Youth Making Change Grants

Youth Making Change Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Fund for Santa Barbara
Amount: Up to US $3,000
Last Updated: September 14, 2025

Summary

The Youth Making Change Grants program, offered by The Fund for Santa Barbara, empowers youth aged 12-24 to lead projects that address social issues in Santa Barbara County. With a maximum request of $3,000, these grants support youth-led initiatives that promote social justice and community engagement. The program fosters leadership and philanthropy skills among teens while ensuring their voices are central to the projects. Since 2008, over $350,000 has been awarded to support impactful youth-led projects.

Overview

About Us Mission: Advancing progressive change by strengthening movements for Economic, Environmental, Political, Racial, and Social Justice. The Fund for Santa Barbara (est. 1980) is a non-traditional community foundation that supports organizations and groups working for progressive social change in Santa Barbara County. The FUND is dedicated to helping find solutions to current and emerging social problems and issues that challenge our society as a whole. We understand that social conditions improve most dramatically when those who have been denied power and justice lead on their own behalf to confront, challenge, and change the conditions that have denied them access to justice and equity. Fund for Santa Barbara Grants In traditional philanthropic giving, the people who control the wealth almost always control the distribution of that wealth. Our non-traditional grant making process sets us apart from other foundations in that our Grant Making Committee, made up of community activists and leaders, determines the allocation of funding. Our GMC is a collection of individuals from different life experiences and perspectives, giving them a unique pulse on the needs of the community. Youth Making Change Grants Offered in the Fall Maximum request: $3,000 for youth-led projects Length of funding: 6 months Youth Making Change (YMC) is a teen-led grant-making program that provides young people with the opportunity to engage directly in organized philanthropy (grant giving).​ There are two YMC Boards — one meets in Santa Maria and the other in Santa Barbara — and both are led by teens, ages 13-19. Each board gives out $15,000 per year in grants to youth-led projects that impact young people in Santa Barbara County. They create and conduct an entire grant cycle and then share with their communities what they learned as grant-makers and philanthropists. Each YMC board is led by two Youth Facilitators, each a previous YMC board member. Facilitators assist the board in meeting their objectives by providing an experienced perspective on the grant-making process. Since 2008, YMC has awarded more than $350,000 to over 165 youth-led groups throughout Santa Barbara County. The goal is for board members to learn about philanthropy and grant-making as they discuss and analyze current issues facing young people in Santa Barbara County. Ultimately, board members will build their personal and community connections and develop important leadership skills such as meeting planning, meeting facilitation, outreach, and public speaking, program planning, proposal evaluation, and individual and group decision-making.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Basic Project Requirements:Must be youth-led (age 12-24) Youth are leaders in all aspects of the project, including the writing of this grant application. Must meet the Funding Guidelines Must operate in a democratic manner, responsive to and directed by the group of people you aim to serve; Teens in the community must benefit from your project, not just the planning teamMust attempt to fix a problem affecting youth by providing a solutionMust be located in Santa Barbara CountyMust have a sponsoring organization, such as a school or community group with a Tax ID Number or Employer Identification Number (EIN) and an organizational bank accountBudget and Planned Activities must fall within the funding timeframe for which the proposal is submittedMust not be a currently funded grantee (Racial Equity Fund & Mickey Flacks Social Housing Fund grantees excluded)Guidelines (at least 1):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.

Ineligibility

We do NOT FundPolitical campaigns that support a candidate or a political party;Private (vs. public) interests;Direct labor organizing;Projects providing direct services without a social change advocacy component;Direct support to individuals;Building improvements;Capital ventures, i.e. office equipment, machines, or vehicles;Projects located outside of Santa Barbara County. YMC money CANNOT be used for:Projects that are planned & led solely by adults;Projects that are designed solely to raise money for your group;Trips/activities that take place outside of Santa Barbara County and include NO follow-up in the county;Stipends or salaries for adult allies;Overhead (general) costs of the sponsor organization (Overhead costs are things like the gas bill, the phone bill, or monthly rent)