Communities That Care: The Power of Giving with Sanford Health

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Communities That Care: The Power of Giving with Sanford Health

Podcast: Advancing Health (American Hospital Association)
Date: November 3, 2025
Host: Sue Ellen Wagner (Vice President of Trustee Engagement and Strategy, AHA)
Guests:

• Bill Gassen (President and CEO, Sanford Health)
• Deb Koski (Chief Philanthropy Officer, Sanford Health)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Advancing Health explores the essential role of philanthropy in supporting hospitals and health systems, focusing on building and sustaining a culture of giving. Drawing from Sanford Health’s leadership and experience, the conversation centers on the strategies to foster a philanthropic spirit among staff, board members, and the broader community—and why genuine engagement at every organizational level drives both patient care and employee fulfillment.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Impact and Importance of Philanthropy in Healthcare

[01:06–03:29]

• Bill Gassen emphasizes philanthropy as a critical lever for fulfilling Sanford Health’s mission: “Philanthropy is a really critical leverage that gives us a distinct advantage in living out our mission at Sanford Health. Our mission is to care, comfort, and cure.” ([01:16])
• Philanthropy fuels capabilities beyond finances, galvanizing communities and inviting everyone (not just clinical staff) to participate in the mission.
• The hospital’s operational reality: “The needs are infinite, but the resources are finite.” ([02:18]) Philanthropy helps stretch limited resources and offers support to caregivers who feel validated by community backing.
• Importance of inclusivity in giving: “Whether it’s $1 or whether it’s many, many more dollars, you’re making a difference with those dollars and you’re helping us meet our patients where they are at.” ([02:00])

2. Community Engagement and the Spectrum of Giving

[03:29–04:42]

• Deb Koski highlights how Sanford Health rallies entire communities—patients, leaders, businesses—around its mission, through everything from “guardian angel” gratitude programs to social media events.
• 20,000 active donors give annually, from “a dollar per pay period to seven-figure gifts.” ([03:55])
• Rural access spotlight: Despite geographic isolation, communities take pride in high-quality care and are motivated to support it.
• Bill adds that philanthropy is a powerful storytelling tool: “Philanthropy allows us to really tell the story…[and] get the message out to people in our communities.” ([04:42])

3. Creating a Culture of Giving: Leadership's Role

[05:13–09:05]

• Leadership example is vital for embedding philanthropy into organizational culture:
  • “It’s vital that our leadership, that our board members... set that example, which I am so grateful that they do.... It helps us all come together to drive that common culture.” —Bill Gassen ([05:42])
  • Giving at the top does not discourage others; “Giving begets giving… We really see it as a mobilizing force where more individuals start to give.” ([06:25])
• Deb Koski expands with concrete evidence of cultural change:
  • CEO’s personal giving set a powerful precedent (“One of his first acts when he became our CEO five years ago was to make a gift himself, he and his family.” [07:49])
  • 100% of the C-suite, 90% of VPs and above, nearly 50% of physicians, and over 30% of all employees contribute financially. Even remote facilities participate.
  • “Our ENPS [employee engagement] scores have risen. I really believe that’s because they feel like they’re part of something.” ([08:48])

4. Operational Integration of Philanthropy

[09:05–10:26]

• Deb’s philanthropy team is “embedded in our operational teams”—ensuring donor initiatives align with real, organization-wide priorities.
• “There’s no daylight between the priorities for what we’re doing at the Sanford Health foundation and what’s happening in each one of our medical centers, each one of our clinics, our long-term care facilities.” —Bill Gassen ([09:47])

5. Advice for Developing or Enhancing Philanthropy Strategies

[10:26–13:24]

