Racial Equity Fund of The County of Santa Barbara Grant

Racial Equity Fund of The County of Santa Barbara Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Fund for Santa Barbara
Amount: Up to US $100,000
Last Updated: December 08, 2025

Summary

The Racial Equity Fund of Santa Barbara supports initiatives that address racial injustice and promote equity. Born from grassroots activism, it allocates funds to strengthen organizations focused on anti-racism and systemic change. With a commitment of $500,000 from the County, the fund emphasizes collaboration with marginalized communities to foster participation in civic life. This ongoing support aims to reverse historical oppression and enhance capacity within the community, ensuring sustainability and impact for years to come.

Overview

Background The Racial Equity Grant of the County of Santa Barbara County (REG) is an initiative that came directly from grassroots organizing by Black femme leaders in Santa Barbara County who demanded that the County of Santa Barbara invest in the Black community in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing racial justice movement. Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors (“the County”) passed a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, made a commitment to racial justice, and pledged $500,000 to begin to address equity issues in the county. Roughly half of the funds were allocated to internal/institutional County equity development with the remaining funds to be distributed through the Fund for Santa Barbara’s (“The FUND”) participatory grantmaking process in collaboration with the County of Santa Barbara. The FUND has a long history through its grant making program of supporting historically marginalized communities to be full participants in our community’s social, civic, and economic life. This funding program aims to build capacity, expand, and/or stabilize historically marginalized organizations in Santa Barbara County. Since the establishment of the grant program, the County has allocated funding on an annual basis to ensure its sustainability. Mission To invest in and strengthen organizations that address anti-racism through systems change strategies in Santa Barbara County. This fund aims to effect the culture, policy, and systems change necessary to advance racial equity and justice, and reverse the legacy of slavery and effects of racism in Santa Barbara County.

Eligibility

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Application Details

Racial Equity Grant of the County of Santa Barbara
The Racial Equity Grant of the County of Santa Barbara County (REG) is an initiative that came
directly from grassroots organizing by Black femme leaders in Santa Barbara County who
demanded that the County of Santa Barbara invest in the Black community in the wake of the
killing of George Floyd and the ongoing racial justice movement. Santa Barbara County Board of
Supervisors (“the County”) passed a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, made a
commitment to racial justice, and pledged $500,000 to begin to address equity issues in the
county. Roughly half of the funds were allocated to internal/institutional County equity
development with the remaining funds to be distributed through the Fund for Santa Barbara’s
(“The FUND”) participatory grantmaking process in collaboration with the County of Santa
Barbara. The FUND has a long history through its grant making program of supporting
historically marginalized communities to be full participants in our community’s social, civic,
and economic life. This funding program aims to build capacity, expand, and/or stabilize
historically marginalized organizations in Santa Barbara County. Since the establishment of the
grant program, the County has allocated funding on an annual basis to ensure its sustainability.
This program is funded and supported by the County of Santa Barbara and administered in
collaboration with the Fund for Santa Barbara.
MISSION
To invest in and strengthen organizations that address anti-racism through systems
change strategies in Santa Barbara County. This fund aims to effect the culture, policy,
and systems change necessary to advance racial equity and justice, and reverse the
legacy of slavery and effects of racism in Santa Barbara County.
FUNDING GUIDELINES
Actively support anti-discrimination based on race, sex/gender, age, religion, language spoken,
or immigration status;
Actively support communities marginalized by power structures to engage in dialogue and
actions that seek to counter social injustice;
Actively work to improve the rights of workers and their families whose living conditions have
been marginalized;
Promote the cultural life of underserved communities and support the activities of cultural
workers;
Promote self-determination and leadership development in low-income and disenfranchised
communities;
Promote Global peace and organize locally for just policies;
Work on building coalitions to enhance improving environmental justice and address climate
change, especially organizing a constituency usually without access to decision-makers;

Engage in collaborative action and coalition-building to strengthen movement ecosystems;
Work against community violence and actively support recovery and restorative justice
activities and initiatives;
Operate in a democratic manner, responsive to and directed by the constituency being served.
PRIORITIES
Guidelines: Does this project have the potential to create or advance social, economic, political,
and/or environmental change? Please refer to FUND Guidelines
Priorities: Are there elements of Community Organizing, Advocacy, Direct Action, Base-building,
Coalition-Building, or Legal Strategy?**
Access to Funding: Does this project lack access to funding? Would the project go forward
without support from the Fund?
Critical Timing/Need: Does the organization have the capacity to reach its social change goals?
Are the key players familiar with other organizations in the same field to further the goal of
movement building?
Impact of Funds: How clear is the budget outline? How well does the budget support the
project’s social change goals? Will funding help start-up the organization, stabilize the
organization, and/or leverage other funding sources?
Regional Equity: Will this project help the GMC and The County achieve its objective of
providing equity in funding throughout Santa Barbara County?
WE DO NOT FUND
Political campaigns that support a candidate or a political party;
Private (vs. public) interests;
Direct labor organizing;
Direct support to individuals;
Building improvements;
Capital ventures, i.e. machines, vehicles, etc.;
Equipment, i.e. office equipment, tools, etc;
Projects located outside of Santa Barbara County.
**REG funding cannot be used for lobbying, legal strategy or 501(c)4 work
FUNDING STRATEGY
This fund aims to effect the culture and policy for systemic change necessary to
advance racial equity and justice and reverse the legacy of slavery and the effects of
racism in Santa Barbara County. The purpose of the REG is to provide organizational
capacity assistance to:
1.Strengthen the ecosystem of diverse, anti-racism organizations in our community that share a
common goal to address the cultural and systemic effects of racism.
2.Increase active participation of historically marginalized communities to influence civic
matters that impact our community at large.
3.Develop the pipeline to uplift historically marginalized leaders to positions of decision-making
and influence.

3.
4.Increase and sustain investment to strengthen organizations led by historically marginalized
leaders who have lacked access to capital.
5.Address and work to change systemic negative narratives about the legacy of slavery in the
community.
6.Establish and advance organizational capacity in organizations led by historically marginalized
leaders in the following areas:
a.Leadership development
b.Advocacy, policy change, legal analysis, and research
c.Strategic communications
d.Alliance and coalition building
e.Organizational development
f.Community engagement and organizing
g.Innovation and continuous learning
h.Develop organizational and programmatic objectives, conduct evaluation, and assess
outcomes.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Must be a historically marginalized organization in Santa Barbara County
i.e. Must serve community members directly harmed by racist policies and marginalized by
systemic racism
Must include as a core mission of the organization the goal of addressing systemic racism
Work must be ongoing; new initiatives will not be considered
Projects must take place in Santa Barbara County
Must have a Tax ID Number, Employer Identification Number (EIN), or a fiscal sponsor
Must have an organizational bank account (or a fiscal sponsor)
PROCESS
Funding availability and grant cycle RFP dependent on County Board of Supervisors fiscal
budget approval.
Maximum request: up to $100,000
Length of funding: 12 months
In 2024, the County amended the grant terms, establishing a grant duration of 12 months.
Questions
Contact: grants@fundforsantabarbara.org