Battistone Foundation

The Battistone Foundation is not, in practice, an open grantmaker in the sense most applicants expect. It is a private operating foundation founded in 1968 by Sam Battistone Sr. (co-founder of the Sambo's restaurant chain) with a single stated mission — "provide housing for the elderly" — that it has historically fulfilled by directly owning and running two Santa Barbara apartment communities, Edgerly and Palm Tree, totaling 190 units. Its own reported program spend of roughly $1.67 million goes to that single line item, not to a portfolio of outside grantees; the foundation's IRS-reported charitable disbursements to third-party organizations have been minimal to nonexistent in most recent years (grants_paid of $0 in nine of the last ten filed years in this dataset, versus roughly $177,000 in reported 2024 charitable disbursements per ProPublica). Third-party grant databases and the foundation's own posture confirm it accepts contributions only to preselected organizations and does not solicit or review unsolicited requests. There is no LOI process, no online application, and no published RFP. For a first-time applicant, the realistic read is: this is not a prospect to cold-pitch through a standard proposal. The only credible paths in are (1) an existing personal or professional relationship with the Battistone family or the foundation's small trustee circle (J Roger Battistone, Dann Battistone, Dona Kirby, Chad Stevens, and CEO Cindy Hill), (2) direct alignment with senior housing/rental-assistance delivery in Santa Barbara specifically, since that is the foundation's sole area of demonstrated competence and interest, or (3) engagement tied to the 2025 property sale itself — the foundation has publicly stated a preference for buyers who will preserve the units as low-income housing, which is a fundamentally different kind of "application" (a real-estate qualification process, not a grant proposal) than anything in a typical funder's cycle. Organizations serving Santa Barbara's low-income senior population should monitor the foundation's transition to a rental-subsidy model closely, since that shift is explicitly intended to expand who and how many people the foundation reaches — but as of mid-2026 no formal subsidy application process has been published.

The Battistone Foundation's asset base has grown slowly and steadily: from $11.09 million in 2013 to $11.89 million in 2024, roughly 7% growth over eleven years, funded almost entirely by investment returns rather than new contributions (contributions received were $0 in every filed year in this dataset). Total revenue has risen from $1.62 million (2015) to $2.69 million (2024), driven by net investment income that has ranged from $64,000 (2015) to $429,789 (2014). "Total giving" — which for this foundation functions primarily as total program expense on operating its housing, not third-party grants — has run between $1.67 million (2012-2013) and $2.38 million (2023), tracking overall revenue growth closely rather than showing a distinct grantmaking trend. Critically, the reported grants_paid to outside organizations is $0 in nine of the ten years in this dataset, with a single exception of $13,850 in 2015; ProPublica separately reports roughly $177,000 (about 6.9% of expenses) in 2024 charitable disbursements, a figure that likely captures modest outside gifts distinct from the housing operating budget. Officer and trustee compensation is a meaningful share of spend: CEO Cindy Hill's reported compensation has run $158,594-$165,377 across recent years, and total officer compensation (including four trustees at $36,000 each) has been $302,000-$348,000 annually — roughly 13-18% of total giving in a given year. There is no program-area breakdown to analyze beyond the single "provide housing for the elderly" line ($1,666,224 in program expense), no geographic diversification (100% Santa Barbara, CA), and no grantee-level data in this dataset (zero recorded grantees), consistent with a foundation that spends on its own operations rather than distributing to a grantee portfolio.

Because this dataset returned no matched peer foundations, the comparison below uses three verified Santa Barbara-area funders with overlapping geography or mission (senior services, affordable housing, or general community grantmaking) drawn from public 990 data.

Battistone sits in an unusual middle position: its asset base and giving level are closest to Alexander House Foundation and the Fund for Santa Barbara, but unlike either, it channels the overwhelming majority of its spend into operating its own buildings rather than into an external grants program. Hutton Parker, roughly 9x Battistone's asset size, is the clearest example of a Santa Barbara funder with a real-estate-adjacent mission that nonetheless runs a transparent, open application process — a useful contrast for what Battistone does not currently offer. Grant seekers whose work overlaps with Battistone's senior-housing niche are likely to find Alexander House Foundation a more accessible near-term target given its published, senior-specific eligibility criteria.

2025 was an unusually eventful year for a foundation with an otherwise low public profile. In January 2025, the Battistone Foundation announced it would sell both of its properties — Edgerly Apartments and Palm Tree Apartments, together 190 units of low-income senior housing in downtown Santa Barbara — at a combined asking price of roughly $80 million. Edgerly was formally listed in February 2025, and Palm Tree's three buildings were listed separately at $17.9 million per an April 7, 2025 prospectus. Tenants organized in response: the Edgerly Tenants Association held a press conference on June 25, 2025, attended by city councilmembers Wendy Santamaria and Kristen Sneddon, with residents describing the prospect of sale as "terrifying" given their age, disability status, and fixed incomes. On July 3, 2025, CEO Cindy Hill announced the foundation was moving to phase two — a private auction limited to qualified buyers, with a stated (not contractually binding) preference for buyers who would keep the properties as low-income housing. Coverage continued into September 2025 with the Montecito Journal's "Battle of Battistone" piece examining the broader stakes for the city's affordable-housing stock. The foundation's stated rationale is strategic, not distress-driven: leadership has said the sale proceeds would fund a rental-subsidy program serving current tenants plus additional low-income seniors, potentially doubling the population served relative to the current fixed 190-unit footprint. As of this report, no auction outcome, buyer, or subsidy-program launch date has been publicly confirmed. There is no evidence of leadership turnover — Cindy Hill remains CEO and the same four-person trustee slate (J Roger Battistone, Dann Battistone, Dona Kirby, Chad Stevens) appears across the filed years in this dataset.

There is effectively no conventional application process to optimize for at this foundation today, and applicants should calibrate expectations accordingly rather than treating this like a typical LOI-to-proposal funder. Three things to know if you are still building a relationship with the Battistone Foundation: First, its public identity is as a housing operator, not a grantmaker — any pitch should speak to hands-on delivery of senior housing or rental assistance in Santa Barbara specifically, since that is the only track record the foundation has demonstrated at scale (community development is the only tagged focus area, and the sole program line is direct housing operation). Generic "general operating support" or multi-issue proposals are unlikely to land, because there is no visible reviewer infrastructure to evaluate them. Second, timing should track the 2025-2026 property sale, not a grant calendar: the foundation is actively selling both of its buildings and has said proceeds will seed a new rental-subsidy program — that program, once designed, is far more likely to be the actual funding vehicle going forward than any legacy grantmaking process, so organizations should watch for its announcement rather than applying against the foundation's current (nonexistent) cycle. Third, avoid the common mistake of treating third-party grant databases' "accepting applications: true" flag at face value — the foundation's own materials and independent grant profiles state it funds only preselected organizations and does not review unsolicited requests, so a mailed or emailed cold proposal is very unlikely to be read, let alone funded. The most productive near-term move for a mission-aligned organization is a warm introduction through Santa Barbara's senior-services or affordable-housing network (e.g., organizations that already work alongside Alexander House Foundation, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, or the Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County) rather than direct cold outreach to the foundation's office line. Organizations with real-estate capacity — particularly mission-driven affordable-housing developers or operators — have a more concrete, near-term opening: the foundation has explicitly said it favors buyers for its properties who will preserve them as low-income housing, which is a live, describable opportunity distinct from a grant application.