$75 million gift from Thomas and Elizabeth Grainger aims to reimagine the future of healthcare delivery through a fully integrated digital and physical ecosystem

Mayo Clinic has announced a landmark $75 million gift from the Thomas and Elizabeth Grainger family to advance its ambitious Bold. Forward. Unbound Initiative in Rochester, Minnesota—a $5 billion transformation plan reimagining the future of healthcare delivery through a fully integrated digital and physical ecosystem.

In recognition of the gift, Mayo Clinic will name the Grainger Building, a next-generation healthcare logistics hub designed to power the new clinical campus set to open in 2028. The facility will serve as the anchor for a first-of-its-kind supply and automation network that delivers essential medical resources seamlessly to care teams across the new complex.

With advanced AI, robotics, and smart storage, the Grainger Building will improve operational efficiency and enable medical professionals to focus on patient care.

“This contribution embodies the Grainger family’s enduring belief in Mayo Clinic’s mission,” said Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. “Their vision and partnership enable us to establish a new global standard in healthcare logistics—one that redefines how care is delivered and experienced.”

The Grainger Building will feature intelligent systems that automatically restock medical supplies throughout the new campus. Autonomous mobile robots will traverse a 900-foot underground tunnel, connecting the logistics hub to the downtown clinical towers. This continuous, adaptive support makes the physical facility an invisible yet vital member of each patient’s care team—anticipating needs, automating logistics, and creating more time for hands-on healing.

Thomas Grainger, a fourth-generation member of the family whose legacy includes the industrial supply giant W.W. Grainger, Inc., described the family’s motivation as an extension of both gratitude and conviction.

“We feel privileged and proud to team with an organization that not only has comprehensively delivered the best healthcare on the planet for more than 160 years but is now positioned better than ever to do more of what they do—faster and better,” he said.

The Grainger family’s philanthropic relationship with Mayo Clinic spans decades and multiple generations. Their gifts have supported research and advancement across several fields, including precision psychiatry, bipolar disorder, digital health technologies, and urology. Both Thomas and Elizabeth Grainger—and Thomas’s parents, David and Juli Grainger—are recognized by Mayo Clinic as Philanthropic Partners, the institution’s highest distinction for benefactors.

Founded in 1927 by William Grainger, W.W. Grainger, Inc. is widely known as one of the world’s leading industrial supply firms. The Grainger Foundation, established by later generations of the family, has continued the legacy of corporate and personal generosity, with sustained support for innovations in science, healthcare, and education.

Through this new gift, the Grainger family’s name will become permanently linked to one of the most advanced infrastructures for medical logistics in the world.

The Grainger Building represents not only an evolution in hospital design and digital integration but also a profound statement of trust in Mayo Clinic’s vision to continuously elevate patient-centered care.

As Rochester’s new medical campus takes shape over the coming years, the Grainger family’s $75 million investment will serve as both a catalyst for innovation and a reminder of the enduring power of philanthropy to shape the future of global healthcare.