The Landscape of Pediatric Behavioral Health

July 2023

By Ashley Roberts

As we learned in last week’s white paper on pediatric behavioral health fundraising, one area of growing need for many communities is increased demand for mental health resources, particularly for pediatric patients. Organizations are responding to this community need, and philanthropists, foundations, and corporations are in turn responding to the organizations’ fundraisings needs and have made some impactful, transformation gifts to support the cause, particularly in recent years.

There have been multiple capital projects announced in recent months, GOBEL highlights a few of the most recent below:

• Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital (New Jersey) opened new adult and pediatric Behavioral Health services offices.
• Wolfson Children’s Hospital (Florida) is renovating to open an inpatient behavior health unit.
• Akron Children’s Hospital (Ohio) opened a pediatric behavioral health center in Canton in order to help teenagers in crisis avoid hospitalization.
• Kentucky Children’s Hospital opened a new Behavioral Health Unit with 17 inpatient beds and corresponding spaces designed to meet the unique needs of children and adolescents who would benefit from more intensive mental and behavioral health interventions.
• University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland opened its first stand-alone outpatient Mental Health Services building dedicated to children and youth.
• Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (Michigan) has announced plans to open the Pediatric Behavioral Health Center of Excellence which would include psychiatric urgent care, a crisis stabilization unit, and specialty outpatient clinics to prevent mental health crises.

Since 2022, there have been over 15 $10M+ gifts announced worldwide that include at least some support of behavioral health capital and programmatic needs:

• The University Of Oregon Established The Ballmer Institute For Children’s Behavioral Health – March 2022
  The University of Oregon opened the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health to address the behavioral and mental health needs of Oregon’s children and adolescents. Located on the UO Portland’s northeast campus, the Ballmer Institute was made possible by a lead gift of more than $425M from Connie and Steve Ballmer, co-founders of Ballmer Group Philanthropy. Central to the work of the Ballmer Institute is the creation of the new child behavioral health academic major and bachelor’s degree program at the university. Upon graduation, child behavior health majors will become part of a new mental health profession, the child behavioral health specialist. These professionals will be prepared to deliver evidence-based mental health promotion, prevention, and care services in schools, health care systems, and community agencies.

• Oklahoma State University Receives a $120M Gift from T. Boone Pickens Foundation – June 2023
  Oklahoma State University received a $120M gift from the T. Boone Pickens Foundation. The majority of the donation will support student scholarships, helping to ensure more students have access to higher education and can pursue their dreams without financial burden. This gift will be designated to the Pickens legacy scholarship funds and will double the impact of donor contributions. Additionally, $25M will support the recently announced OSU Human Performance Innovation Complex which will enhance the health and wellness among students, OSU athletes, and the broader Oklahoma community, inspired by Mr. Pickens’ value of physical, mental, and spiritual health. The facility will house the Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute (HPNRI) and the Cowboy Football Center.

• Children’s National Hospital Receives $96M Investment For Rare Pediatric Brain Tumor Research & Care – June 2023
  Children’s National Hospital announced a $96M investment from an anonymous donor family to transform rare childhood brain tumor research and care. It is one of the largest donations in the hospital’s history. It allows Children’s National to recruit more top talent and advance the most promising research for safer, more effective treatments. The investment will elevate standards of care to help children with rare brain tumors thrive for a lifetime. Additionally, the funding will establish a “gold standard” clinical care models that help kids live well and cope with the unique circumstances of their diagnosis for their lifetimes; bolster programs that nurture patient and family resilience and well-being, including mental health, neuroscience nursing and child life, and provide critical supports to the whole family before, during, and after diagnosis.

• Child Mind Institute Receives $55M Stavros Niarchos Foundation Grant For Global Children’s Mental Health – June 2022
  The Child Mind Institute received $55M from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to establish the SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. The center will seek to expand access to effective mental health care for children and adolescents worldwide with initiatives to combat three of the greatest barriers to care: lack of information, limited access, and stigma. SNF and the Child Mind Institute have a long history of partnership. SNF served as one of the founding donors when the Child Mind Institute opened in 2009 and was instrumental in launching the non-profit’s Healthy Brain Network Initiative. Most recently, in 2021, SNF spearheaded the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative with the Child Mind Institute to help enhance child and adolescent mental health care capacity and strengthen the infrastructure for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of mental health struggles faced by children and adolescents in Greece.

