The Sanford Project
Finding a Cure for Type 1 Diabetes
The Gift.
Funding The Sanford Project’s Search for a Cure.
For the past 100 years, Sanford Health – formerly know as Sioux Valley Health – has served patients across the upper Midwest, bringing health, healing and hope to hundreds of thousands of people. In the mid-1990’s, Sioux Valley saw that to continue its mission successfully for the next century, it would have to raise its performance and vision and moved forward by integrating over 325 physicians in 66 communities, creating facilities and infrastructure to support the organization and developing a culture based upon service excellence.
A huge part of this excellence has hinged on the help of one selfless visionary – T. Denny Sanford.
In 2007, Mr. Sanford made a monumental gift of $400 million to Sioux Valley that not only transformed the health system’s mission and vision, but literally transformed the newly named Sanford Health in expertise, reputation and scope of services.
The Sanford Health Board of Trustees and management team plan to structure and utilize this gift in a way that will provide immediate benefits in high priority projects and also lay a foundation to allow for world class care and continual medical advancements – including those within The Sanford Project.
This gift made more than The Sanford Project possible. Mr. Sanford’s donation will drive Sanford Health’s ability to become a medical research organization on par with Johns Hopkins, to obtain the caliber of excellence in medical education programs such as the Mayo Clinic and to be recognized for world class pediatric patient care and research on the level of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The entire region will reap the benefits of unprecedented advancements, not only in healthcare, but also in tremendous economic development through the transformational programs fueled by Mr. Sanford’s gift.
A gift of healthcare. A gift of life. A gift that’s already Improving the Human Condition.
"Thanks to the generosity of T. Denny Sanford, healthcare will be transformed for generations to come. “The gift" of $400 million will allow Sioux Valley, a century-old South Dakota based healthcare system, to improve the human condition as we move forward as Sanford Health. We will courageously attack some of the greatest healthcare issues of our time through an innovative, focused approach to patient care, research and education."
- Kelby Krabbenhoft, CEO, Sanford
T. Denny Sanford
Chairman and CEO United National Corporation Sioux Falls, SD
T. Denny Sanford was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, December 23, 1935, at the height of the Great Depression.
Soon after completing his undergraduate degree, Mr. Sanford was recruited by Armstrong Cork Company for a job in sales and marketing management. In 1960, he left Armstrong Cork to found a manufacturers’ representative company promoting technical products through architects and engineers, initially in the north central US, then nationally. In 1964, he formed a regional distribution company that also expanded nationally.
In 1971, Mr. Sanford acquired a 50-year-old chemical company that specialized in architectural sealants, coatings and adhesive products from Sears & Roebuck. A year later he took the company known as Contech (for its construction technology products) public. Contech grew from 50 to 350 employees, and its R & D team developed many innovative products. It worked with architects across the U.S. and around the world on large commercial and industrial construction projects. Mr. Sanford sold Contech in 1982.
In 1983, Mr. Sanford created a venture capital fund to help young entrepreneurs establish promising businesses. The fund continues in operation and to date has financed 28 companies, of which 18 have become public corporations. In 1986, he purchased United National Bank, which was renamed First PREMIER Bank. Under his leadership, First PREMIER Bank, of which he is a majority owner, has grown into a company with assets of almost $1 billion. His other Sioux Falls business, PREMIER Bankcard Inc., has become a national leader in the credit card industry. Both companies are now controlled through his holding company, United National Corp, Sioux Falls.
In 2001, Mr. Sanford established the Sanford Foundation for charitable giving. In the years since, he has distinguished himself in the field of philanthropy by donating money to causes and organizations close to his heart. By 2005, he ranked 14th on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of America’s Most Generous Donors, with donations that year alone of more than $70.5 million to U.S. charitable causes, including $20 million to the Sioux Valley Health System for use in expansion projects involving the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. In 2006, he was named to the Business Week Top 50 list of most generous philanthropists in the United States. In 2007, Mr. Sanford made history when he announced a transformational $400 million gift to then Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System, which changed its name to Sanford Health in his honor.
Among Mr. Sanford’s other significant contributions have been $16 million to support construction of Sanford Children's Hospital, scheduled to open in 2009. He also gave $15 million to the Mayo Foundation, in Rochester, MN, to create a new pediatric outpatient center at the Mayo Clinic and support joint research by Mayo Clinic and Sanford Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls. Mr. Sanford is a generous donor to various child welfare, community and health related charities in the U.S., including $70 million to the Homestake Mine Project in South Dakota and significant gifts to the Children’s Home Society in Sioux Falls and United Way. Mr. Sanford also donated $20 million to establish the Sanford Children's Health Research Center at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research.
Mr. Sanford is an avid sportsman who enjoys golf, snow skiing and sailboat racing.