ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION
We are here to make a difference!
Since 1959, the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way has been serving the people of Santa Maria, Lompoc, and the Santa Ynez Valley as well as the residents of Buellton and Guadalupe. The name has changed over the years — from United Community Services Fund of Northern Santa Barbara County (a true mouthful!) in 1959 to the United Way of the Central Coast in 1977 to Northern Santa Barbara County United Way in 2006, which is still our name today.
Our organization initially served its health and human services mission by fundraising and re-granting to local agencies; however, in 2000 the United Way of America, the National Federation of local United Ways, adopted an expanded definition of philanthropy as evidenced by its Mission Statement: Improving people’s lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities. As a result, the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way transitioned in organizational focus and moved beyond fundraising to also organize community collaborations and respond to local needs by becoming a “partner in change”.
Who We Serve
We are now working with a broad range of individuals and organizations in order to identify and resolve pressing community issues. We serve a community of approximately 200,000 residents in Northern Santa Barbara County alone, but with the launch of our county-wide homelessness initiative, Home for Good SBC, we serve the entire county. That increases our population served to approximately 450,000 people. These people have different needs, but we fight for every member of every community to improve health, education, and financial stability.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
A Way of Life
Our mission is to live United by bringing caring people together to solve our community’s toughest challenges.
We have an impact!
THERE IS SO MUCH MORE WE WILL ACCOMPLISH WITH YOU!
- Expand the Imagination Library and introduce a family engagement tool designed to enhance kindergarten readinessLook for the Ready4K app to launch in 2022
- Launch Literacy 2.0 and continue expanding financial stability with a financial literacy program for young children.Get involved and learn more on this site!
- We will continue assisting in the efforts to address homelessness using proven strategies to break the cycle.Putting an end to the cycle of homeless - housed - homeless, over and over again.
- Help the AmeriCorps program create more outreach and assistance to veterans and their families.Build systems for housing retention to break the cycle of homelessness.
- We can continue Product Philanthropy to distribute millions of dollars of products.Distributing household goods, clothing, and other basic needs essentials.
- We can continue to conduct Workplace Campaigns raising tens of thousands of dollars to assist frontline agencies.Supported by dozens of national corporate partners, from Best Buy to Wells Fargo,
That’s why we ask you to join us today – to support our efforts to expand our advocacy, outreach, and impact.
See all the ways you can donate
Every bit counts!
FRAMEWORK
The Equity Framework
The United Way Equity Framework, was developed to build the capacity of United Way to integrate an explicit equity lens throughout their work/core business practices in the Modern United Way.
At the foundation of the framework is a shared definition and vision of equity, and 6 levers which United Ways can employ to advance equity:
- Community mobilization and engagement
- Communications and awareness building
- Fundraising, resource allocation and grantmaking
- Policy and advocacy
- Local capacity building
- Data