UCSB AS
COASTAL FUND

Helping connect people and the environment by allocating funds to programs that
celebrate, explore, and protect the coastal ecosystems in and around the Santa Barbara area.

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Past Projects

Our Mission

The Coastal Fund is a student funded and student governed initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Its mission is to connect people and the environment by allocating funds to programs that celebrate, explore, and protect the coastal ecosystems in and around the Santa Barbara area.

As a funding organization, Coastal Fund seeks to acknowledge and lessen many of the inequities and power dynamics that have historically existed in the philanthropic sector and ensure that benefits are widely felt by the UCSB student body. We do this by lessening the barriers to apply for and receive funding, providing personalized guidance to applicants (including those who may have never written a grant before), ensuring that approved grants create equitably paid, accessible opportunities for students, and so on.

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Our Values

Community

We welcome collaboration between and within campus and community organizations, engagement with local stakeholders, and multigenerational perspectives.

Exploration

We believe people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds are explorers at heart, and we support both research of and physical access to our local coastal environment.

Joy

We celebrate the endless discoveries, surprises, and wonder that people experience when interacting with our coast, and we are inspired by those pursuing their unique passions.

Opportunity

We acknowledge the systemic barriers that exist in academia and environmental work and seek to address these barriers by prioritizing paid internships for students with limited experience and from underrepresented backgrounds.

Coastal Fund Beach Clean Up Org2

Protection

We cultivate resilient environments by restoring degraded coastal systems, mitigating impacts at the wild-urban interface, and safeguarding sufficient open space and biodiversity to maintain ecosystem function.

Trust

We honor mutually respectful, interdependent relationships with our applicants by clearly communicating our priorities and process, offering and accepting honest feedback, and being flexible to the changing needs of our grantees and community.

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