Local Donations with Low Overhead

Mental Wellness Center 617 Garden St 93101. They ordinarily provide a place for homes and homeless mentally ill individuals to gather M-F 9:30-3:00. Along with Social Services and counseling, they provide a lunch daily. They are Still providing lunch daily, and I know they'd really appreciate donations. Of course the lunches are brown bag now, Social distancing a must, and no eating on the premises.

find a family and secretly help them

805 Undocufund!

Check out the Family Service Agency (FSA) website. FSA works throughout Santa Barbara County to provide for the basic needs of families and seniors, including access to food, shelter, and mental health services. It is currently working collaboratively with government agencies, United Way and other local charities to help meet the needs of the community during this crisis.

Food Bank for sure! They are very efficient and there is a tremendous need right now, kids who normally get school meals at home with parents who have either been laid off or can’t afford to take time off, but have to take care of their children. And others, of course—number of people they are serving has skyrocketed with this pandemic. 4 stars on Charity Navigator year after year.

The United Way is partnering with several local philanthropists to provide funding for child care services to essential workers in our community. This not only helps the essential workers, but the BUSINESSES they work for, the child care centers where their children are enrolled, AND our community to stay operational. It is a win-win-win-win! Please donate to the Emergency Child Care Initiative fund!!

We've also donated to Food Bank and Direct Relief during this pandemic. I'm sure there are other effective charities as well.

OK, we just donated a good sum to Food Bank. We were happy to help people in this time of stress. But I simply cannot understand the compulsion that money should only be given to 'local' charities. Santa Barbara is more affluent than most places. We should share as we are able. And please remember that when you pay taxes one major purpose of that is to provide for needy people all over the state and nation. Public (e.g., government) charity (ridiculed by right wing propaganda as 'welfare' or 'dole') is critical to our souls and our well being as conscientious humans.

Food from the Heart is amazing. They provide healthy, nutritious weekly meals for chronically ill residents of SB. I believe they only have a handful of paid staff, if that -- Executive Director, awesome chef, and kitchen help. Their operations are well organized, safe, and necessary. Due to the nature of their recipients, they have always been on top of sanitation and safety, now even more so. I'm an active volunteer there and just made a donation myself. Thank you for considering them!

The Unity Shoppe for sure. Very low overhead and no corporate master that diverts local funds. All stays here.

At the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County 91% of donations go directly to programs that provide healthy food to local families, seniors and individuals. We're proud of that. Your donation are used wisely, especially now!

My theatre group is putting on Oliver at the lobero in October. You can donate here to help underprivileged youth https://www.theadderleyschool.org/donate

I just sent Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network a $100 check. Let's not forget about our fellow Earthlings during this crisis. OP: My tip for you (and others donating) is not to use any form of payments system (PayPal, Venmo, etc) that charges a fee ------- especially if you don't want fees deducted.

NEVER donate to Goodwill. Their CEO makes almost $1mil a year whereas the CEO of Salvation Army takes a $13,000 annual paycheck. American Heart Assoc CEO gets over $2mil/year.

Direct Relief International helps locally as well as around the world. They are very efficient with the money they receive.

Shelterbox and Direct relief are great

I use CharityNavigator to determine where I donate my money. It shows what percentage goes to their programs and what goes to admin/salaries, etc. FoodBank SBC has 90% of funds going to their programs. United Way SBC has a bigger chunk towards cost with 75% going to programs.