Aware & Prepare: A Community Partnership to Strengthen Emergency & Disaster Readiness is an Orfalea Fund initiative in partnership with James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services (SBC OES), and local foundations.
Our mission is to create a community partnership to strengthen capabilities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency or disaster in Santa Barbara County.
- Project Background
- Seven Priority Themes and Funding Areas
- Recent Accomplishments and Next Steps
- Screening for Fit
- Submitting a Letter of Inquiry
- Completing the Grant Application
- Board Review
- On-going Grantee Evaluation
- Report
- Contact Us
Project Background (back to top)
As part of its focus on critical community needs, the Orfalea Fund has made a long-term commitment to strengthening emergency preparedness in Santa Barbara County. This commitment began in response to the Santa Barbara Civil Grand Jury report released in May 2006 that examined several key areas of disaster preparedness and identified significant areas for improvement to enhance the county’s ability to respond to a large-scale emergency or catastrophic disaster.
James Lee Witt Associates, an emergency preparedness and crisis management consulting firm, was retained as an objective third-party source to conduct an assessment of emergency preparedness within the Santa Barbara County Operational Area. As a result of this assessment, JLWA captured seven priority themes for emergency preparedness improvement within Santa Barbara County.
Seven Priority Themes and Funding Areas (back to top)
During a public forum in January 2008, the Orfalea Fund in partnership with James Lee Witt Associates and the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services presented the seven priority themes for emergency preparedness improvement within the Santa Barbara County Operational Area.
- Public Education and Awareness. Strategies and programs to help the general public become better prepared for a disaster, including programs that specifically target vulnerable populations (including the disabled, elderly, and non-English speaking populations) and focus on all-hazards emergencies.
- Coordination and Communication. Strategies and capabilities to develop strong relationships within the community, and specifically between the local government and non-governmental and non-profit organizations.
- Preparedness. Strategies and capabilities to develop an active and inclusive planning process as well as training and exercise program in the community, including quality control, continuous improvement, and feedback mechanisms.
- Emergency Public Information. Strategies and capabilities (including information technology and equipment) to warn the public of an impending disaster and to provide emergency instructions on suggested actions.
- Resources and Personnel. Strategies and capabilities to develop caches of disaster supplies, lists of capabilities and skills of organizations and responders, as well as knowing who has what and the capability to move resources (people and supplies) to where they are needed.
- Authority and Management. Facilities (including the Emergency Operations Center) and capabilities for community leadership to provide command, control, and coordination of disaster response activities.
- Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters. Continued development of an active VOAD organization made up of non-governmental agencies in partnership with local government to improve coordination and capabilities in disaster preparedness and response, including other neighborhood preparedness efforts like a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Neighborhood Watch Group.
These priority themes have since been incorporated as the primary funding areas for the Aware & Prepare initiative.
Recent Accomplishments and Next Steps
The Spring 2008 grant cycle was the first Aware & Prepare grant making session. The Orfalea Fund and its partners including the Santa Barbara Foundation, James S. Bower Foundation, Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, Outhwaite Charitable Trust, and Fund for Santa Barbara provided a total of $1.2 million in funding for the following projects:
- The Santa Barbara County Chapter of the American Red Cross received funding to develop a new Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD); a Masters of Disaster educational campaign for school and after-school programs; and for its Capacity Building Campaign for a new Preparedness and Response Center in Santa Maria.
- The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County received funding to research, develop and implement an Emergency Action Plan.
- The Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics received funding for the development and implementation of an Emergency Preparedness Plan; to hire an on-site Disaster Preparedness Coordinator; and to purchase back-up power generators for three existing Clinic sites.
- The City of Carpinteria received funding for "Don't Panic! Prepare!" an emergency preparedness public education and awareness campaign.
- California Concern with the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services received funding to install new satellite communication equipment in both North and South County Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) which will allow the SBC Emergency Information Officer to communicate with the entire county in the event of a disaster which renders power, phone, cell phone, and internet inoperable. (This project also includes a public information and awareness campaign, distribution of battery operated/hand crank AM radios, and drills to test the equipment.)
The Fall 2008 grant cycle commenced on July 10, 2008 with the deadline for submission of Letters of Inquiry. We are currently facilitating the review process and will begin to inform organizations and agencies about the status of their Letter of Inquiry as soon as possible. We are looking forward to incorporating new projects into the Aware & Prepare initiative!
Screening for Fit (back to top)
When considering whether to approach the Orfalea Foundations for grant funding, it is important that you first review the following:
- The description of our seven priority themes as presented in the Orfalea Foundation Report.
- Our list of Frequently Asked Questions.
- Our list of What We Do Not Fund.
Emergency and disaster preparedness funding requests must fall within at least one of the seven priority theme areas as well as exemplify a collaborative effort among several organizations/agencies. The specific goals of the project must also be coordinated with the Santa Barbara County Operational Area strategic planning priorities and provide for a level of long-term sustainability after the initial grant award.
