Letter From the President

It has been both a privilege and a challenge to lead the Towbes Foundation as President since my father, Michael Towbes, passed away in 2017. In the years since, the Foundation has changed in dramatic ways and so have I.

Being a second-generation leader of a family foundation is a little tricky. There’s a real tension between carrying on a legacy and forging your own path. For me, running a family foundation is not my chosen vocation. I’ll be the first to admit that I partly dove in, and was partly pushed. But I’m proud to be carrying the torch forward in my own way, and I am grateful for the flexibility my parents gave me to lead and adapt to the ever-changing world.

The honor of being recognized with the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Person of the Year award in 2025 – an honor I share with my parents, who each received this award in the 1990s – gave me a chance to step back and reflect on this journey: why we do this work, how far we’ve come, and what values drive our most meaningful work.

So how far have we come? Internally, we have professionalized The Towbes Foundation, shifting from a true mom-and-pop shop to a more strategically focused and professionally led organization. We expanded our Board, including community members with broad expertise, and strengthened our board governance. In addition to our Executive Director, Kristen Sullivan, Ph.D., we added two skilled team members to our staff: a Philanthropic Administrative Associate and a Director of Finance and Investments. We have engaged in a yearlong learning journey, strategic planning, developed a theory of change, and aligned our grantmaking to focus on mental health and a continuum of mental wellness. We have more clearly articulated our three areas of focus: early intervention and prevention of mental health challenges, increased access to mental health services, and effective mental health treatment for those in need.

Why do we do this work? We cannot do it all, but we can leverage expertise, focusing on what we know. My background is in education and child mental health. I was a special education teacher before becoming a child psychologist, and I still maintain a child and family-focused psychological services practice in Santa Barbara. Grounding our giving in that expertise, and in genuine partnership with the people closest to the problem, is what has allowed us to move from diffuse and fragmented giving toward targeted funding that creates real, lasting impact.

What values drive our work? Since the transition following my father’s death, not only has the Foundation changed, but our community has been tested in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Five months into my role as President, the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow occurred, shining a spotlight on the need for rapid, flexible response and community coalescence in order to recover and heal. Two years later, the COVID-19 pandemic and the heightened awareness of longstanding racial inequities following the murder of George Floyd reminded us that philanthropy can be most effective at solving problems when we get out of our silos and collaborate with other funders, government partners, and grantee organizations. Now, our community faces new threats: harsh and violent immigration enforcement; dramatic federal government cuts to the social safety net, science, healthcare, and education; and increased hostility and marginalization of our LGBTQ+ friends and family, to name just a few. While the landscape sometimes seems overwhelming and the needs insurmountable, my belief in partnership over isolation, in systemic change over one-off giving, and in listening instead of telling, has only deepened over the past few years. The Towbes Foundation is taking a critical look at our role as funders through a lens that is more aware of diversity, equity, belonging, and justice issues, which lie at the core of many societal challenges.

I sit here writing this letter the day before what would be my dad’s 97^th birthday. His goal when starting The Towbes Foundation in 1980 was to give back to the community that had given so much to him. He gave me free rein to lead the Foundation, and role-modeled how to do that with a blend of compassion and humility. Making our little slice of paradise in Santa Barbara a better place to live for all of us is still at the core. It’s meaningful work, it strengthens community, and, so far, it’s still pretty fun.

Sincerely,

Carrie Towbes, Ph.D.

President