Grant Opportunities
Our Donors’ Generosity Leads to Opportunity and Impact
Since 1982, we have had the privilege of stewarding charitable gifts from generous locals who wanted to see our community thrive. Together with our donors, we’ve awarded a total of $279 million to community organizations to date.
Our Mission, Vision, and Values drive our actions
Our Mission
To bring together people, ideas, and resources to inspire philanthropy and accomplish great things.
Our Vision
To make Santa Cruz County thrive for all who call it home, now and in the future.
Our Values
Accelerating Solutions. Building Trust. Advancing Opportunities.
Our Grantmaking Overview
Our Grantmaking is guided by a set of eight principles we apply in awarding funds. Our approach is to provide flexible funding to organizations addressing pressing local issues and creating lasting positive impact. We prefer making grants to support the general operations of nonprofits. We continue to work with leaders of color to make sure that our grant funds are addressing historic and current inequities. You can view our 2025 Community Grant awardees below.
Grant Opportunities
Community Grant Program
This May, we awarded $2 million through our Community Grants cycle. The majority of available funds were restricted to benefiting children and seniors and are focused on education including in the arts and environment, end-of-life care, historic preservation, and human services.
We continue to offer flexible grants that let awardees apply funds where most needed as they address pressing challenges and help make Santa Cruz County a place where all can thrive.
Eligibility information for the 2026 Community Grant cycle will be released next February.
Our Priorities
Our Community Grants are made from endowed funds that have been given to the Foundation over four decades. This year, those funds provided funding to support:
- 33% for Seniors, End-of-Life Care & Historic Preservation
- 30% for Youth & Education
- 12% for Environment
- 8% for Health & Human Services
- 7% for Women & Girls initiatives
- 6% for Arts, Culture & History
- 2% for LGBTQ+ specific causes
- 1% Community Development
When we consider Community Grant proposals, we look at factors including alignment with our funding areas (above), the fit our funding would have in the financial picture, the organization's ability to produce compelling outcomes, and how they advance equity in Santa Cruz County, among other things.
Impact Profile
We work actively to bridge donors’ interests and local nonprofits’ work to address our county’s needs. To stay accessible year-round and help make everyone’s work efficient, we offer a tool to share a profile of your organization’s impact with us and our donors.
Completing an Impact Profile is not a grant request. But its a chance to provide our donors the answers they're most curious to learn. To create one for your organization, first download the Impact Profile Instructional Worksheet. To qualify for an Impact Profile, your organization must be based in Santa Cruz County and have a minimum of one full year of demonstrated programmatic impact.
After reviewing the worksheet, visit our portal to access the Impact Profile form. Don't have a login to our portal? Sign up here.
Your responses will be collected in our online form and made available to donors as they consider grants from their donor-advised fund. We review them on a rolling basis.
Click the link to view our Impact Profile FAQs.
Learn more about our recent grantmaking:
Congratulations to our 2025 Community Grant Partners
Here to Help
Kevin Heuer
Questions?
Contact our Director of Engagement & Impact Kevin Heuer at 831.662.2030 or kheuer@cfscc.org
Grantee Partners
Looking to submit a grant report or new application? Login here.
