Bob Kelly has spent his career building philanthropic infrastructure in San Diego. He built the San Diego Foundation from the ground up — one of the most significant civic institutions in the region’s history. He knows what happens when a community decides something matters enough to fund it.
So when he started asking where the money was going for older adults — really asking, with data — the answer stopped him cold.
Less than 2% of charitable dollars in the United States go toward older adults. In San Diego, when you take the total philanthropic investment directed toward aging-focused causes and divide it across 730,000 residents over 60, you get $26 per person per year.
Twenty-six dollars. The average shelter dog receives more than twice that.
Bob didn’t see a gap. He saw an indictment.
He founded the San Diego Seniors Community Foundation — the first community foundation in the United States focused entirely on older adults — because he understood something most philanthropy had missed: this isn’t a niche cause. It’s everybody’s cause. Nobody has beaten becoming a senior yet. The fastest-growing demographic in America is also the most underfunded one.
The people who built San Diego’s hospitals, parks, schools, and civic institutions are receiving $26 a year in philanthropic support in return. That’s the math. That’s the gap. That’s why SDSCF exists.
The Longevity Fund is Bob’s answer to the $26 problem. Not a program — infrastructure. Financial backbone for the Longevity Club, elder fraud prevention, intergenerational programming, transportation access, and the advocacy that changes where philanthropy flows nationally.
Founding investors Grossmont Healthcare District, the Sahm Family Foundation, and West Health saw the same thing Bob did and didn’t wait. $530,000 committed at launch. $77,500 in inaugural grants out the door within weeks.
The goal is $2 million. The gap is $1.47 million. And the question Bob is asking now is the same one he’s always asked when he sees something worth building:
Who else is in?