MacKenzie Scott has made thousands of donations over the past few years, totaling an eye-popping $26 billion. Organizations focused on myriad causes including education, DEI, disaster recovery, and more have often said these gifts are record-breaking or life-changing—and much of it goes back to Scott’s philosophy: trust-based philanthropy.
But there’s one gift that wasn’t used as intended, at least according to some stakeholders. In 2021, Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated a record $20 million to Santa Barbara City College (SBCC)—the largest gift in the school’s 112-year history. The gift came at a time when SBCC and U.S. community colleges were facing a “serious enrollment decline” owing to the pandemic, according to an SBCC statement from 2021.
