The Pandemic Within the Pandemic: 3 Things to Know About a Big Investment in Behavioral Health

The dramatic burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of any number of weak points in the nation’s healthcare systems, but none more clearly than the under-addressed needs in mental health. Philanthropy has long been way behind the curve when it comes to supporting behavioral health—as has the broader healthcare system—but encouraging signs are appearing both in government and private funding arenas.

For example, a recent $38 million funding announcement by the Ballmer Group, based in Washington State, not only raises that organization’s profile in mental health funding, but also represents the kind of first step commensurate with the scale of the need in this country.

Rates of mental health problems rose sharply during the pandemic, with about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. reporting symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, up from 1 in 10 prior to the global health emergency. Over the past year, we have been discussing philanthropy’s responses to facets of the country’s mental health crisis, including some of the topics that have long flown under the radar, like children’s mental health. Put simply, with 1 in 5 adults experiencing mental illness in their lifetime, mental health has represented one of the largest and most under-addressed health burdens in the country and beyond.

The Ballmer Group’s recently announced gift will target the demand for an expanded mental and behavioral health workforce in Washington State. That state is hardly alone: The profession is experiencing high churn and vacancy rates in all 50 states. Communities of color are in particular jeopardy owing to greater historical inequities in the workforce and access to mental health professionals.

“This is the pandemic within the pandemic, happening across our country,” wrote Ballmer Group co-founder Connie Ballmer at the time of the announcement. “(A)nd as we slowly recover from one of the most challenging years in recent memory, we see an opportunity to build a system that addresses every community’s behavioral health needs.”

The commitment is one of a number of recent, sizable gifts channeling funds to universities in support of mental healthcare and research, as IP recently covered. We’ve seen big grants from Kresge and Robert Wood Johnson foundations and the Lilly Endowment, for example. This is a big move on the issue for the Ballmer Group, the philanthropy of Connie and Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft and owner of the L.A. Clippers. Giving nationally and focusing on a few key geographies—Washington State, Los Angeles County and Southeast Michigan—the Ballmers have been a growing philanthropic presence over the past five years or so, tapping into a $75 billion fortune.

Here are three things to know about the Ballmer Group’s recent announcement:

The lion’s share—$24.7 million over four years—goes to scholarships and educational institutions. It will fund scholarships in seven Washington State colleges and universities to train new professionals and develop expanded competencies in the state’s behavioral health workforce. Additionally, $3.19 million over five years will go to the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry to fund the development of bachelor’s-level talent in behavioral health primary care. New training pipelines and methods are also in focus, with another $5.5 million over three years to support the development of a new apprenticeship model for practitioners.

It complements and empowers major public initiatives and funding. Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed a legislative package that includes measures to address the state’s behavioral health crisis. In a press release from the University of Washington—which is central to the strategies—Inslee said: “The package of legislation I signed this week—combined with the tremendous support of organizations like the Ballmer Group and their work with our state agencies and the University of Washington—is all part of that process to get greater access to behavioral health for more people.”

Crisis response is a key component. $2.8 million over two years for the University of Washington’s Behavioral Health Institute supports state and local government partners as they plan a redesign of that state’s behavioral health crisis response system.

The above point—crisis response—will likely require immediate funding attention across the country. A national 988 mental health and suicide hotline number has been signed into law and is supposed to be up and running by midyear 2022. It’s intended to take such calls out of the 911 system, giving trained suicide prevention and other mental health professionals better and earlier opportunities to address emergencies, and perhaps keep police out of situations best handled by mental health practitioners. But it also means more trained practitioners will be needed to handle the calls.

Mental health is a relatively new area of focus for the Ballmer Group, but the sums involved in just this recent series of commitments make it one of the field’s important philanthropic funders. And it’s more than possible that Ballmer Group will continue to grow its support, regionally and nationally. As Inside Philanthropy writer Philip Rojc wrote in 2019, Ballmer Group giving has followed a pattern, with an initial commitment in a region where they have a personal connection—as in this recent instance in their home state of Washington—and later expanding to other localities. In this case, work in Washington State funded by the Ballmer Group could also serve as a laboratory for the other 49 states as they seek to address the same sorts of needs.

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