SANTA BARBARA EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Based on a complex formula, each one of California's almost 1000 school districts receives different funding per student. Santa Barbara Unified School District receives about $12,000 for each of its 12,700 students each year, while some bordering districts receive more than twice that per student. Realizing that it really does take a village to provide a quality education for every child, the Santa Barbara Education Foundation supports early childhood education, parent education, literacy, mentoring and tutoring, music, and even a Community Schools initiative through which schools become neighborhood hubs, offering after-school and evening programs for our children and their families.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Keep the Beat
Fundraising for instruments and other needs to ensure that the arts and music are included in our students' curriculum.
Summer Band Camp
Originally founded by Nick Rail in 1989, this well-established six-week program provides students ages 9-13 an opportunity to continue their musical learning in the summer and develop confidence in their musical endeavors. Campers are grouped by ability and taught by a host of professional musicians. Camp includes concert band as well as sectional instruction and ends with a performance so the students can show their family and friends what they’ve accomplished. Financial assistance is available to families who are not able to afford tuition, which gives all local children the chance to participate.
The Léni Fé Bland Performing Arts Partnership
In memory of avid performing arts supporter Léni Fé Bland, her dear friend Sara Miller McCune established a fund honoring Léni and her incredible generosity to the performing arts. The fund is dedicated to continuing Léni’s work by supporting and encouraging student participation and exposure to the amazing performing arts programs in Santa Barbara. Performances are tailored to the young audiences and paired with core curriculum content.
Summer STEAM Camp
SBEF is excited to offer Summer STEAM Camp for junior high students. In Robotics 1, students will build and program the mBot by Makeblock and the Airblock drone. In Robotics 2, students rise to the challenge of coding VEX robots with block and text programming with Vex C++. Student build teams will challenge each other to complete tasks with their robots. In Game Making for 3D and Virtual Reality, students will learn to code using the professional game engine, Unity. Campers will learn principles of game design and learn object control and game physics.
Summer Drumline Camp
The Summer Drumline Camp offers participants an opportunity to expand their understanding of the elements of music performance, rhythm reading, and develop proper playing technique. Camp participants explore all different types of percussion instruments that are used in large percussion ensembles, including snare, marching tenor, bass, hand percussion, and the melodic percussion.
Summer String Camp
Experienced string students fine-tune skills in a fun and supportive environment. Camp activities include ensemble playing, music-based games, and lots of time spent playing string instruments.
Teacher Grants
Santa Barbara Education Foundation funds grants once a year to support the purchase of much-needed, project-based supplies and tools, as well as to encourage the development of creative and innovative teaching in the Santa Barbara Unified School District through adopting new technologies, instructional tools, and field trips.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of free participants on field trips
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
The Léni Fé Bland Performing Arts Partnership
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Provided funding for 574 Santa Barbara High School students to attend special matinee performance of Macbeth. Provided the bussing for 1,400 students to attend a performance by Wynton Marsalis.
Number of free registrants to classes
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Get Ahead Program (GAP) offers students the chance to get ahead during the summer and make room in their schedules for electives such as music, art, and theater.
Number of paid registrants to classes
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Get Ahead Program (GAP) offers students the chance to get ahead during the summer and make room in their schedules for electives such as music, art, and theater.
Number of overall donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
This data is for all donations received by the Santa Barbara Education Foundation.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our goal is to provide our schools and our teachers with the tools they need to provide a world quality education to every student, especially those students who are falling through the cracks.
Our goal is to raise funding to provide mentoring and tutoring for high achieving, low income students; outreach workers for at-risk youth; mental health support for self-identified high school dropouts who want to break the chain of self-destructive habits; musical instruments; and more.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
SBEF raises funds to support its signature and community programs through individual, business, and foundation contributions, as well as funds raised through special events.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With a professional staff of two full-time, two part-time employees, SBEF works with community members, foundations, and local businesses to secure donations to support education programs for all 12,700 students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In the last fiscal year, SBEF raised over $2.3 million in support of programs that benefit all students in SBUSD schools. This is a great accomplishment and we are working to continue supporting outstanding programs for all 12,700 students in the school district.
This past November, SBEF awarded $100,000 in Teacher Grants to 64 teachers in the SBUSD. The funding went to innovative projects and much-needed supplies for classrooms.
Jackets were needed as students came back to school because windows had to be left open for proper ventilation. Many parents lost their jobs during the pandemic and could not afford to buy new jackets. Our Student-Fund-A-Need program raised over $55,000 for new jackets to be distributed to 11 elementary schools.
In 2020, we partnered with community members to provide WiFi to students in need. We raised over $200,000.00 for our SOAR Campaign (Student Online and Academic Resources) to ensure all students had access to their virtual classrooms, as well as take-home school supply kits.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
SANTA BARBARA EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Board of directorsas of 08/10/2023
Mat Gradias
Kruger Bensen Ziemer Architects
Term: 2020 - 2023
Hilda Maldonado
SBUSD District Representative
John Ogilvie
Elke Kane
Trusted Legal, LLP
Diana Ciontea
ProductPlan
Isis Castañeda
IV Coalition for Healthy Communities
Tisha Ford
Weber Logistics
Eder Gaona-Macedo
Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA
Bukola Ishola
OneDigital Health
Jeffrey Milem
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, UCSB
Warren Ritter
Common Table Foundation
Beth Rogers
Pacific Ranch Company
Donna Ronzone
Melissa White
WestEd
Wendy Sims-Moten
SBUSD District Representative
Veronica Binkley
SBUSD District Representative
Victoria Juarez
Stephanie Ramírez Zárate
Office of CA State Senator Monique Limón
Eva Maria Catalan
Future Leaders of America
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Not applicable -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/10/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.