Santa Barbara, Ventura Recognized Among America’s Top 10 Most Generous Places, Report Finds

Santa Barbara County’s giving spirit has been recognized in a worldwide wave of generosity in 2025, according to an annual report by online fundraising platform GoFundMe. 

Santa Barbara County was featured as one of the top 10 most generous counties in the U.S. on GoFundMe’s ‘2025 Year in Help’ report, according to the platform. 

Celebrating the honor, Santa Barbara County shared the news on social media on December 10, 2025.

“This honor reflects what we already know: there’s something truly special about living in a place where neighbors consistently step up for one another,” the County wrote on X.

📢 #SantaBarbaraCounty has been recognized by GoFundMe as one of the Top 10 Most Generous Counties in the U.S. for 2025!
✨This honor reflects what we already know: there’s something truly special about living in a place where neighbors consistently step up for one another. 🎉👏 pic.twitter.com/UQrkNFxlma

— Santa Barbara County (@countyofsb) December 10, 2025

More than 34,000 people living in Santa Barbara County donated to a GoFundMe this year, the fundraising platform states. Some of the most notable fundraisers in the Santa Barbara area include:

• Assist Joel’s Family During This Time: More than 400 people came together to raise more than $43,000 for the family of Joel Gonzales, a 29-year-old father and local bar manager who was struck and killed by a car while riding an electric scooter in May of 2025. 
• Support the Tomblin Family in Memory of Tayden: After a 17-year-old San Marcos High School student died from injuries sustained in a Thanksgiving weekend skateboarding accident, hundreds rallied to support his family, who shared that he donated his organs to those in need. The GoFundMe has already raised over $84,000, surpassing its $50,000 goal, with more donations continuing to come in.
• Honoring Joe & Support of his Family: The community came together to raise nearly $30,000 to support the family of Joseph Medina, the owner of The Birria Boyz taco truck after he died in a crash, leaving behind his partner and 7 children.
• The 2025 Wildfire Relief Fund is one of the top 15 most successful fundraisers ever on the platform, delivering over 7,400 grants to people directly impacted by wildfires.

In addition to Santa Barbara, Ventura also earned a spot in GoFundMe’s top 10 list as one of the most generous places in the U.S. Top 10 most generous places in the U.S., by percent of repeat donors:

• Los Angeles, CA
• Marin, CA
• Hampshire, MA
• Buncombe, NC
• Kings, NY
• Ulster, NY
• Chittenden, VT
• Santa Cruz, CA
• Ventura, CA
• Santa Barbara, CA

California Emerges as the Most Generous State

Overall in the U.S., California emerged as the most generous state, with the highest percentage of repeat donors. Five places in the state were featured among the most generous in the U.S. These are Marin, Santa Cruz, and Ventura, with Santa Barbara ranking 10th. 

An average of 1 in every 5 California households donated to a GoFundMe this year and the most generous Californian donated more than 750 times on GoFundMe to help others this year.

In the Golden State, the fastest-growing fundraiser categories were Charity and Competitions, while Animals, Education, and Communities remain top overall, behind Medical, Memorial, and Emergencies. Fundraisers for California businesses grew by 10% in the last year.

Top 10 most generous states in the U.S. by percent of repeat donors: 

• California
• Vermont
• Alaska
• Oregon
• New York
• Minnesota
• Maine
• Washington
• Massachusetts
• Utah

Global Crowdfunding Patterns

Globally, Ireland earned the top spot as the most generous country, for the seventh consecutive year, followed by the U.S. 

Most generous countries measured by donors per capita:

• Ireland
• U.S.
• U.K.
• Australia
• Canada
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Switzerland
• Austria
• Italy

How 2025 Fared in Fundraising

In a year marred by natural disasters that disrupted lives and livelihoods, communities stepped up and donated at unprecedented levels, GoFundMe said in a statement on December 9, 2025. 

January 10, 2025, was the most generous day of the year, with more than $8.4 million raised in 24 hours for those impacted by the wildfires across Los Angeles County. In total, 1 million donors contributed $265 million for the wildfire relief.

The platform helped raise $330 million for natural disaster relief, according to the report. 

On average, nearly 2.5 donations were made globally every second on the platform, GoFundMe said. People showed their support through more than 47 million donations to individual fundraisers and 32 million donations to nonprofits. 

A total of 79 million donations were made globally this year, with fundraisers shared on social media more than 72 million times, according to the report. 

Charitable causes were the fastest-growing fundraising categories this year, followed by monthly bills and faith-based needs.

Fundraisers for food banks surged past all other community causes, while fundraisers for volunteering jumped by three times. 

This year, GoFundMe launched Giving Funds, a modern take on a donor-advised fund that makes charitable donations more accessible by removing barriers to entry. 

“What we continue to see is that when needs grow, individuals and nonprofits respond with even more generosity,” said GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan.