Mayo Clinic Lands $75 Million to Automate Its Supply Chain Logistics

An heir to an industrial supply fortune and his wife gave $75 million to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, N.Y. Thomas and Elizabeth Grainger’s gift will support the construction of the Grainger Building, a high-tech logistics center where intelligent storage systems and A.I.-driven forecasting will be used to automatically restock supplies across the medical center’s new campus. 

Autonomous mobile robots will service the clinical buildings through a 900-foot underground tunnel. The Grainger Building is scheduled to open in 2028 and is part of a campus renovation and expansion.

Thomas Grainger’s grandfather, William Grainger, founded W.W. Grainger in 1927. His father, David, served as CEO of the company and as a director for more than 50 years. The Grainger family are longtime Mayo Clinic donors going back four generations. They’ve supported a range of causes including precision psychiatry, bipolar disorder research, the Center for Digital Health, and urology research and education programs.

Other recent big gifts Include:

University of Chicago

Rika and Joe Mansueto pledged $50 million to launch the Mansueto Faculty of Mind and Machine Challenge. It will support the hiring of 20 new faculty to research the use of artificial intelligence across academic fields, including the arts and humanities, social sciences, science, medicine, economics, business, law, and other disciplines. The couple will match donations from other donors who want to support the effort. University officials hope to raise up to $200 million.

Joe Mansueto is chairman of Morningstar, an investment-research firm in Chicago. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the university in 1978 and an M.B.A. from its Booth School of Business in 1980. Rika Mansueto earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the university in 1991. The couple appeared on the Chronicle’s Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors in 2016.

Plus, David Rubenstein gave the university $50 million to renovate Ida Noyes Hall, a 110-year-old building that houses offices, academic and extracurricular spaces for students, the undergraduate career services office, and the Center for Spiritual Life. Rubenstein co-founded the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm in Washington. He earned a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973 and has appeared on the Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors six times. 

University of Cincinnati College of Law 

The children of Donald P. Klekamp pledged $43.2 million to rename the law school after their father. The gift will support scholarships, the Corporate Law Center, and other programs. The donors are Peter Klekamp, Jody Klekamp, Amy Geers, Molly Tassone, and Rebecca Keating. Donald Klekamp co-founded Keating Muething & Klekamp, a Cincinnati law firm where he served as senior partner before retiring. He earned a law degree from the school in 1957.

Social Finance Fund

Mollie Carter pledged $25 million to establish the Tuesday Fund, which will invest in businesses and support programs focused on improving the economic mobility of low-income individuals and families. Carter is executive chairman of FirstSun Capital Bancorp and Sunflower Bank, in Dallas.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.