Chief Executive Officer of the SBCC Foundation Geoff Green spoke at the Associated Student Government meeting Friday to offer his partnership on any projects the senators might need assistance on while also elaborating on what the foundation does for students.
The SBCC Foundation supports students in their academic goals.
According to its website, the foundation “provides more than $5 million annually for student success programs, scholarships, book grants, emergency funds, and other critical needs of the college.”
Green has served as CEO since 2015.
In 2016, City College began offering the SBCC Promise, a program that provides free tuition and books to local high school graduates for two years. The promise is a privately funded $2.4 million a year program.
“Money is a tool and it’s only as good or bad as how you use it,” Green said.
Green said he believes philanthropy is a very important part of humanity. One of the main problems Green sees is many public and private universities receiving adequate funding through philanthropic donations but community colleges lacking those same donations.
“With all due respect, the Stanfords and the Yales do not need any more money,” Green said.
Green said they have a long way to go, but they are having fantastic years of revenue. The foundation’s total revenue for last year was $9.7 million.
Green said his goal is to increase the amount of funding coming into community colleges so more students can continue to feel financially supported.
He said he hopes by partnering with the senate, he will be able to address more student issues and, in turn, support the students even more.
“The door is always open to ask,” Green said.
Bruce Wang, commissioner of international affairs asked if there are ways they could collaborate to further support international students.
Green responded that within the foundation, there are various scholarships and book grants open to international students, but he would love to work closely with Wang to expand the opportunities available.
As a closing statement, Green said there are endless possibilities to help the school and encouraged the senators to come to him with any ideas they may have.
