About Us

Who We Are:

The McCune Foundation was established in 1990 by George D. McCune and Sara Miller McCune, the founders and principal management team (for 25 years) of SAGE Publications, Inc. The Foundation supports projects that address critical issues in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties by empowering and mobilizing excluded populations. We support groups which are “doing with others” rather than “doing for others” – grassroots, bottom-up organizations in which “clients” are the initiators and involved in decision making.

Board of Directors

Sara Miller McCune

Co-Founder and President

Publisher, Founder, Chairman, SAGE Publications
Thousand Oaks, CA
Read Bio Here…

Sandra Ball-Rokeach

Professor
University of Southern California

Vicki Fisher Magasinn

Attorney, Magasinn and Feldman
Los Angeles, CA

David McCune

Consultant
Ventura, CA and Sodra Mellby, Sweden

Susan McCune Trumble

Former Learning & Development Facilitator, SAGE Publications
Welches, OR

Melvin Oliver

Dean
University of California,  Santa Barbara

Susan Rose

Former Supervisor, Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors
Santa Barbara, CA

Margaret Sirot

Consultant, Round Hill Associates
Stamford, CT

Marcos Vargas

Executive Director, CAUSE
Ventura, CA

Hilda Zacarias

CPA, Hilda Zacarías MPA & Associates
Santa Maria, CA

Grants Review Committee

Laura Espinosa, Santa Paula 
Cesar Hernandez, Oxnard  
Monique Limon, Santa Barbara  
Ray Segura, Santa Maria   
 
 
 

Staff

Claudia Armann, Executive Director

Claudia Armann has been the Executive Director of the McCune Foundation since 2008. She is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and grew up in New Jersey. Claudia has a degree in Journalism and served an internship with The Associated Press in the Salt Lake City bureau. Upon moving to the Central Coast of California in 1995, she worked as a research editor for Hispanic Business and ISLANDS magazines.

Claudia began her work in philanthropy at the Santa Barbara Foundation where she served as a program officer for eight years. In that role, she helped coordinate education and cultural grantmaking, as well as student aid programs. Claudia lives in Ventura where she serves on the board of the Ventura Citizens for Hillside Preservation and volunteers with the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. During her nearly 20 years in California, she has been active in land preservation, wildlife protection, and alternative transportation advocacy. Claudia speaks Spanish and is learning Italian.

Technical support provided to Foundation grantees by: