Giving Tuesday is a global day of generosity, but here in Santa Barbara County, it’s a chance to make a personal, local difference. At Noozhawk, we believe in the power of community and the impact that even small acts of kindness can have when directed close to home.
Our Good for Santa Barbara County Nonprofit Section is designed to connect you with local organizations doing vital work. Whether it’s a donation, a few hours of your time, or simply helping spread the word, your contribution matters.
Explore our Giving Guide today and help brighten the season for those who need it most!
In this interview, Noozhawk spoke with Laurel Phillips, Director at Santa Barbara Birth Center, to learn more about the nonprofit’s vision of providing education, support and services to pregnant people and their families during the childbearing years, working within the midwifery model of care and in collaboration with the greater medical community.
Santa Barbara Birth Center
Question: What is the name of your nonprofit, and what is its mission?
Answer: The Santa Barbara Birth Center is a non-profit corporation established in 2009 to provide education, support and services to pregnant people and their families during the childbearing years, working within the midwifery model of care and in collaboration with the greater medical community. Pregnant people are attended by the same midwives throughout their pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum, assuring the highest-quality continuity of care.
We consider pregnancy, birth, and postpartum to be normal, healthy, transformative life events requiring medical intervention only as necessary. Our model includes frequent hour-long prenatal visits, midwife attendance during birth in our comfortable birth center or at home, and five postpartum visits including four home visits in the first two weeks after birth. About 85% of pregnancies are low-risk and a fit for our care, and our goal is to make this accessible to everyone who wants to join us.
Q: How long has your organization been serving the community, and who founded it?
A: We welcomed our first baby – weighing in at almost 11 pounds! – in October 2011. Since then, about 1,200 families have received midwifery care with us, with most returning for their second and sometimes even fourth or fifth babies. We were founded by our director Laurel Phillips LM along with current board members Alice Levine CNM and Janet Spargur through a community fundraising effort with key initial support from the James Bower Foundation.
Q: What motivated the creation of your nonprofit?
A: People kept asking, “Where’s the birth center in Santa Barbara?” Many families want midwifery care but aren’t sure home birth is right for them. They want the slower-paced, connected, one-on-one approach midwives bring, while still having access to a dedicated space that’s all set up for birth. We were the right group at the right time to make it happen. After a few years of searching and fundraising, we found our sweet home at 2958 State St – close to the hospital, with great parking and a persimmon tree! The Birth Center is more than a place to give birth- it fills a gap as a community hub for classes, a birth resource center where people can come with questions of all kinds to find guidance and direction.
Forming as nonprofit was essential because it allows us to raise funds for birth subsidies. This excellent care with wonderful outcomes ought to be available to everyone who wants it. Commercial insurance isn’t structured with time-intensive midwifery care in mind. Midwives spend about ten times the time with a client than insurance reimburses for. So we structure our fees outside the insurance model to keep our doors open and must raise money to help bridge the gap. To date, our clients have accessed over $250,000 in financial assistance.
Q: How is your nonprofit primarily funded, and what are its biggest needs right now?
A: We have always had a very lean budget. The facility fee for birth center births is our sole commercial income. Beyond that, we rely on grants and donations. In a typical year, income from births barely covers our overhead, and fundraising goes toward subsidies for families who need financial assistance. Many people want this care and simply cannot pay out of pocket. We always have a waitlist for financial aid.
We also have needs for specifics like equipment purchases, plumbing and furniture upgrades, and projects like a promotional video.
Right now we’re positioning ourselves for growth to serve a larger part of our population, which may soon include a capital campaign to expand our clinical capacity- stay tuned!
Your Giving Tuesday donation immediately moves a family from the waitlist to knowing they can pay for care.
Q: What types of events or programs do you run to engage your community and raise funds?
A: We have free offerings to the public including twice a month drop-in prenatal groups for pregnant folks, twice month postpartum groups for parent and baby, free drop-in breastfeeding support groups, and a free lending library of high quality books on pregnancy, parenting, breastfeeding, nutrition, and more.
These are sustained by donations which can be given anytime through our website. Also, our annual Mother’s Day Online Auction offers amazing opportunities like SB Bowl packages, high end jewelry, restaurant and wine packages and yoga and pilates memberships. Every dollar raised goes toward making midwifery care accessible to more families.
Q: How is your team structured? Have there been any major changes in your operations since you started?
A: We have a hard working, wonderful and skilled team of four licensed and certified midwives, five midwife assistants, a director, assistant director, office manager, and board of directors. We always have two midwives on call with the goal of having two midwives and an assistant at every birth. This structure has proven sustainable over time, which means we can keep serving families for decades to come.
Q: How can people get involved with your nonprofit or volunteer?
A: We welcome volunteers for administrative support at the birth center and maintain an eager waiting list. For those interested in birthwork as a career, we recommend exploring doula training first – it’s a great introduction to the lifestyle and sleep deprivation involved before committing to midwifery school!
Q: Can you share a fun fact or little-known detail about your nonprofit that would surprise people?
A: Midwives are independent primary care providers licensed to care for you and your baby from first prenatal visit through six weeks postpartum. We order and draw labs in-house and keep emergency equipment on-site (oxygen, IVs, medications, and emergency equipment for common birth complications). When higher-level care is needed, we’re five minutes from Cottage Hospital with established transfer protocols.
Here’s what really sets midwifery care apart: families under our care have much lower rates of c-sections and NICU admissions and higher breastfeeding rates than the general population.
It’s a model rooted in a trusting and respectful connection between provider and client, education and informed consent, and honoring the normal physiologic process of birth. We believe this kind of care should be the standard, not the exception. In fact, the ten other wealthiest nations in the world have better maternal outcomes than the US- and have midwives as the default care providers for the majority of women. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends midwives as an evidence-based approach to reducing maternal mortality.
Q: Could you share a story or two about individuals whose lives have been positively impacted by your organization?
A: One client who has received care from us for five births including subsidy support shared: “I felt genuinely cared for in ways that went beyond traditional medical checkups. The personal connection, tailored advice, and continuous support were invaluable, allowing me to feel empowered and supported throughout each pregnancy and birth experience. This care has not only contributed to the health of my babies and me but has also fostered a deeply positive, confidence-building experience as a mother.”
Q: Can you highlight one immediate goal and one long-term vision your nonprofit aims to achieve in the next year?
A: Being accessible to those who can’t pay out of pocket has always been our goal. Short-term, we’re becoming contracted providers with CenCal (Medi-Cal in Santa Barbara County). We’ve already received grant support from them to serve a small cohort of CenCal patients, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to more broadly serve our community at a time when options are decreasing.
Long-term, we’re exploring contracting at least the facility portion of our fee with commercial insurance so families with private insurance have better access too. Insurance is getting more expensive, and we hope the insurance industry will recognize how much the midwifery model saves in healthcare dollars through prevention of interventions. We want to see more midwives and more birth centers be able to sustain this model in California and across the country.
Birth Centers are closing everywhere at a time when they should be opening. It will take time for our healthcare model to change. For now it will take the support of our communities to bridge the gap.
Click here to support Santa Barbara Birth Center’s mission to provide education, support and services to pregnant people and their families during the childbearing years, working within the midwifery model of care and in collaboration with the greater medical community.
Check out Noozhawk’s Guide to Giving for a full list of nonprofits to donate to this giving season.
If you would like to include your nonprofit in our Good for Santa Barbara section and Giving Guide click HERE.