Sanford is well-connected in the community having served as past board member of the Mid-South Food Bank and Junior Achievement in Memphis. He is past president of the Memphis Rotary Club and is a Board Director of HER Faith Ministries.

He is co-founder of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis and currently serves as Chair of the Institute's advisory board. 

Sanford is past president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association and past board chair of the Mid-America Press Institute and currently serves on the board of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government.

In 2014, he was inducted into the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame.