HE NEEDS TO KNOW
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In 2021, Santa Barbara City College received a $20 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the largest donation in the school’s history
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Just weeks ago, the school’s Board of Trustees issued a statement saying they were “disappointed to learn” that a portion of that gift was “used without express authorization.”
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In a statement to PEOPLE, Santa Barbara City College Foundation CEO Bobbi Abram acknowledged the “failure in the accounting process” but emphasized that the money was used “in the spirit of the donor’s intent.”
A California community college received $20 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott — but some of the money was used without proper authorization, according to officials.
Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees President Jonathan Abboud said in a statement late last month that the board was “concerned” by the “unauthorized use” of Scott’s 2021 donation, the largest in the school’s 112-year history.
In a separate statement obtained by PEOPLE, the Santa Barbara City College Foundation said the donation “effectively funded a large portion” of their Promise program, which provides tuition assistance, books and other supplies to local high school students.
Bobbi Abram, CEO of the SBCC Foundation, told SFGATE that approximately $10.5 million of the billionaire philanthropist’s donation was used for the program from 2021 to 2024.
Abram said the funds were used without the approval of the foundation board, Santa Barbara City College officials or the school’s board of trustees, according to the publication.
Now, $13 million remains of Scott’s original gift.
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Abboud went on to say that while the board was “disappointed” to learn what had happened, they were “nevertheless grateful to current SBCC Foundation management and staff for identifying past unauthorized activity and initiating a comprehensive review of SBCC Foundation’s past accounting practices and rapidly improving internal controls.”
The school noted that its board of trustees initiated its own investigation because the SBCC Foundation is a separate legal entity.
Abboud went on to say that the SBCC Board “will continue to work in collaboration with the SBCC Foundation to address this issue appropriately and to ensure full transparency and accountability for the use of gift funds.”
When reached for comment by PEOPLE, Abram said the foundation wanted to emphasize that the funds were not “misappropriated.”
“Over 1,800 local students are supported by Promise each year. This is a nationally recognized program that makes higher education affordable for local families,” said Abram. “The use of some of the Scott gift funds for the Promise was not a ‘misuse.’ It was entirely consistent with the Foundation’s mission and in the spirit of the donor’s intent.”
“What it was it is a failure of the accounting process and a lack of transparency and authorization that we discovered in 2025 and have now corrected,” Abram continued.
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the SBCC student newspaper channels and SFGATE reported that Abram took over as CEO of the SBCC Foundation in May 2024 and conducted an audit after finding discrepancies in accounting records early last year.
“Because this misrepresentation occurred at the substantive level, it was outside the scope of [a previous] audit and it was the responsibility of previous management to report to the auditors,” Abram told SFGATE.
Abram said the SBCC Foundation is working to more closely oversee its accounting to prevent such situations, according to the report Santa Barbara Independent.
Scott has made many notable donations to educational institutions and other organizations across the country.
In 2020, according to a report from Rutgers University, she gave more than $560 million to 23 historically black colleges and universities across the country.
Analyzing the immediate impact of Scott’s donations, Rutgers researchers found that, “on average, median new student enrollment was more than 300 students higher for HBCUs that received funding compared to median enrollment for those that did not receive funding.”
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According to SFGATE, she also gave $38 million to the University of California, Merced, on the heels of donating $50 million to California State University, East Bay. In 2025 alone, she gave over $7.1 billion to nonprofit groups.
Scott, who is dedicated to giving away most of his wealth throughout his lifetime, currently has an estimated net worth of nearly $40 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaire index.
In the years since her divorce from Jeff Bezos became official in 2019, resulting in an estimated $36 billion settlement, Scott has “transformed” philanthropy with her sizeable, unrestricted giving, according to a three-year study published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy last year.
Read the original article on People