Salesforce CEO gives $150M to two Hawaiʻi hospitals

Salesforce Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne Benioff, today announced one of the largest single private donations in Hawai’i’s history.

Developed through more than a year of collaboration across three different hospitals, the donation provides $50 million for Hilo Medical Center to build out critical areas of care, including a state-of-the-art family birthing center, intensive care unit and neurosurgical program as well as behavioral health services. It also provides $100 million for Hawai‘i Pacific Health, one of the state’s largest nonprofit healthcare organizations, to help create a “healthcare campus of the future” at Honolulu-based Straub Medical Center.

As part of the vision, San Francisco-based UCSF Health will expand its efforts to support Hawai‘i patients in need of specialist care. Hilo Medical Center, Straub Medical Center and UCSF Health have agreed to extend the reach of UCSF clinical expertise and bring specialized care in areas such as oncology and neurology to more residents across the state.

“This huge donation will support the care for thousands of critically ill people in Hawai’i,” said Hawai’i Gov. Josh Green, M.D. “This generosity is a game-changer for our state.”

The expansion of Hilo Medical Center is a unique public-private partnership, with the $50 million from the Benioffs matching a previous, separate $50 million appropriation from the State of Hawai‘i. In addition to building out critical areas of care, the donation will support an expansion of Hilo Medical Center’s physician recruitment program. The Benioffs’ $100 million gift to Hawai‘i Pacific Health will support a visionary renovation project that will triple the size of Straub Medical Center, which includes the state’s only Burn Unit, lifesaving services, community outreach and education that furthers local clinical research.

In recognition of Lynne and Marc Benioff’s longstanding partnership and contributions to Hawai’i healthcare, the Hilo Medical Center will be renamed the Hilo Benioff Medical Center and the Honolulu-based Straub Medical Center will become the Straub Benioff Medical Center.

“Our philosophy has always been to give locally and to give through experts who deeply understand local needs, and we are so pleased to have found that with the wonderful, lifesaving teams at Hilo Medical Center, Hawai‘i Pacific Health and UCSF Health,” said Marc and Lynne Benioff. “We feel fortunate to have been part of the Hawai‘i community for many decades and to be able to support our ʻohana in this way. Nothing is more important than the health of our community, and access to care for all who need it.”

Benioff is the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Salesforce Inc., a software company that owns the popular messaging service slack and is worth nearly $300 billion. Benioff’s connection to Hawai’i has grown in recent years, with his properties on Hawai’i Island totaling more than 600 acres of land, according to a report published on NPR last week.

The gift brings the Benioffs’ total philanthropy in Hawai‘i to more than $250 million, including recent gifts of 282 acres for affordable housing on the Island of Hawai’i and another 158 acres owned by a separate nonprofit entity for charitable use.

The gift builds on previous philanthropic efforts by the Benioffs to expand healthcare and emergency services in Hawai‘i, including funding for state-of-the-art medical helicopters and fire trucks; support for Hawai’i Island Community Health Center, Kona Hospital Foundation; previous contributions for Hilo Medical Center; providing housing for medical staff and other support at Queen’s North Hawai’i Community Hospital in Waimea; and a $5 million gift to support Gov. Green’s HELP program aimed at recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals.

In all, the Benioffs’ personal philanthropic giving totals more than $1 billion, including $600 million in healthcare donations in Hawai’i, San Francisco and across the country.