Orange County Register

Billionaire Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli may soon be a convicted felon, but on paper he’s a saint. As in, he pumped more than $29 million over eight years into noble causes across the county and nation through the charitable foundation run by him and his wife Susan.
If you aren’t a hockey fan or a frequent flier in the O.C. philanthropy event circuit, a quick refresher: Samueli (pictured left with the 2007 Stanley Cup) owns the mighty Anaheim Ducks and has his name on buildings all over Southern California, including on a theater at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and engineering schools at UCLA and UC Irvine. Henry and Susan’s donations also have helped reshape the Ocean Institute campus in Dana Point and a Holocaust library at Chapman University.
Last month, this high-tech philanthropist got some less flattering recognition when he pleaded guilty to a count of lying to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about backdating employee stock option grants.
Now, the U.C. system is considering whether to strip his name from its programs, the National Hockey League has suspended him from playing a role with the team, and he’s been kicked out of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department reserve program, which has some issues of its own.
Since he’s widely recognized for his philanthropy, Watchdog Blog peeked at the financial filings for the couple’s charitable foundation to see if there was anything juicy or scandalous. What we found wasn’t so much juicy, as it was sweet and selfless and pretty amazing.

Among the Samuelis’ favorite things: Saving lives, saving animals, promoting their faith (they’re Jewish, but also give smaller amounts to some Christian charities), investing in the future of tomorrow, saving the misguided and mistreated children of today, appreciating the arts and helping the less fortunate.

The Samuelis’ bigger donations are pretty well known. In fact, his widely-reported contributions greatly exceed what his charity foundation totals show. We’re waiting on a call back from the foundation to clarify where the rest of the money is coming from (i.e. Samueli’s personal bank account?):

For example, donations reported in the news include $25 million to the Samueli Jewish Campus in Irvine; $10 million to support Opera Pacific; some $9 million to Temple Bel El in Aliso Viejo (dedication ceremony pictured above) and $6 million to create a Center for Integrative Medicine at UCI, which bears Susan Samueli’s name.

That’s in addition to the big chunks of change that got their names on all the buildings listed at the beginning of this post, like this one at UCI.

Here are some highlights of some of the foundation’s lesser-known contributions listed on its 1998-2006 disclosures. (Note, there are way too many charities to come close to listing them all.)

• Tarbut V’ Torah, a Jewish day school in Irvine: In 1999, the foundation pledged a $400,000 donation. Actual donations since then soar past that pledge to more than $1.1 million to support everything from scholarships to annual “Brains and Brawns” fundraisers.
• The John Wayne Cancer Foundation: $200,000 pledge in 1999 for research and a $1 million pledge in 2004 for science study support.
• Orangewood Children’s Foundation: Pledges of $700,000 in 2000 and $150,000 in 2002 and 2003. Plus, the foundation regularly supports Stop Gap, a non-profit that provides drama (as in, acting in a theater) therapy for emancipating and at-risk youth — a program offered at Orangewood.
• M.I.N.D. Institute: In 2000, the Samueli’s pledged $200,000 to the Costa Mesa-based charity promoting education program excellence and scientific research. The donations have continued flowing since.

Other regular donation recipients include:

• Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit.
• UCI. In addition to the big donations here, the foundation sponsors everything from “emerging companies roundtables” to medal ceremonies to basketball scholarships to an $86,704 donation in 2004 to, among other things, a “Bill Cosby Event.”
• Canyon Acres, a center for abused and neglected children.
• A $250,000 pledge to the Friends of the Griffith Park Observatory capital campaign in 2001.
• $250,000 to Morasha Jewish Day School in Rancho Santa Margarita to purchase a new school site, plus regular smaller donations in other years.

And here are a couple of my favorites:

• $2,000 to Bobby’s North Pole Livery in 2000 for ‘Dear Santa’ letters for children.
• $200,000 grant in 2002 to Opportunity International for micro-enterprise support in Ghana.
• Corona Del Mar High School. In 1999, the foundation donated $7,500 to the school. In 2000, the school got another $5,000. And then in 2002, the the cheerleading program there has pocketed $30,000 to $35,000 a year.
• $5,500 to the US Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation in 1999.
• $10,000 for “gold star awards” to the Orange County Reserve Deputy Sheriff’s Association in 2002.
• Free Wheelchair Mission, a Christian non-profit that distributes wheelchairs to disabled people in need. $133,831 has gone to programs in China, India and Chile, as well as “event support.”

The moral of the story is, I guess, no matter how smart and charitable you are or how many buildings are emblazoned with your name, never, ever lie to the SEC. They use tape recorders.

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