• Jude Children’s Hospital Received $50M From AbbVie, Supporting A Family Commons – January 2023
  AbbVie’s gift supported the construction of a new 45,000 square foot Family Commons, the first-ever treatment-and-clinical-staff-free floor at the hospital and research institution offering patients and families a home-like space to find comfort and respite, exercise their minds, and fuel their imaginations in between clinic appointments. Additionally, the donation has supported patient families with non-clinical services, such as music therapy and school programming, that will continue in Family Commons.

• $45M AUD Donation To Autism Research At La Trobe University – March 2022
  The late Olga Tennison, a philanthropist with a life-long interest in autism sparked by a family connection, made this historic gift via her estate to La Trobe University. In 2008, she was responsible for the establishment of Australia’s first research centre dedicated to autism – the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC). Researchers at La Trobe University’s OTARC conduct internationally recognized autism research across the lifespan, including early detection and diagnosis, intervention and supports, and employment and wellbeing. The gift is endowed and will be held in perpetuity to support the work of OTARC.

• NewYork-Presbyterian Announced $35M Gift From The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation To Address The Youth Mental Health Crisis And Expand Behavioral Health Services – July 2023
  NewYork-Presbyterian announced a $35M gift from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation to address the youth mental health crisis through the expansion of its behavioral health services for children and adolescents. With this gift, NewYork-Presbyterian will expand child and adolescent inpatient units and create a state-of-the-art ambulatory behavioral health center at NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health in White Plains; build upon its telepsychiatry services; and develop programs to increase awareness and access to youth mental health care and resources in the community.

• Monash University Receives $30M AUD To Support Vital Australian Brain And Mental Health Research – August 2022
  Monash University received a $30M AUD philanthropic gift to fund mental health research and preventative treatment initiatives to improve the lives of Australians. The generous gift from the David Winston Turner Endowment Fund will accelerate research by Monash’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health. The gift will fund a study by the Turner Institute that will follow thousands of residents across all age groups in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs over a 10-year period, establishing a ‘living lab’ for preventing, monitoring, and treating the signs of mental illness, dementia, and other brain conditions. The longitudinal study will break new ground in sampling a whole population – not just those with a predefined condition – and will reimagine how we identify and treat mental health problems as the world continues to deal with COVID-19. A key focus will be inclusion across diverse ages, cultural backgrounds and genders, and the engagement of community and industry groups to realize this ambitious program.

• NAMI Announces $30M Investment In Mental Health Support And Advocacy From Philanthropists MacKenzie Scott – September 2022
  The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) received a $30M gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. NAMI set aside $5M of the gift for its grassroots affiliates to maximize their ability to support the communities they serve. This investment demonstrates NAMI’s commitment to amplify its grassroots capacity and scale its peer-led education programs. Their programs address the needs of adults and children in need of mental health care.

• $25M Gift To Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago From Schreiber Family Addresses Health Inequities For Youngest Kids – November 2022
  Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago today announced a $25M gift from philanthropists Kathleen and John Schreiber to establish the Schreiber Family Center for Early Childhood Health and Wellness, which will focus on the most important years of development—birth to age five. The Schreiber Family Center’s efforts begin before birth by supporting programs that connect expectant parents to home visiting programs, doulas, and care coordination. It includes initiatives that help ensure new parents have access to quality healthcare, social services, and the tools to keep their babies safe at home, in cars, and while they are sleeping. Other programs focus on building children’s resiliency and social-emotional well-being, and on enhanced training for the early childhood workforce. Though many programs will benefit children throughout the Chicago area and beyond, the Schreiber Family Center will include a special focus on Chicago’s West Side. All programs will be rooted in community partnership and evaluation to develop an evidence-based foundation, enabling best practices to be shared across the country. In addition to programming, the investment includes funding to significantly expand evidence-based, community-responsive programs, and to support collaborative research to uncover new ways to support newborns and very young children impacted by disinvestment and inequities. The gift includes funds for immediate use and also for endowment, so that programs can be maintained in the future.