• Deb emphasizes the need for executive embrace: “It really has to start from the top, in my opinion. So you have to embrace philanthropy. You have to talk about it.” ([10:44])
• Sanford Health’s CFO considers philanthropy “one of the three legs of the stool” for organizational revenue, validating its importance and motivating the philanthropy team.
• Bill highlights health care’s “unassailable cause”—serving everyone regardless of ability to pay, in both urban and remote areas.
• Tribute to Denny Sanford: “Mr. Sanford has already given $1.5 billion... [which] has been a catalyst allowing us to advance care in communities that we could have never done that in.” ([12:04])
• “Giving begets other giving”—large gifts inspire others, and donors often express gratitude for being part of Sanford’s mission.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Our mission is to care, comfort, and cure… A major way in which we fuel those characteristics… is really by bringing alongside philanthropy.”
  —Bill Gassen ([01:16])

• “We have about 20,000 active donors who are giving every year, from, you know, a dollar per pay period to seven-figure gifts. So we just really have the spectrum of people who support us.”
  —Deb Koski ([03:55])

• “It’s vital that our leadership, that our board members... set that example.”
  —Bill Gassen ([05:42])

• “Currently today, the C suite... 100% of them are giving. That has cascaded now to where we have 90% of our VPs and above giving, also influenced our physicians... Over 30% of our employees are giving.”
  —Deb Koski ([08:12])

• “We have an unassailable cause: to be there for every individual, regardless of their ability to pay, no matter whether they are living in some of our most densely populated urban communities or... rural or frontier communities.”
  —Bill Gassen ([11:33])

• “Time and time and time again, we have our donors come back to us and say, thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the mission at Sanford Health.”
  —Bill Gassen ([13:09])

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Key Timestamps

• 00:23–01:06: Host introduction to guests, the theme of philanthropy in healthcare.
• 01:06–03:29: Bill Gassen on the role of philanthropy and its broader impact.
• 03:29–04:42: Deb Koski on community engagement and donor spectrum.
• 05:13–06:55: Culture of giving; leadership and board buy-in.
• 07:44–08:55: Concrete evidence of Sanford’s pervasive giving culture and outcomes.
• 09:05–10:26: Philanthropy team’s integration with operations.
• 10:44–11:31: Strategic advice; top-down engagement’s necessity.
• 11:31–13:24: Universal access mission, Denny Sanford’s impact, and donors’ gratitude.

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Conclusion

Sanford Health’s experience showcases the transformative potential of philanthropy, rooted in inclusive culture, strong leadership example, operational integration, and authentic community engagement. Their approach demonstrates that a hospital’s mission comes alive when every stakeholder—board, leaders, physicians, staff, patients, and donors—feels empowered and proud to contribute, no matter the size or nature of their gift.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Advancing Health. Philanthropy supporting hospitals and health systems doesn't spring out of nowhere. It's nurtured and sustained by building a culture of giving. In today's podcast, we learn more about how to create that culture and why it's so important to get employee engagement and buy in.

[B]

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Advancing Health. I'm Sue Ellen Wagner, Vice President of Trustee Engagement and Strategy with the American Hospital Association. I'm very happy to have leadership from Sanford Health with me for this podcast, and I'm pleased to be speaking with Bill Gassen, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Deb Koski, Chief Philanthropy Officer. Philanthropy, as you know, can have a huge impact in helping a hospital or a health system achieve its mission of caring for patients while supporting operations. What role is philanthropy playing right now in healthcare? And if you could also include the role that it's playing, playing in Sanford Health, that would be great. Bill, let's start with you.

[C]

Sounds great. Well, thank you for the opportunity to meet with you. It's a pleasure to be here with my colleague Deb Koski, as we have the opportunity to really share the power of philanthropy and really especially what that means for us in healthcare across this country, but really specifically what it means for us at Stanford Health. And I'll start with this. Philanthropy is a really critical leverage that gives us a distinct advantage in living out our mission at Stanford Health. Our mission is to care, comfort, and cure. And we do that through a variety of different capabilities and characteristics. But a major way in which we fuel those characteristics and those different capabilities at Sanford Health is really by bringing alongside philanthropy. And philanthropy does a whole lot more than just help fuel it from a financial perspective. But as Deb leads the foundation for us at Sanford Health, and she knows best, it also helps galvanize our communities. Community based, not for profits. Our constituents are our patients and the communities that we have the privilege of serving. And philanthropy allows everybody to be a part of that mission. So even if you're not one of the individuals who's been called to serve at the bedside, that you're not one of the individuals that's providing direct patient care, you can be a part of fulfilling that mission in the community by giving. Fill in. And as Deb knows best, whether it's $1 or whether it's many, many more dollars, you're making a difference with those dollars and you're helping us meet our patients where they are at. And it's a critical part of allowing us to be able to do the things that we do, especially on A limited budget, we always say, for us at Sanford Health and really for the entire field, for our hospitals and our health systems, the needs are infinite, but the resources are finite. And one of the ways that we're able to do more with what we have is because of philanthropy and the opportunity, again, to be able to mobilize communities, to be able to bring people inside. The mission is something that not only helps us meet the needs from a financial perspective, but it also makes a big difference for our caregivers as well, too. When our caregivers know that community leaders are behind them and, and they're giving with their time, they're giving with their talents, and they're giving with their earthly treasures, that makes a difference for them as well, too.

