A Midwestern product whose parents instilled the importance of giving back to your community and who has been working in the nonprofit arena since before he moved to San Diego, Jay Hill can hardly look at any community effort in the city without thinking about the number of people involved and the intense effort it took to make that project come to fruition.
“And all those projects and all those people who were involved, you could pull a thread and they all go back to the San Diego Foundation.”
Jay speaks from experience. He was the first CEO of the San Diego Public Library Foundation that was a catalyst in constructing a dozen new libraries during his tenure, and he is the first executive director of the Dr. Seuss Foundation, an San Diego Foundation (SDF) nonprofit partner that’s invested more than $300 million in philanthropic causes supporting early education, literacy, the environment, and health.
He also proudly serves on the SDF Fifty & Forward Campaign Council, which is driving the Foundation’s 50th-anniversary goal of granting $500 million to realize San Diego’s greatest opportunities in three key areas: education, children and families, and the environment – and raising $1 billion to help shape our community’s future.
“I want the campaign to be super successful, obviously, and I want people to better understand the critical role that San Diego Foundation plays,” he said, adding that he so trusts SDF that he has established his own dedicated funding streams at the Foundation. “I know that even if I just left it unrestricted, I would have full confidence that it’s going to benefit San Diego, and it’s going to create opportunities for people who don’t have them.”
Investing in Our Community
Philanthropy and volunteerism run in Jay’s family. Both parents had a generous spirit, and his mom served as a former chair of the Kalamazoo, Mich., YMCA board and also led an organization raising funds to fight cancer.
After graduating with a journalism and communications degree from the University of Michigan, Jay eventually became a researcher and writer for ABC Sports and News, and later for Newsweek, where he was assigned to the 1986 World Cup soccer before moving to the publishing side. In 1982, Jay came out as a gay man, and he was later hired as executive director of NY in ‘94, the nonprofit that organized the 1994 Gay Games in New York with more than 11,000 athletes from 43 countries.
His most profound fundraising lesson was on a more personal level.
“I remember I did a bike ride to raise money for AIDS and someone gave me a $1,000 and it just shocked me. I thought, ‘holy cow!’ I never would have considered it. And I just started talking to people and as I noticed that there were shared values, and I could talk to them and that they wanted to make a difference.”
A New Frontier
Jay moved from New York to San Diego in 2003 during what he described as a midlife adjustment after his father passed. His experience with the Gay Games convinced him to focus on nonprofit work.
Almost immediately, Jay landed a position as Director of Development with the San Diego Public Library Foundation, eventually rising to the level of Executive Director. Since 2019, he has been at the Dr. Seuss Foundation, which this past summer teamed with SDF to award more than $1.3 million in grants to local nonprofits supporting early childhood education and families with children 5 years old or younger.
“The Dr. Seuss Foundation is committed to improving literacy and learning, and through this partnership, we are focused on ensuring young children have access to learning opportunities that build the foundation for lifelong success,” Hill said.
He holds nothing back when describing the impact of SDF.
“It is the philanthropy, the nonprofit of the San Diego region…It doesn’t matter what issue it is, San Diego Foundation is there.”
Why the SDF Fifty & Forward Campaign?
“There’s a lot of reasons, but at the end of the day whenever people get involved, you want it to be with an organization and people that you believe in. I believe in San Diego Foundation.”
