Our Issue Areas
We provide guidance on a range of topics related to increasing the impact of mental health philanthropy and adjacent social issue areas.
Our experts constantly evaluate evolving mental health needs and search for opportunities to make a sustained impact on mental health, addiction, and well-being. While we engage with clients on a broad range of topics, our public guidance focuses on the following issue areas due to their strategic importance for building the field and timeliness for impact.
Women & Girls’ Mental Health
Mental health is the leading cause of disability for women globally, and it affects outcomes in many other issues that funders care about. Yet, women and girls’ mental health remains overlooked and undervalued by philanthropy. Funders dedicated to supporting women and girls can amplify their impact by incorporating mental health into their giving strategies. Investing in this area can not only create individual benefits but also drive broader economic and societal change.
Culturally-Led Programs
Communities of color often experience disproportionately higher rates of mental health and substance use disorders. Factors such as racism, intergenerational trauma, and misalignment of treatment approaches with cultural considerations also keep communities of color from receiving high quality mental healthcare. Culturally-led programs can support the mental health of communities of color by centering their unique needs, histories, and traditions to improve well-being. Our guidance provides considerations for identifying, assessing, and supporting such programs, which are often overlooked and underfunded by philanthropy.
Youth Mental Health
Youth anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and emergency department visits have all increased in recent years. With the proper resources, schools can effectively provide resources for young people to be mentally well and thrive. We designed our Thriving in Schools initiative to help funders address gaps in mental health education, resources and access to services. Key areas of investment include comprehensive mental health education, expanded clinical services and connections to care outside of school, and infrastructure development for program delivery.
Mental Health Crisis Care
Most crisis calls go to 911 and frequently result in a law enforcement response. For people in mental health crisis, this often results in high rates of trauma and tragedy, such as arrests and avoidable emergency department visits. Tragically, some of these calls even result in death.
988 is America’s first 3-digit mental health and addiction crisis line. Enacted by Congress in 2020, 988 is an opportunity for even greater change within mental health crisis reform. Mindful Philanthropy is helping funders support implementation of 988 at the state and local levels, to jumpstart the creation of a robust and equitable crisis response system that reaches far beyond the crisis line.
Work with Us
We work with funders of all shapes and sizes on additional topics not listed above, such as rural mental health, the school-to-prison pipeline, and women & girls. No matter what cause you care about, we can help on your journey to impact.
To learn more about our services for funders, click here or contact us at info@mindfulphilanthropy.org.
To request to join our portfolio of nonprofits in our donor database, submit an informational questionnaire here.