In pursuit of our goals, the Foundation's Directors are guided by the following principles in their funding deliberations and decisions.

The Foundation seeks to:
		Support organizations that have a strong community base, that see their work in the context of whole systems and causes, and that exhibit creative, solution-oriented approaches to addressing critical issues, and that focus on community capacity-building and creating social justice
		Support organizations that empower the economically and politically marginalized.
		Search out opportunities to leverage its resources through collaborative initiatives with other funders and government programs
		Concentrate funding within Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties - or to initiatives that offer practical assistance to community organizations in the two counties
		Provide funding to organizations that commit to assess the impact of their work and to make available data on the results of their efforts
		Support creative grassroots programs which focus on community capacity-building – specifically efforts that create social change, rather than individual empowerment or development of leadership skills in individuals, except where such training is directly linked to community action and participants are committed to remaining in the community and using their skills to affect public policy

Our primary interest is supporting creative grassroots programs which focus on community capacity building. 
We fund efforts that create a social or societal change, rather than individual empowerment or development of leadership skills in individuals, except where such training is directly linked to community action and participants are committed to remaining in the community.