What MacKenzie Scott's $3.2 million donation means to Oxnard Boys & Girls Clubs

In January I got a call first thing on a Monday morning. As the CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme, that isn’t particularly unusual. This job keeps me busy. We serve thousands of members, and have hundreds of employees, volunteers, and board members. We partner closely with school districts, public safety, and nonprofits. There is always something.

This call, however, was different.

I was told that MacKenzie Scott would be investing $3.2 million into our organization. It would be the biggest gift in the history of our organization and one of the biggest outside investments in the history of Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

I cried.

The last two years have been the hardest of my 17-year career at the Clubs. To make sure kids could thrive, we opened for more hours, at more sites, with more partners and more staff. It was a lot of late nights figuring out how to keep frontline staff safe and early mornings making sure our Wi-Fi could handle dozens of kids logging on to Zoom at the same time.

More: Oxnard Boys & Girls Club receives $3.2 million donation from MacKenzie Scott

A gift like this isn’t just a recognition of this work, but a guarantee that we will always be able to be here for our members.

I wanted to take a moment to share with our community why the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme were chosen and how we plan to use these funds.

MacKenzie Scott and her team of experts looked at organizations across the globe that serve young people. They evaluated thousands of Boys & Girls Clubs from across the country that do tremendous work. They looked at financial statements, impact reports, websites and even our Instagram.

Here is what they saw:

We get results. 97% of our members graduate high school. They are far less likely to be arrested or get involved with drugs. Dr. Jamshid Damooei from California Lutheran University studied our programs and found that for every dollar invested in our Clubs, Oxnard and Port Hueneme saw $17 in impact.

Beyond the numbers, we change lives. Maria (not her real name) entered our Clubs on the wrong path. She was struggling in school and getting in trouble. She ended up at the Harriet H. Samuelsson Teen Center. There, she found a mentor in Coach Jose and a passion for boxing. That passion spread, leading her to become our Youth of the Year, graduate high school with honors and head to college. Today, Maria is getting her master’s degree at USC.

We focus on the kids that need us the most — even in the hardest of times. We charge $20 annually to be a member of our Clubs and make sure the most vulnerable kids have access to our programs. When the pandemic hit, we didn’t slow down. Our frontline staff went right to work, calling families, making online content, and setting the stage for opening all day to guide kids through digital learning.

We are well run. Our board is comprised of leaders from across government, education and the private sector. They make sure that over 96% of every dollar we raise goes directly to programs and that we are growing sustainably.

In short, Mackenzie Scott and her team saw that we would use these funds well and make the biggest impact for kids possible.

So what comes next?

We will be using these funds to lay a foundation for our Clubs to thrive in the long term. We want to make sure that we are always here for kids, through even the toughest of times. That our Clubs would be here not just for our kids, but their kids and grandkids.

We are going to still raise funds. We need to. Setting aside funds for the future means we still have to focus on making sure we meet our obligations today. Having a foundation doesn’t do much good unless you build on it.

If you want to learn more, or help build upon what MacKenzie started, go to BGCOP.org or call Andrew Peake at 805-815-4959.

Erin Antrim is the CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: What MacKenzie Scott's donation means to Oxnard Boys & Girls Clubs