Making a gift and not seeing your amount or gift frequency? Navigate to the blank space under "One-Time" or "Recurring Donation Amount" and enter your gift there. Or call us at 831.662.2033.
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 $251 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 2023 Community Grant awardees below.
Grant Opportunities
For Prevention, Early Intervention, Harm Reduction and Treatment of Opioid Related Harm
The County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency Behavioral Health Division contracted with Community Foundation Santa Cruz County to make grants for the prevention, early intervention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery of opioid related disorders and harm. A total of $810,000 will be distributed in Fiscal Year 2024/2025. Grantees will have a grant performance period of up to 2 years to spend the grant funds; funds must be expended by 6/30/2026.
Nonprofit organizations with service delivery in Santa Cruz County were eligible to apply. Find a list of grantees below.
Community Grant Program
This May we awarded nearly $2 million through our Community Grants cycle. The majority of these funds are restricted to benefiting children and seniors and are focused on education, youth development, end-of-life care, historic preservation, and human services. Find a list of our grantee-partners below.
Congratulations to our 2024 Community Grant Partners
Borina Special Places 2024
Diversity Partnership 2024
Compassionate Care 2024
Rise Together (Nov. 2023)
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.
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 accept them on a rolling basis. If you submitted a Community Grant proposal in March, that will serve as your Impact Profile and no further action is needed.
Click the link to view our Impact Profile FAQs.
Learn more about our recent grantmaking:
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.
