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There is an exhaustive scope of interests among organized
philanthropy in the United States, yet it may surprise many
that there are few U.S foundations dedicated solely or mainly
to mental health/mental illness. Perhaps the most prominent are
the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, the John A. Hartford Foundation and the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The tiny number of such
foundations is certainly out of proportion to the growing prominence of mental health issues and problems within our society.
The current social and economic burden of mental illness in America includes more than $148 billion a year in direct and indirect costs and an incalculable amount of suffering for a sizeable proportion of our population. Mental disorders also account for more than 10 percent of the global burden of disease. Four mental disorders (unipolar major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder) rank among the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide, with unipolar major depression leading. Research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health has shown that as many as 8 to 10 percent of all Americans suffer from severe mental illness and as many as 1 in 5 families is affected.
In order to have the optimum impact on the enormity of mental health in the United States, each foundation employs unique approaches in its efforts. However, there is also some commonality in approaches to mental health. Certainly through grantmaking programs, these foundations seek to improve the quality, scope and delivery of mental health services. This includes making grants to train mental health professionals; funding pilot projects for the development of effective mental health services, medication algorithms and treatment modalities along with funding continuing education efforts to improve the availability of culturally sensitive and competent mental health services for minority populations.
Foundations engaged in funding mental health research have focuse a great deal of attention to investigation in both biological and behavioral sciences. These research efforts can offer critical insight into the nature of mental illness, track the processes involved and help identify interventions that can prevent illness or help patients through remission, recovery and rehabilitation.
Beyond funding external projects through grants, a growing number of foundations have expanded traditional grantmaking functions to encompass internal operational programs, including convening, evaluation and education/communication to increase the impact or improve the outcomes of grantmaking activities. For example, the Hogg Foundation was established as an operating foundation with a focus on mental health education. Other activities, including grantmaking, were added much later as the foundation's endowment increased.
Today, sustained efforts are made to integrate both grantmaking and operating efforts. Foundations seeking to maximize their impact on mental health issues commonly work to facilitate communication and cooperation among mental health and human service organizations and find worthwhile projects for collaboration with other community, governmental, educational and research organizations.
Finally, since social stigma remains a tremendous obstacle to treatment of those suffering a potential mental illness, foundations that emphasize mental health issues have dedicated a significant portion of their resources toward public education, understanding and anti-stigmatization. The primary focus of these public information campaigns are to ensure that the general public understands that mental illnesses are no-fault, biologically based, treatable and maybe curable eventually. Also, through public education and outreach efforts to potentially mentally ill people and primary care providers, these foundations seek to increase the number of Americans treated for mental illnesses and to improve the manner in which mental illnesses are detected and treated in primary care settings.t
Jeff Patterson is Director of Communications for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin. He can be contacted by calling 512/471-5041 or e-mail at: jeffpatterson@mail.utexas.edu.
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
Since 1940, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has accepted a mandate "to develop and conduct ... a broad mental health program of great benefit to the people of Texas" (Miss Ima Hogg, 1939), by funding grants for both mental health service projects and research efforts.
The children of James Stephen Hogg, one of Texas' outstanding governors and businessmen, established the Hogg Foundation. The Governor's eldest son, William C. Hogg, who followed his father in public service, bequeathed his estate to his alma mater when he died in 1930. Will's sister, Ima, decided that the endowment would support new mental health projects in Texas. Years later, Miss Ima created her own endowment to support mental health services for children.
Today, as an administrative unit of The University of Texas at Austin, the Hogg Foundation is comprised of both the Will C. Hogg Fund, which supports new projects throughout the state, and the Ima Hogg Endowment, which supports mental health services for children in the Houston area.
The Hogg Foundation funds research and service projects within its three main program areas: Children and Their Families, Youth Development and Minority Mental Health. The Foundation awards an average of 70 grants and three fellowships a year - totaling $3 million - for projects addressing mental health service delivery, program development, research, education and professional training.
The Foundation funds only those nonprofit organizations that are exempt under Section 501 (c) (3) of the IRS Code, government agencies, public institutions or institutions of higher learning. The Foundation's Executive Committee reviews proposals and makes awards on a monthly basis. For complete application process or information, visit the foundation's website at: www.hogg.utexas.edu.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson devoted his life to public service and to expanding the family firm of Johnson & Johnson into the world's largest health and medical care products conglomerate. General, the title by which most knew him, served during World War II as a brigadier general in charge of the New York Ordnance District. General Johnson had a warmth and compassion for those less privileged than he, always keenly aware of the need to help others.
Robert Wood Johnson's sense of personal responsibility toward society was expressed in the disposition of his own immense fortune, which was virtually all left to the foundation that bears his name. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was established as a national philanthropy in 1972, and today it is the largest U.S. foundation devoted to improving the health and healthcare of all Americans. The Foundation concentrates on grantmaking in these areas.
- assuring that all Americans have access to basic healthcare
at reasonable cost;
- improving care and support for people with chronic health
conditions, promoting health and preventing disease by
reducing the harm caused by substance abuse, tobacco,
alcohol and illicit drugs.
In general, the foundation gives preference to applicants that are public agencies or are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. For complete application process or information, visit the foundation's website at: www.rwjf.org.
John A. Hartford Foundation
The John A. Hartford Foundation was established in 1929, with bequests from its founders, John A. Hartford and his brother George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. For more than 70 years the Hartford Foundation sought to make its best contribution by supporting efforts to improve healthcare in America. However, during the early 1980s, its Board of Trustees, alarmed by the country's enormous unaddressed and unrecognized healthcare needs, decided to focus its primary attention on health and aging. Its broad mission is to increase the nation's capacity to provide effective and affordable elder care and to concentrate on the practice of healthcare as the point where policy becomes reality for every older American.
For over a decade, the foundation has pursued its mission on two fronts:
- training health professionals to become more effective in
providing elder care
- improving and integrating the service systems in which
they operate
Today, the Hartford Foundation is recognized as the number one national foundation on aging.
The foundation does not simply respond to grant requests. Instead, trustees and staff, knowledgeable about national healthcare issues and players, drawing on the best minds in the field, develop broad initiatives to address critical needs. Within those initiatives it creates a series of programs to test new ideas and models and invites leading academic and service institutions throughout the country to create projects that best implement and test those models.
The foundation normally makes grants only to Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code tax-exempt organizations in the United States who are not private foundations within the meaning of Section 107(c)(1) of the code or state colleges or universities. For complete application process or information, visit the foundation's website at: www.jhartfound.org.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. The Foundation seeks the development of healthy individuals and effective communities, peace within and among nations, responsible choices about human reproduction and a global ecosystem capable of supporting healthy human societies. The foundation pursues this mission by supporting research, policy development, dissemination, education, training and practice.
John D. MacArthur (1897-1978) who developed and owned Bankers Life and Casualty Company and other businesses, created the foundation in 1978. His wife Catherine (1909-1981) held positions in many of these companies and served as a director of the foundation. MacArthur is one of the nation's ten largest foundations and makes grants totaling more than $170 million annually.
The foundation makes grants through two major integrated programs and two special programs:
- Program on Human and Community Development
- Program on Global Security and Sustainability
- General Program
- MacArthur Fellows Program
Most grant programs do not have fixed deadlines. Instead, the foundation considers proposals on a rolling basis according to their individual grantmaking guidelines. For complete application process or information, visit the foundation's website at: www.macfound.org.
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