[D]

Really well said, Bill. I think one of the things that I'm most proud of is how we have engaged our communities. We really have patients and community leaders and businesses really rally around Samford Health in every community that we are in. And that's everything from guardian angel type gratitude that's expressed by patients to attending our events, listening to radio or video on our social channels. So we just have amazing engagement by our communities. And Bill's right. We have about 20,000 active donors who are giving every year from, you know, a dollar per pay period to seven figure gifts. So we just really have the spectrum of people who support us. And I think, you know, rallying around our mission to care, comfort and cure has been a real rallying cry for people. They resonate with that and they're really proud to be affiliated with Stanford Health and helping us accelerate all those great things and the, frankly, the access they have to healthcare. We're very rural, but we have access to amazing health care here in the Midwest, in the Stanford footprint, and people are grateful for that and they want to support it.

[C]

Deb, maybe one other thing I would add to that is the other thing that philanthropy allows us to do is to really tell the story. And this day and age, we know how critically important it is to make sure that we're getting the message out to the people in our communities, to our patients, to the individuals who are part of our care teams that are working with us day in and day out and really across this country so people know and understand how important the work of our hospitals and our health systems really are as part of that critical infrastructure to this country.

[B]

I think it's great that you talked about telling the hospital story and how it's important for everyone who gives to see themselves as part of that story. So thank you so much for sharing that. Let's move on, and let's talk about the culture of giving. Why is it important to support the culture of giving? And how does the board and leadership really begin this kind of culture? Bill, if we start with you again, that would be great.

[C]

Yeah. So I would say this from a cultural perspective. It's vital that our leadership, that our board members, whether they're local board of directors, whether it's our board of trustees that oversees the entirety of our organization, for them to be able to set that example, which I am so grateful that they do, that so many of our leaders across this organization not only lead with their voices, but they lead with their actions, and they're at the front lines of a lot of that giving. And an important part of that, again, is that it helps everybody know and understand that they get to be a part of that mission, that they get to be a part of making a difference and allowing us to be able to do more with the resources that we have today. And again, it's a real strong. We say this oftentimes at Sanford Health, that it helps us all come together to drive that common culture that says that we know how important the work is and everybody gets to be a part of that work, whether you are somebody who's caring for a patient or whether you're somebody who's caring for those who care for our patients. And by joining in and being a part of philanthropy, you get to be a part of that. And we believe that when that happens, there's a level of fulfillment that happens for the individual. We know that it makes a difference to be able to give. We know that that helps change hearts and it changes minds. Giving begets giving, which is another really important principle. Deb talks about this better than anybody, that as we see individuals in our community step up to make major financial contributions, that that doesn't quiet other giving. We don't see community members say, well, I'm not going to give, because Deb's giving and she's taking care of those needs. But instead, we really see it as a mobilizing force where more individuals start to give as well, because they want to be a part of that.

[B]

Deb, would you like to elaborate a little more from your perspective?

