The Philanthropy 50 2009 Gift Profile: Irwin M. and Joan K. Jacobs

Irwin M. and Joan K. Jacobs: $24.3-million

Beneficiary: Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund at Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego

Donors’ background: Mr. Jacobs is the founder of Qualcomm, a wireless-communications company, in San Diego.

Mr. Jacobs, 76, and his wife, Joan, 77, gave $24.3-million to the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund, their donor-advised fund, at the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.

Through the fund they awarded grants to numerous nonprofit organizations. Their top five grant recipients last year were the San Diego Symphony; the University of California at San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering; the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center, in San Diego; the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, in San Diego; and the University of California at San Francisco’s School of Medicine.

—Maria Di Mento

View more profiles of donors who gave the most in 2009.