Twenty years and $600 million later, Henry Samueli has learned a thing or two about giving; his family consistently ranks among the area’s top philanthropists.
The following are some of the lessons he has learned over that time, which were shared last month at a UCI event.
On proactive giving: “Focus. Focus, focus, focus. You can’t do everything for everybody, and I’ve never seen a nonprofit I didn’t like. They’re all great … but there are a million of them out there and you can’t do everything. Decide what you want to do, narrow down the mission of the foundation, and start being proactive rather than reactive in your philanthropy.”
On serving on boards: “You have to have very strict rules. I get invited to serve on boards almost daily. Just yesterday I had to turn down being on the national board of the Girl Scouts … there is a big difference between writing a check and serving on a board. It’s a big-time commitment, so we’re very selective … We only serve on boards of the largest organizations that we give to.”
On measuring impact: “When we give out gifts … our foundation executive director works very closely with the organization to set out exactly what they’re going to do with the money, and what goals and milestones they expect to achieve with the money … How many kids did you help, how many scholarships did you give out, there’s always metrics that you can come up with.”
