Sanford Health
Legal name: Sanford Group Return
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 453791176
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sioux Falls, SD, United States
- Phone
- 6053331000
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,110,580,553
- Expenses
- $5,829,138,669
- Assets
- $4,274,026,030
- Liabilities
- $1,142,418,868
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
31 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BILL GASSEN (TRUSTEE, PRESIDENT & CEO)
- PAUL HANSON (PRESIDENT & CEO, SIOUX FALLS)
- TIFFANY LAWRENCE (PRESIDENT & CEO, FARGO)
- TODD SCHAFFER (PRESIDENT & CEO, BISMARCK)
- KARLA EISCHENS (PRESIDENT & CEO, BEMIDJI)
- SUSAN JARVIS (FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO, BEMIDJI)
Highest reported compensation
- BILL GASSEN (TRUSTEE, PRESIDENT & CEO): $4,999,360 total reported compensation
- WILLIAM BRUNNER MD (PHYSICIAN): $3,333,557 total reported compensation
- ADAM STYS MD (PHYSICIAN): $3,303,293 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization has 55,000 employees and serves over 2 million patients and nearly 415,000 health plan members across the upper Midwest, including South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As we grow, our policies, procedures and systems continue to support those who need it most. We’re focused on improving health outcomes and creating welcoming environments where we foster safety and respect regardless of lived experiences, backgrounds or socioeconomic status. Each year, throughout the Sanford Health system there are:.
What it reported doing in 2024
Sanford health provides high quality medical educational and professional development that is evidence and research based; accredited for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health professionals and scientists; inclusive of cultural differences and addresses the need for specialty training. Sanford health is dedicated to preparing health care professionals for the future. The sanford promise program connects students, educators and communities with science and research in health care at a secondary education age. Sanford works in partnership with universities to provide rotations for medical students, residencies and fellowships. Sanford works in partnership with an extensive group of higher learning organizations to provide student training and learning opportunities in many venues across our region.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 97% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 52
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.2%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 95.7%; rating input score 96; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.6%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.3%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 88.2% of revenue deployed · 92.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.4B in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $5M · 31 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $205M reported
- Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 189 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 221 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.