Michael Towbes, who founded Montecito Bank & Trust (MB&T) in 1975, struck a different tone than most bankers when he proclaimed that, “banking is not about the MONEY, it’s about the PEOPLE.” This sentiment is echoed in terms of the bank’s philanthropy, which amounted to $1.6 million donated to local nonprofits in 2021.  And that’s not a one-time event; MB&T has contributed at least $1 million to local nonprofits every year since 2003 through numerous programs including its Community Dividends Program, which donates funds based on four “pillars” of corporate giving: arts and culture, health and medical, social services, and [...more...]

The Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation celebrated the Santa Barbara Public Library and National Library Card Sign Up Month at […more…]

The Santa Barbara Library Foundation’s director Lauren Trujillo is in a celebratory mood.  The foundation’s $5.4 million capital campaign to […more…]

Born and raised in a leafy suburb of Detroit, Michigan, located near the city’s zoo, Anne Towbes grew up surrounded […more…]

Sometimes, life’s lessons emerge from the most unlikely places. For Janet Garufis – Montecito Bank & Trust’s dynamic chairman and […more…]

Santa Barbara has been defined, all at once, as an enclave of the wealthy, a surf-bum beach town, and a […more…]

Banks don’t usually spring to mind when one writes about beacons of community trust, good deeds, and hope. But even […more…]

During the pandemic, Santa Barbarans got a fresh reminder of how vital the public library is to the community. As […more…]

Though his parents are from the Bronx, George Leis spent a good chunk of his wonder years growing up in […more…]

My parents, Michael and Gail Towbes, moved to Santa Barbara County in 1957, and from the beginning, they were deeply […more…]