About Us
Mission Statement
We empower nonprofit organizations that foster community and deliver meaningful results by funding capital projects for youth, education, health, community, recreation and the arts. Through strategic partnerships and targeted investments, we strive to amplify the impact of our nonprofit partners to enhance life for all in our region.
Photo Credit: Beverly Jackson Photograph Collection, Santa Barbara Historical Museum
OUR HISTORY
In the 1950s, Alice Tweed Tuohy began her charitable giving by transferring her art collection to the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in memory of her first husband, George P. Tweed, a banker and industrial financier. Mrs. Tuohy founded, and her substantial gifts form, the core of the regional Tweed Museum of Art on UMD’s campus, which we continue to support in her name.
In 1956, Mrs. Tuohy and her second husband, Dr. Edward L. Tuohy, moved to Santa Barbara. Dr. Tuohy joined the medical staff of the Rehabilitation Institute of Santa Barbara; Mrs. Tuohy volunteered at its opening. She also served as a long-time director of what is now the Foundation for Cottage Rehabilitation & Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, which we continue to fund.
In 1956, Mrs. Tuohy also formed the Alice Tweed Tuohy Foundation. Under her leadership as President, we made capital improvement and equipment grants for Santa Barbara youth activities, community resources, and medical institutions. Mrs. Tuohy turned for legal counsel to Harris W. Seed for the foundation’s tax exemption. Harris had grown up locally and was at the dawn of a distinguished career blending law, business, and charitable work. He joined the Board.
In 1973, Harris was elected President, following Mrs. Tuohy’s passing and her generous $5 million estate bequest to our foundation. Under Harris’s forceful leadership, our investment assets grew to $19 million. Year after year, we continued making capital grants and expanded into college scholarships for local students. Harris served as a director for 61 years.
Eleanor Van Cott was a native New Yorker who knew Mrs. Tuohy, worked with Harris in the legal profession, founded a prominent women’s business group, and served as a nonprofit director. She was a director and officer of our foundation for 52 years, overseeing day-to-day operations.
Paul Hartloff was a top tax and business lawyer who, as a nonprofit director, focused on complex medical institutions. Paul also knew Mrs. Tuohy and served on our Board for 47 years. The value of Harris, Eleanor, and Paul’s hard work and business acumen for 160 collective years as directors and officers is crucial to our funding today of capital grants and college scholarships.
In 1995, our foundation received two more bequests, this time from the estates of Kenneth and Margaret Millar. Ken and Maggie are well-known authors—Ken’s pseudonym is Ross Macdonald—and were long-time Santa Barbara residents. Their mission was college scholarships. Each year, their generosity allows us to fund about twenty additional college scholarships, in their names, for local high school students.
In 2012, John Mackall was elected President after Harris’s retirement. John was a director with Harris, Eleanor and Paul on our Board, also active in South Coast nonprofits and medical institutions, a partner with Harris in the Santa Barbara law firm of Seed, Mackall & Cole, and is a successful entrepreneur. In addition to refining our foundation’s grant-making capabilities, John brought modern technology to our operations and boosted our portfolio’s growth to $38 million. He retired as President in 2024 and continues as a director and as Treasurer, overseeing our investments.
In 2024, Joseph Cole was elected President. Joe worked closely with Harris, John, Eleanor and Paul for more than two decades as a director and officer of our foundation to advance Mrs. Tuohy’s mission. He has served as a director of a dozen local nonprofits and private foundations. He was a law partner with Harris and John at Seed, Mackall & Cole, a former publisher of Santa Barbara’s two largest newspapers, a planning commissioner, and a director of seven public and private for-profit corporations.
Susan Jackson and Elisabeth Fowler, along with Joe and John, currently comprise our Board. Susan and Elisabeth are long-time Santa Barbara residents, holding a range of leadership chairs and nonprofit director and officer positions within our vibrant philanthropic community. They are highly knowledgeable and collaborative with our local nonprofit partners and private foundations. Susan also serves as our Board Secretary.
Since its formation by Mrs. Tuohy in 1956, the Alice Tweed Tuohy Foundation has awarded more than $35 million in scholarships and grants. We will continue to honor Mrs. Tuohy’s philanthropic interests and business sense by awarding college scholarships and partnering with nonprofits with important charitable missions, strong leadership and good business management.
