcare and its importance to Goleta’s economic and social well-being.
Focus
Proposals should address one or more of the following areas:
Child Care Workforce Pathway & Skill Development
- Expand the pool of qualified child care professionals in Goleta, particularly infant and toddler educators.
- Strategies may include:
- Coaching and mentoring programs.
- Increasing the number of staff seeking infant/toddler qualifications.
- Collaboration with child care organizations, such as SBCEO Child Care Planning Council and Children’s Resource and Referral of SBC.
Supportive Organizational Business Models
- Strengthen organizational capacity through professional development and sustainability efforts.
- Strategies may include:
- Leadership development for child care center directors.
- Technical assistance in navigating facility grants, lease agreements, and facility design.
- Business model development to ensure long-term sustainability of providers.
Family Engagement
- Develop strategies for engaging families, considering language, composition, and culture.
- Strategies may include:
- Building family partnerships and fostering leadership.
- Supporting family involvement in children’s development and education.
Building Content-Specific Leadership
- Address critical areas such as:
- Fair and equitable access to child care.
- Effective strategies for working with English Language Learners (ELLs) and children with special needs.
- Promoting systems thinking to address emerging child care needs in Goleta.
Priorities
Priority will be given to organizations that:
- Increase the number of qualified child care professionals and foster ongoing professional development.
- Develop or strengthen organizational models that improve recruitment and retention of the child care workforce.
- Advance child health, nutrition, and social-emotional development through inclusive, language-rich learning environments.
- Implement or plan to adopt best practices in family engagement.
- Participate in or plan to join the Santa Barbara County’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) and/or NAEYC Accreditation.
- Align with community-wide child development goals, including collaboration with organizations like CAPC and the Child Care Planning Council.
Funding Amounts and Duration
The maximum award for Goleta Child Care Grants is $15,000. The grant review panel may reduce or increase award amounts at its discretion. The grant period is up to one year from the award date. Reporting requirements will be noted in the award letter.
Grant Limitations
Child Care grants are not for:
- Child care scholarships;
- General operating support;
- Services and programs that are not providing services for early care and education;
- Reimbursement for activities/purchases that occurred prior to the grant award date.
Please visit the Eligibility Criteria & FAQs for a complete list of what the foundation does not fund.
Eligibility Requirements
- Organizations must be certified as tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or use a fiscal sponsor with 501(c)(3) tax status. 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 affiliate or supporting 501(c)(3) organization. Please see the Eligibility Criteria & FAQs for additional qualifying information and instructions.
- An agency acting as the fiscal sponsor on behalf of a community collaborative may be eligible to submit proposals on behalf of its own agency needs as well as the needs of the collaborative. Please contact a member of the Community Engagement Team for more information and to discuss your specific situation.
- The child care provider receiving funding must be fully licensed by the State of California to provide childcare for the age groups it is serving and be in full compliance with the applicable codes governing childcare facilities. For licensing questions, please speak with the Child Care Duty Officer at Community Care Licensing by calling (805) 562-0400.
- If the applicant is not a child care provider, the organization must be providing a direct service either on behalf of a child care provider to the children or families of the provider or be providing professional development or a training activity to staff of the provider. In addition, there must be an MOU, service contract, formal agreement, or staff enrollment process in place prior to applying.
Application Process
The Santa Barbara Foundation utilizes an online application platform. Please follow the instructions below to access, complete and submit your application to the foundation.
To Register on SBF’s SmartSimple Platform
- Visit the Santa Barbara Foundation’s online platform at https://santabarbarafoundation.us-1.smartsimple.com/s_Login.jsp
- Click the “Register” button beneath “New to the System?” on the home page.
- Select “Nonprofit” when prompted to choose which option you are applying as.
- You will need to first search to verify if your organization is already in our system by typing the organization name into the box. If your organization name appears, proceed to section A below. If your organization name does not appear, proceed to section B below.
- If your organization name appears, you will select it and continue to fill in the contact information section to create a user profile for yourself. You will then receive an email with a link to activate your account and create your password.
- If your organization name does not appear, you will click on the link to “add a new organization”. You will be prompted to fill in the EIN number for your organization. This will create a search results list and you will select your organization from the list. You will complete the contact information section to create a user profile for yourself. You will then receive an email with a link to activate your account and create your password.
- 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.
- After creating your password, you will have access to creating an organization profile and to viewing the current funding opportunities. On the top right hand corner you will see the initial of your first name that you registered under. Please click there and a drop-down menu will open. Select “Organization Profile.” You will be directed to a page with four separate tabs: General, Organization Information, Capacity Building, and Board Information. You can save a draft of your organization profile at any time. Once your organization profile is complete, you must click “Profile Complete”. Please note that your organization profile but be completed in order to submit a grant application.
Application Submittal Procedures
- Applications will be accepted only through the online process via the Santa Barbara Foundation’s online platform at https://santabarbarafoundation.us-1.smartsimple.com/s_Login.jsp. Paper applications will not be accepted.
- To submit the completed and saved application, while on the “Submit” page, click the “I agree” box under Proposal Authorization. A “Submit” button will appear at the bottom of the page for you to click. If you attempt to submit the application with any errors you will receive a “validation” box listing the errors. Once the errors have been corrected, you may resubmit the application. Please note, some questions have character counts (indicated beneath the question). While you will be able to continue entering text beyond these character counts, you will not be able to submit your application. Please ensure you do not exceed the character count in order to successfully submit your application.
- You will receive an automatic email when your grant application has been received. Please retain this receipt for your files.
Important Dates
| June 4, 5, 2025 |
Virtual Office Hours, By Appointment |
| June 30, 2025 |
Application Deadline |
| July 2025 |
Review Period |
| Late July 2025 |
Follow Up Questions |
| August 2025 |
Award Notification |
| January 2026
May 2026 |
Midyear report / Site visits
Final Report Deadline |
Contact Information
our Director Beatriz Garcia at BGarcia@SBFoundation.org, or our Senior Administrative Assistant Erika Schultz at ESchultz@SBFoundation.org.
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