The Santa Barbara Foundation has formed a partnership with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to streamline its administrative and back office functions and take advantage of SVCF’s expertise and leading edge technologies.
This new partnership is slated to begin in early 2014.
“This partnership is a game changer for the entire community foundation field,” said Ron Gallo, president and CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation. “Working with the human and technological resources of a $3.9 billion community foundation enables us to take advantage of opportunities that are unavailable to foundations our size.”
A determining factor in the Santa Barbara Foundation’s board decision to restructure and outsource some administrative functions is a trend within the social sector to collaborate and partner with organizations with similar or complimentary missions. Reducing overhead ultimately drives more impact to those served.
“We are doing exactly what we ask our nonprofit partners to do and today are doing that with more intentionality than ever before,” Gallo said. “It is just good governance for us to follow our own counsel.”
This collaboration will result in the transition of four positions within the Santa Barbara Foundation and will have no effect on the foundation’s investment in the community, which was slightly more than $25 million in 2012.
— Jessica Tade is the communications and marketing manager for the Santa Barbara Foundation.