Two weeks after donating $30 million to the San Diego Zoo, La Jolla philanthropist Denny Sanford has pledged the same amount to help put 3,000 students through college, including some who’ll attend UC San Diego and National University.

Sanford made the new $30 million gift to the Horatio Alger Association, a Virginia-based nonprofit that provides scholarships to students who have overcome personal adversity to pursue advanced education.

The 82-year-old billionaire has donated upward of $843 million nationally over the past 11 years, including more than $200 million to institutions based in San Diego County. Much of the money has gone for health and biomedical research.

But Sanford, who began working in his father’s warehouse at age 8, has paid special attention to promoting the health, welfare and education of children and young people. He’s been devoting much of his time to the Horatio Alger Association, which bears the name of the 19th century writer who became famous for his stories about boys who fought through poverty to become successful adults.


“The association is unlike anything else,” Sanford told the Union-Tribune. “It provides scholarships to children who’ve done well in high school despite experiencing incredible disadvantages.”

Sanford said he was particularly touched by the story of a young Horatio Alger scholarship recipient who managed to excel even though her father died when she was young, and her mother ended up in prison for selling drugs.

“The girl was the star of her high school basketball team, captain of the volleyball team, and set state records in track,” Sanford said, shaking his head in amazement.

“My own mother went into the hospital with breast cancer when I was three, and died when I was four. That influenced my own desire to help kids.”


The $30 million gift to the association will underwrite scholarships at 12 universities, including seven in South Dakota, where Sanford founded First Premier Bank, a major distributor of credit cards. The bank is the source of Sanford’s wealth, which Forbes magazine estimated to be $2.1 billion last year.

UC San Diego and National University, which is based in San Diego, will each receive $2.5 million in scholarship funding. The $30 million endowment also includes money for the University of Minnesota, where Sanford went to college, Long Island University, where he has helped with an entrepreneurship program, and Arizona State University, which helped him develop a program that cultivates communication and conflict resolution among school children.

Much of the research that was done at Arizona State has been further developed by National University, which received a $28 million gift from Sanford last year to improve teacher education and training people to effectively raise money for nonprofit organizations.

“Denny also was very influential in helping us to get an additional $50 million in gifts from anonymous donors,” said National Chancellor Michael R. Cunningham. “He has been so helpful.


“And he’s the most regular guy you’ll ever meet. You’d never know he is a billionaire. He’s amassed wealth that he doesn’t spend on himself. He flies coach on Southwest, and he doesn’t buy soda or candy at the movies because he thinks they’re too expensive. He brings in water.

“He isn’t frivolous with money. He uses it to help people.”

More donations are likely. Sanford signed the Giving Pledge, which means he’s formally agreed to give away more than half of his wealth. The program was developed by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates as a way of expanding philanthropy.


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Twitter: @grobbins

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com