San Diego Foundation has announced an unrestricted $100 million cash gift from the estate of local entrepreneur Jay Kahn. 

According to the foundation, the bequest is the largest gift to a San Diego nonprofit and the third largest to a U.S. community foundation. The first grants from the gift include $150,000 in unrestricted grants to 10 San Diego-based music education nonprofits to advance their work with under-resourced children. The intent of the grants is to increase music appreciation in San Diego in memory of Kahn, a classical musician who played clarinet in symphonies at University of California San Diego and University of San Diego. Recipients include A Reason to Survive (ARTS), Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom, the San Diego Symphony, and Young Lions Jazz Conservatory.

Aside from a portion of Kahn’s gift that will support housing and other strategic initiatives, more than $86 million will establish the Jay Kahn Endowment Fund at the foundation. Kahn, who lived in San Diego’s Ocean Beach neighborhood for 50 years, died in 2022 and had no previous relationship with the foundation.

“Jay Kahn was a compassionate man who loved San Diego and wished for his legacy and estate to be used for the good of San Diego,” said San Diego Foundation president and CEO Mark Stuart. “We had no existing relationship with Jay until we learned that he believed San Diego Foundation would achieve his goal and honor his wishes. We are humbled by this incredible generosity, and we will honor Jay by continuing to inspire enduring philanthropy and enable community solutions to improve the quality of life in the San Diego region.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Mindy Nicole Photography)