The Social Justice Fund for Ventura County (SJF) is only four years old and yet is already making great strides in addressing the county’s chronic social issues, thanks to its many generous benefactors. In addition to nearly 100 active donors that seed its Giving Circle with grantmaking dollars, numerous foundations have also been vital contributors. Recently the SJF has received several generous grants that will allow it to grow organizational capacity, increase education and outreach, and improve operations.

The Marisla Foundation provided a one-year $20k grant to expand the SJF education program for the Giving Circle members and donors, grassroots organizations and the broader community. This grant will fund a Ventura County critical issues report, as well as a guided tour for Giving Circle members to explore the social and environmental conditions in the county in order to make good grantmaking decisions.

The McCune Foundation, an original and ongoing supporter of SJF, has recently provided an additional $25k grant for operations and capacity building. Sage Publications presented $2k for staffing and program costs.

The California Endowment provided a two-year $127,575 grant towards capacity building, which will include, among other goals, developing outreach material, providing professional trainings to grassroots community groups, evaluating the social justice issues through the impact on health in low income communities in Ventura County, and designing a participatory evaluation process.

Finally, the Irvine Foundation has provided a three-year challenge grant of $400k to build an endowment fund for the long term sustainability of SJF. The Irvine Challenge funds will be directed towards meeting the SJF commitment of granting a minimum of $50k annually to organizations in the community who are on the cutting edge of creating community change.

The SJF is a social change grantmaking and education program established by a group of community leaders and donors. Its grantmaking, hosted by the Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF), is conducted through an annual Giving Circle of Ventura County residents which has distributed $100,000 in grants, The SJF provides education and grants to grassroots organizations working to change the root causes of some of Ventura County’s most pressing social, economic and environmental issues.

The objective of SJF is to make systemic change by taking a long-term view in addressing the chronic problems of society. Its vision is to be a sustainable County resource for educating and empowering the community and granting funds to support principles of fairness, equal treatment, human rights, and having a voice in decisions that affect the entire community.