The Fund for Santa Barbara’s 2025 Movement Building Grant Cycles request for proposals is now open until 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 28; no exceptions.

The Fund for Santa Barbara supports grassroots community organizations at the forefront of combating inequities and dismantling systemic oppression.

“We prioritize funding groups and organizations leading movement-building efforts that harness community power to create transformative, systemic, and lasting social change,” the Fund for Santa Barbara said. “We believe significant social change requires broad participation and democratic control of social, political and economic institutions.

“Social conditions improve most when those who have been denied power and justice lead efforts to challenge and change the systems that have denied them access to equity and fairness.”

The fund defines social change as addressing the root causes, not symptoms, of social inequities — be they economic, environmental, political, or racial — to alleviate and dismantle the conditions that perpetuate and sustain them.

Partners that align with the mission to advance movements for economic, environmental, political, racial, and social change are invited to apply for the following grants:

Single-Year Movement Building Grant
Supports groups and organizations Santa Barbara County that are leading systemic change efforts. Applicants may request up to $10,000 in funding.

Multi-Year Movement Building Grant
Grant cycle will run concurrently with the Single-Year Movement Building Grant cycle and is available exclusively to pre-existing partners with a funding history of three or more funding cycles in recent history.

To meet the current moment, the fund said it is expanding its grantmaking portfolio.

Pre-existing partners may now apply for up to $20,000 per year for two years, pending staff screening for eligibility. Emailgrants@fundforsantabarbara.org to determine your eligibility.

To be eligible for any of the grant programs, applicants must meet Funding Guidelines and Priorities.

Due to the uncertainty currently facing the nation’s nonprofits sector, the Fund for Santa Barbara acknowledges the urgent need for streamlined, flexible and reliable support for frontline organizations.

“In response, we are revising its Movement Building Grant programs and implementing the following provisions, reaffirming its commitment to our core values and remaining steadfast in supporting the organizations and partners we serve,” the Fund for Santa Barbara stated.

Single-Year and Multi-Year Provisions

  1. Dedicated Support for Application Assistance: The fund is offering free virtual grant application workshops to help applicants understand funding guidelines, priorities, and demystify the application process.
  2. Updated Reporting Requirements: The fund has streamlined reporting by prioritizing annual informal conversations over traditional documentation, focusing on long-term outcomes, mutual learning, and collaboration to reduce administrative burden. Grantees will be asked to participate in these informal conversations in lieu of submitting traditional grant reports.
  3. Condensed Application: To allow our partners to focus their limited time on advancing progressive social change, The fund has also considerably condensed the grant application to further streamline the process and improve access for applicants.

Multi-Year Only Provision

  1. Leaning into Trust-Based Philanthropy: Effective immediately, pre-existing partner organizations that have previously been funded for three or more funding cycles will be able to submit a two-page maximum Letter of Intent to prioritize addressing critical issues and advancing social change over lengthy application processes.

Interested applicants are urged to attend one of three free grant application workshops, March 5, 6, and 11.

The workshops will help grant-seekers better understand the fund’s grant guidelines, and priorities, and provide assistance on the application process.

Spanish interpretation is available upon request by contacting grants@fundforsantabarbara.org.

For more information, to apply, and to register for the Grant Application Workshop, visit the Fund for Santa Barbara’s website.

Direct questions to Tania M. Reyes, Grant Programs manager, 805-962-9164, ext. 1105, or email grants@fundforsantabarbara.org.