The overall goal of the Aware & Prepare initiative is to create a community partnership to strengthen capabilities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from an emergency or disaster in Santa Barbara County. The Orfalea Fund in partnership with JLWA, SBC OES and local foundations is working to assure that key emergency management stakeholders have achieved a higher level of preparedness while encouraging and funding new and innovative projects that will strengthen emergency preparedness in Santa Barbara County.
To further ensure the likelihood of a match between the goals of your program and our funding interests, we also ask that you use the following questions to screen your proposal:
- Does your proposal server an urgent need for a quantified, identified population?
- Is your organization in a stable financial condition to manage the proposed program?
- Have you applied to multiple funding sources and sought other pledges?
- Does your proposal have measurement criteria to evaluate outcomes and impact?
The Orfalea Foundations are more likely to elevate the priority of proposals that answer these questions affirmatively.
Submitting a Letter of Inquiry (back to top)
Based on the above self-screening process, if you feel your organization has a strong fit with the goals and focus of the Orfalea Foundations, the next step is to fill out our online Letter of Inquiry (LOI).
A complete Letter of Inquiry will very briefly outline:
- The full contact information for the organization/person submitting the LOI
- The mission of your organization
- The title and short description of the program for which you are seeking support
- The dollar amount of funding requested
- The expenses this funding will pay for and over what period of time
- The number of people to be served by the grant funding
- The goals and intended results of the grant
In 2007, the Orfalea Foundations began using a new software to assist the grant management process. If you have not yet applied to us online during 2007 (and therefore through this new software), please log in as a new user (by creating a new user name and password) even if you have received funding from us in the past. You will only need to do this once; for subsequent requests you will log in as a returning user. Please record the user name and password for your future reference.
To complete and submit a Letter of Inquiry to the Orfalea Foundations, please click on the link below:
Online Letter of Inquiry Submission Form
(You will be prompted to enter your e-mail address and create a password before accessing the form.)
All Letters of Inquiry must be submitted online at the latest by:
- January 10 for the February 15th grant application deadline.
- July 10 for the August 15 grant application deadline.
Letters submitted after the July 10th deadline will be held for review until the next cycle deadline, which is January 10th. These dates are firm. Materials must be submitted by midnight of the deadline date to be eligible for that grant cycle.
Due to the volume of inquiries at this preliminary stage, we discourage personal visits to the foundation office by prospective grantees. In addition, we do not accept requests for introductory meetings. Upon approval of your letter, you will have the opportunity to submit detailed proposals and supplementary materials, such as line-item budgets, visuals and references, to further support your grant application. Please do not send these materials with your initial Letter of Inquiry, as they will slow the processing of your request.
The Letter of Inquiry process outlined above helps organizations better target their valuable time and resources before submitting a full application, and allows the Orfalea Foundations to concentrate on the priorities we have identified. All Letters of Inquiry will be reviewed and organizations will be contacted regarding the outcome within two weeks following the Letter of Inquiry deadline.
Completing the Grant Application (back to top)
Upon approval of a Letter of Inquiry, we will send the applicant an email with instructions to access our online grant application. All applicants must complete the application online by the appropriate deadline (February 15 or August 15) to be considered for a grant award. Supplementary materials can be dropped off at our office or sent via U.S. mail.
Once we receive an agency’s complete application, we will begin the review process. We will contact applicants with questions, clarifications, and to schedule possible site visits or meetings. Please wait to hear from us for this follow-up.
Board Review (back to top)
Following the grant application deadline, the Orfalea Foundations' Board of Directors meets to render a decision on the applications presented. All applicants are notified within several days following the board meeting regarding the status of their request. If the Board determines a grant will be awarded, the Orfalea Foundations will draft grant agreement documents for review and signatures.
We are unable to fund many proposals because they do not fall within our current focus areas, or they do not rank as high within our programming priorities as other requests and ongoing projects, not because there was anything lacking in the application or LOI.
If an LOI or application does not match our priorities, we suggest grant seekers identify other potential sources of funding. Please contact the Santa Barbara Nonprofit Support Center or the Foundation Center.
Ongoing Grantee Evaluation (back to top)
To ensure accountability and compliance with the terms of the grant agreement, all of our grantees are required to submit mid-term progress and final evaluation reports outlining the extent to which they are meeting their financial and program goals. The grant agreement outlines the evaluation requirements and our online reporting procedure. Failure to complete these reports on time will disqualify the grantee from future funding.
Report (back to top)
Please link to this report to review the Orfalea Foundation Report on Disasters and Emergencies.
Orfalea Foundation Report (.pdf)
Contact Us (back to top)
Questions or comments about the Orfalea Fund’s Aware & Prepare initiative can be directed to Barbara Andersen by email at Barbara@orfalea.org or by phone at (805) 565 – 7550 ext. 112.