[D]

Yes, I would. I'm really excited to talk about this, frankly, because I think Samford Health does this really well. Our leaders just incredible in the support that they provide. And Bill is too humble to say this, but one of his first acts when he became our CEO five years ago, was to make a gift himself, he and his family. I've been here about over 20 years and so I can say with sincerity that that kind of leadership has completely changed the culture of giving at Sanford Health, currently today, the C suite. So all of Bill's direct reports, 100% of them are giving. They do that because they want to. They attend almost every signature event we have. And our organization, which is quite a feat because we are spread out geographically, they have to travel to go to signature events in all of our markets, but they go and they give proudly. That has cascaded now to where we have 90% of our BPs and above. Giving also influenced our physicians. We have almost 50% of our physicians giving, which I think is incredible. And I know in the industry that that's, that's a pretty impressive number. Over 30% of our employees are giving, including our Good Sam facilities. So we just have incredible engagement. We've also seen, ironically, our ENPS scores rise. And I really believe that that's because they feel like they're part of something.

[C]

You know, one of the things that Deb has done so well over the last 20 years is that she has made sure that she's leveraging philanthropy to really connect people to the mission. Whether you're part of the organization and you're one of the non clinical members who is connecting into that mission, whether you're a patient. We have many of our patients and their lives have been transformed by the care that's been delivered and they want to be a part of that moving forward. And then we have members of the community that know how critically important it is, the work that we do and how important it is to have our hospitals and our health systems there 24 by 7, 365 days out of the year. But I think one of the ways that Deb has probably done this best is her team is embedded in our operational teams. And so the giving that happens, the initiatives that are underway and those campaigns are all connected right into those operational priorities. So there's no daylight between the priorities for what we're doing at the Sanford Health foundation and what's happening in each one of our medical centers, each one of our clinics, our long term care facilities. And to have that seamless connection not only creates the best results for the hospitals and the health systems themselves, but it also makes sure that there's a great level of connectivity to the mission and that the individuals in the community really do feel that they're a part of those care teams.

[B]

Any final thoughts that either of you would like to share to give our listeners any additional information to help them either begin a philanthropy strategy or enhance their own philanthropy strategy. You've given a lot of information, but I'm sure there's a couple of things that both of you can add.

[D]

Like I said, it really has to start from the top, in my opinion. So you have to embrace philanthropy. You have to talk about it. Our chief financial officer talks about philanthropy being one of the three legs of the stool in terms of revenue to the organization and the bottom line. And while that's a lot of pressure to be lifted up like that, it also validates the importance of it. And it has really, frankly motivated my team to work harder, do everything they can to bring in dollars to the organization. We have been made to feel like we make a difference. The work we do truly is helping us provide a better level of care to our patients and our employees.

[C]

As hospitals and health systems, we can't forget that one of the most significant advantages that we have on our side, especially when it comes to philanthropy, is that we have an unassailable cause to be there for every individual, regardless of their ability to pay, no matter whether they are living in some of our most densely populated urban communities or whether they are in some of the most rural or frontier communities that are geographically isolated. Hospitals and health systems like Samford Health are here to meet their needs. And I would be remiss anytime we at Samford Health have the opportunity to talk about philanthropy, to not lift up healthcare's greatest philanthropist, our namesake and our most significant benefactor, Mr. Denny Sanford. As we sit here today in 2025, Mr. Sanford has already given $1.5 billion to Sanford Health to help do exactly what Debs talked about. It's been a catalyst allowing us to advance care in communities that we could have never done that in. And so for us, we always talk about at Sanford Health that giving begets other giving. And we have seen that happen. And so to know that when we have the ability to go to philanthropists or potential philanthropists to say, we want you to be a part of our mission, to know that we're asking for them to come alongside and to partner in some of the most rewarding work that could possibly exist is something that should embolden us to go out to be able to engage other people. And Deb knows this as well as anybody. Time and time and time again, we have our donors come back to us and say, thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the mission at Sanford Health.

[B]

Thank you, Bill and Deb for being with us today. Clearly, Sanford Health is a leading practice in philanthropy, and I think a lot of what you shared, leveraging the philanthropy to connect to your mission, involving leadership and your employees has gone such a long way to your successes. Thank you again for being with us.

[C]

Thank you.

[D]

Thank you so much.

[A]

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