How We Spend Our Commission, Giving Back

Real estate is our bread and butter; it is how we put food on the table for our families. We offer top-notch client care and real estate expertise, and we are compensated for it. Not only do we love real estate and helping our clients, but we are also passionate about helping others. We believe that our community is larger than Santa Barbara, and extends around the globe. We acknowledge that even the poorest people in America would be considered rich in many parts of the world. We know that 2/3 of the world is illiterate and lives in true poverty. Of the 6 billion people in the world, 4 billion live on less than $2 per day, with ¼ of them living on less than $1 a day. That poverty is a direct cause of over 30,000 children dying each day of starvation and malnutrition.

This is all to say that there are some extreme needs in both our local and our worldwide communities. The Zia Group is here to serve you, so that we can be empowered to provide for and serve our community and the world’s destitute. While we can only make a dent, every client we help empowers us to help more people in need. We are committed to putting 25% of every commission into our “Giving Fund.” By doing this, we can freely and joyfully give to needs here in Santa Barbara and in our larger community abroad.

Community Involvement & Global Giving

Local Philanthropy and Community Involvement: We encourage the Zia Group team to be active members in our community and to give back to our local community. Daniel is a Katherine Harvey Fellow (’10 & ’11) with the Santa Barbara Foundation (the largest non-profit in our area), participating in an 18-month program designed to raise up philanthropic leaders trained in fundraising, grant making, and non-profit leadership. While at Prudential, Daniel was a Prudential CARES committee member, and helped raise roughly $15,000 per year to distribute among local worthy causes. He has also been involved in Young Life Santa Barbara, serving in large scale fundraising and donor relations. The Zia Group team at the Unity Shoppe, a year-round “Free” grocery and clothing store where people can shop with dignity for their basic needs. Giving back to his alma mater, Westmont College, is a passion of Daniel’s and he often gives guest lectures on everything from real estate finance to business ethics, regularly mentors young Economics & Business students, has a Westmont student internship program, and is an active participant on Westmont’s Young Alumni Council.

Child Sponsorship: The Zia Group has committed to sponsoring impoverished children through well-known programs like World Vision and Compassion International, and smaller organizations such as Africa Renewal Ministries. These programs supply children with food, clothing, education, school supplies, and access to healthcare—in short, a chance at life. We provide financial sponsorship, as well as investing our time into the child’s life through letters of support, encouragement, and love.

World Poverty Education: Part of our commission is also applied to educating our team and others on World Poverty and what can be done to help. This includes funding teams to complete service projects in these less developed countries (LDCs—previously known as the “Third World”).

Financial support of organizations that focus on relief work or economic development through micro-finance and micro-enterprise: The Zia Group and its independent members are committed to financially supporting several worldwide organizations that supply aid andempower the world’s impoverished. We are passionate about helping others with a “hand up”, not a “hand out”. Some of the organizations we support include International Justice Mission,Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion International, Hope International, H40, Opportunity International, World Vision, and teams sent by local churches.