STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Kars4Kids is well known for its catchy radio jingle, the one that sticks in your head all day once you hear it.

But what donors may not know is Kars4Kids, along with outreach arm Oorah, lost almost as much in bad real estate investments, including two foreclosed properties once owned by borough developer Leib Puretz, as they spent on actual programming in 2010.

Losses for both were a combined $5.25 million in 2010 after lenders foreclosed on three of its investments, according to the Jewish Daily Forward, and Oorah spent only $6.3 million of $29 million collected by Kars4Kids for 60,000 donated vehicles.

These figures have surfaced less than a month after Oorah -- which operates summer camps and provides scholarships and other programs to Jewish youth and their families -- lost a $375,000 federal lawsuit over scholarship money that was allegedly promised but never delivered to students at the Jewish Foundation School in Graniteville.

An Oorah spokesman told the Advance that the organization looks closely at the long-term picture when deciding how to spend its money and where to invest it.

"We have conformed to the highest standards of board approval and accepted guidelines to make sure that all transactions were appropriate and transparent," said Hank Sheinkopf, the spokesman. "In order to service our children, we wanted to ensure the continuing capital improvement and fiscal stability using means consistent with other nationally established charities."

Reports of charitable investments recorded with the state attorney general show $3 million, or a nearly 30 percent ownership share, was invested in the Staten Island Hotel in Graniteville. Puretz and an investment team originally purchased the Richmond Avenue hotel in 2008 for $18.6 million with the intent of transforming it into a Crowne Plaza Hotel franchise.

Another $400,000, or a 1.3 percent ownership share, was invested in Waterfront Commons, planned by Puretz as an outlet shopping mall on the South Shore with 60 stores, a 14-screen movie theater, restaurants and underground parking.

Oorah and Kars4Kids also sank $2.5 million into a high-rise in Jersey City and $500,000 into a development project in Jerusalem, reports filed with the attorney general show. These developments were not part of Puretz's portfolio.

All fell into foreclosure, causalities of the economy.

"The developer is a well-established and highly respected local Staten Island businessman who, like many others, faced some financial difficulties during the economic climate of 2008," Sheinkopf said, speaking to Puretz's reputation.

"We are in still in constant contact working together long-term to protect this investment with the belief that it will ultimately be profitable."

It is unclear with whom Oorah is in contact, since both properties now have new owners -- and since all of Puretz's once highly touted projects also either have new owners or remain mired in the process of foreclosure.

The loan for Waterfront Commons, along with another property known as Liberty Towers on Stuyvesant Place, was recently purchased for $13.5 million by an unnamed buyer.

And the Staten Island Hotel is slated to become an assisted living facility called The Esplanade, after it was purchased last year for $9.5 million. A sign on the building boasts a September/October opening date, but that has yet to materialize.

Sheinkopf declined comment when asked for further particulars of the new ownership.

"This is an ongoing process," he said in his original e-mail. "We determined it was important to endow our programs in the long term."

"Our endowment has been less than 10 percent of our income since we first created it and much less than we have put into the capital and program areas of our organization," he continued.

Sheinkopf said Oorah's largest investment was improving its facilities to expand services to more children and their families.

He provided no further comment when asked to supply dollar figures.

Meanwhile, Oorah lost a $375,000 federal lawsuit earlier this month over scholarship money that was allegedly promised to students at the Jewish Foundation School in Graniteville.

The school accused Oorah of backing out of a deal to pay tuition for dozens of students, the Forward reported.