Sioux Falls-based Sanford Health has announced the completion of an historic $400 million commitment made by philanthropist Denny Sanford in 2007 — more than five years ahead of schedule.

To make good on the largest philanthropic gift to a hospital or health system in the nation's history, the South Dakota-based Sanford agreed to make donation installments of $50 million over an eight-year period. Sanford Health received the first $50 million in February 2007. Sanford subsequently decided to accelerate his donations over the next two years, and Sanford Health received the final installment of the gift on April 3.

The gift supports four major initiatives: research, a project to cure Type 1 diabetes, the creation of a state-of-the-art healthcare "campus of the future," and a major investment in children, including the establishment of five pediatric clinics in areas of need across the country. Prior installments of the gift have already made it possible for Sanford Research/USD to recruit more than a hundred researchers and staff; for the Sanford Project, which aims to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes, to put together a leadership team from around the world; and for the first Sanford Children's world pediatric clinic to open this summer in Duncan, Oklahoma.

"By completing his pledge in just over two years, Mr. Sanford has once again taught us the value of commitment, the strength of a promise, and the power of finishing what one begins," said Sanford Health president and CEO Kelby K. Krabbenhoft. "His pledge was the largest in history to a healthcare organization, and now his final payment makes that a reality."