• $25M Gift To Penn Medicine And Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia Establishes Center For Epilepsy And Neurodevelopmental Disorders – February 2023
  A gift from an anonymous donor, in honor of the late Daniel B. Burke, son of Stephen B. Burke who has served on the board of trustees at CHOP, established the Center for Epilepsy and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ENDD). ENDD will initially focus on developing therapies for disorders related to mutations of the STXBP1 and SYNGAP1 genes – which are linked to abnormal brain function, intellectual disability, epilepsy, and motor and behavioral impairments – with the goal of expanding its efforts to other genetic neurodevelopmental disorders over time.

• Transition To Parenthood Center Established With $21M Funding From Bezos Family Foundation – May 2023
  With a $21M gift from the Bezos Family Foundation, Columbia University with launch the Center for the Transition to Parenthood in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Supported by the most advanced scientific knowledge in the field, the center seeks to reinvent prenatal care, address the mental health of parents, improve the overall health of infants, and promote family well-being. The center will develop, test, and put into practice a range of accessible educational tools for new parents to help reduce stress, improve social support, protect sleep, set intentions for parenting that take into account one’s own upbringing, prepare for postpartum isolation, manage couple conflict, and foster an understanding of fetal exposures that increase the risk of neurobehavioral disorders later in life. The center also will be a pioneer in assembling these services and augmenting and accelerating applicable research to support interventions promoting optimal outcomes for parents-to-be and their developing children.

• MacKenzie Scott Donated $15M To The PATH Foundation – October 2022
  Since its inception, the PATH Foundation has invested more than $60M in the community through grants, programs and partnerships and is providing another $1.5M in grants to the community this week. The organization supports nonprofits and government agencies whose goals for wellness and community improvement align with its values. The mission of PATH is to strengthen the health and vitality of the community. PATH Foundation grant recipients must align with one or more core focus areas including access to health, childhood wellness, mental health and senior services.

• Duke Health Awarded $12M Research Grant To Use AI To Detect Autism – September 2022
  The Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development has been awarded a $12M federal grant to develop artificial intelligence tools for detecting autism during infancy and identifying brain-based biomarkers of autism. The grant, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, extends the Duke Autism Center of Excellence research program for an additional 5 years. Three projects were funded:
  • Researchers will test a digital app, used by parents at home on a smart phone, to videotape young children’s behavior and interactions with their caregivers. Artificial intelligence will automatically code the videotapes to identify behavioral characteristics of infants and toddlers who are later diagnosed with autism and track their development.
  • A second project will use artificial intelligence to analyze 260,000 health insurance claims, including those from 6,000 children diagnosed with autism, from birth to 18 months. That data will be used to develop an algorithm to predict autism during infancy and identify the nature of early medical conditions associated with a later diagnosis of autism. Based on the algorithm, a team will develop support tools to help primary care providers screen and guide patients.
  • The third project will use artificial intelligence to monitor brain wave activity, which is synchronized with videotaped behavior of three- to six-year-old children diagnosed with autism. The data will be used to identify brain networks associated with behaviors characteristic of autism.

• Hazelden Betty Ford Receives $10M Commitment From Diana Davis Spencer Foundation – February 2023
  The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation announced it has received a $10M commitment from the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation to initiate the establishment of a National Center for Families and Children. Hazelden Betty Ford launched its first Family Program more than 50 years ago and its Children’s Program 25 years ago. Today, Hazelden Betty Ford offers a growing number of programming options to support family members affected by a loved one’s addiction, including specific programs for Native Americans, Spanish speakers, adolescents, parents, and people struggling to maintain healthy relationships. Its Children’s Program—which has been featured in award-winning projects by Sesame Street in Communities, Nickelodeon and PBS—offers help for kids ages 7-12.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Partners With Boys & Girls Clubs Of America To Address Youth Mental Health Crisis – June 2023
  The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association announced a partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to combat the youth mental health crisis in the United States through trauma-informed approaches to behavioral health care. By investing more than $10M over four years, this partnership will help Boys & Girls Clubs of America implement trauma-informed practices in its more than 5,000 Clubs by 2026 to train over 48,000 staff to better support the emotional and mental well-being of over 3.6 million children.

Did you miss our white paper on pediatric behavioral health fundraising? Click here to read!