• Tony Blair addresses the Santa Barbara Community
  • Engaged Preschool Teaching
  • CPR during a Masters of Disaster Lesson
  • School Food
  • Orfalea Early Childhood Director's Retreat
  • Jr. Chef Day
  • Kids Cook
  • Orfalea Outdoor Classroom Project
  • Local Harvest
  • Culinary Boot Camp
  • Paul speaks with President Bill Clinton
  • James Lee Witt speaks to Santa Barbara County
  • Learning Outdoors
  • Orfalea Early Childhood Directors Retreat
  • Main School Family Resource Center- Carpinteria, CA
  • Montana Yellowstone Expeditions
  • MYE Students hiking in Montana
  • Assemblyman Pedro Nava attends Preparedness Event
  • MYE Students at the Beach
  • Santa Barbara County Emergency Operations Center
  • Our Local Agriculture
  • Students eat food that they made
  • A Jr. Chef peels her tomato
  • A Jr. Chef peels his carrot
  • Playtime at local Family Resource Center
  • Playtime at local Family Resource Center
  • MYS Students visit the farm
  • Children at the farm
  • The Orfalea Family and Mr. Tony Blair
  • Getting creative outdoors
  • Junior Chefs checking out their final outcome
  • MYE Student having a good time
  • Student admiring local produce

Granting Process

Three times a year, through a competitive grant-making process, the Orfalea Foundations review eligible applications for funding and issue grant awards. Please read our Submitting a Letter section to determine if your nonprofit agency is qualified to apply.

Our grant cycles begin with a Letter of Inquiry screening process, continue with an online grant application process, and end with a Board of Directors review meeting that determines, by majority vote, the final dollar amount and terms of each award. The process is designed to objectively and efficiently review the merits of every proposal we receive on the basis of our stated focus areas, goals, and available funds.

Beginning in 2009, our giving will focus to a larger extent on our s’Cool Food, Aware and Prepare: A Community Partnership to Strengthen Emergency and Disaster Readiness, and the Outdoor Classroom Preschool Initiatives. In the current economic climate, the Orfalea Foundations are not exempt from feeling the effects of the economy. Thus you will learn about changes in our grantmaking in the pages that follow. These include applying greater scrutiny in seeking alignment with our initiatives and.

In addition, a large part of Orfalea Foundations grant-making is carried out through partnerships with organizations which share our passion and vision for initiatives that positively impact our community. Our recent collaboration with the Santa Barbara Foundation, detailed below, is an excellent example of such a partnership.