CRAZY HORSE – “As we approach 60 years of carving the mountain, this is an absolutely wonderful way to celebrate and to help continue our progress,” exclaimed Ruth Ziolkowski, President/CEO of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, at the Thursday, Dec. 20, press conference announcing a $5 million dollar matching gift.

 “This very generous challenge grant will help advance the dream started by Korczak and Henry Standing Bear.”  The gift is being given by the T. Denny Sanford Foundation.  Sanford is a well-known philanthropist whose generosity has left imprints all across South Dakota. (See a brief profile of Mr. Sanford here.)

The $5 million Sanford Challenge Grant matches 100% of every dollar donated, effectively doubling a donor’s gift. The net result of this matching gift will be $10 million dollars for work on the mountain to accelerate the progress. “Crazy Horse remains committed to Korczak’s founding principle of creating this Memorial without any government tax dollars and the generosity of Mr. Sanford is right in line with that philosophy,” Mrs. Ziolkowski said.

“South Dakota has been good to me and it’s time to give back – and I’m doing that through Crazy Horse.  I have long admired the years of dedication and hard, hard work by the family and their passion for Crazy Horse,” Sanford said. 

The first million of the match has already been raised, giving the foundation a strong start. There is a four-year time limit to raise the remaining $4 million and the clock started ticking on Oct. 1, 2007. Gifts-in-kind, such as equipment for the mountain, can be used for the match.

The gift is exclusively to accelerate work on the horse’s head. This will be accomplished by hiring more workers, upgrading and expanding the line of equipment and advanced technology.   

This is the largest gift in the project’s 60-year history.  The previous largest gift was $1.7 million by Illinois businessman Gerald Forsythe.

Crazy Horse Memorial is a nonprofit, educational and cultural project honoring American Indians. The massive mountain carving now in progress is 641 feet long and 563 feet high and is being carved three dimensionally in the round. The 60^th anniversary of the first blast on the mountain will be celebrated on June 3, 2008.

Event photo gallery