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31. Irwin & Joan Jacobs

Qualcomm co-founder

2004-08 Giving* $341 million

The Jacobs continue to be great supporters of education and the arts (particularly performing arts), increasing their level of support to universities such as Cornell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at San Francisco, and the Salk Institute, where Dr. Jacobs serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees. They also support causes in the San Diego area, such as La Jolla Country Day School, the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theatre & Science Center, and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). In 2006 and 2007, gifts from Jacobs and his wife included $1 million to the San Diego Natural History Museum to help fund an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls and $30 million to the American Society for Technion for a graduate school at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. Past gifts include $110 million to UCSD, where the Qualcomm co-founder used to be an engineering professor, $120 million to the San Diego Symphony (including the price of a 1708 Stradivarius violin), and gifts to support the local theater, library, and children's museum.

For more, visit the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Philanthropy topic on Business Exchange.

*Based on public records and interviews with donors
Data: BusinessWeek, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University

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