Impact
Stories from the Field
Rural Behavioral Health Institute
Youth | Community (Rural)
Through strategic capacity building recommendations, Mindful Philanthropy guided an anonymous donor to make a critical investment to scale a successful rural suicide-prevention program.
On a day that Rural Behavioral Health Institute (RBHI) was screening students at a Montana school, its team identified a student at immediate risk of suicide. The student received a safety check-in that same day and was connected with psychiatric care in less than 24 hours, a timeline RBHI's CEO and founder, Janet Lindow, says is rare in rural communities. Same-day care is the core of RBHI's model: the program screens middle and high school students for suicide risk and connects those at highest risk to a clinician or trained school professional the day they are identified. After screening, students and families can use RBHI's free care navigation services if they need help finding support.
When Mindful Philanthropy assessed RBHI in 2022, the program was reaching the students it was built to reach with digital mental health screening and same-day care. But the organization’s capacity was limited in meeting the need they were finding in the community. Lindow, a career researcher, was serving as CEO, chief financial officer, chief operations officer, head of human resources, and data analyst, and the program did not include ways to help families reach longer-term care after screening days. Mindful saw that RBHI's next stage of growth would depend on financial and programmatic capacity it did not yet have, and on giving its CEO time to raise the funds to get there.
In October 2022, Mindful recommended a $225,000 one-time grant to RBHI to bring on a chief financial officer and additional program staff. A funder advised by Mindful made the grant the following month.
What the funding made possible
Direct Capacity Funding
Financial leadership: a half-time chief financial officer
Care coordination: a care navigator to help students and families reach follow-up services
CEO capacity: part of the CEO's salary
Catalyzed Impact
Expansion beyond Montana: pilots in Georgia, Illinois, and Oregon, which Lindow credits to leadership time freed up by the grant
RBHI’s Impact (across all funding sources)
Reach to date: 81,000+ screenings in 212 schools and same-day care for 5,200+ students at elevated suicide risk
This critical capacity support changed how Lindow could spend her days and ultimately the scale and reach RBHI could achieve.
"A mission-driven, excellent CFO has been completely transformative for my organization. She has allowed me to do the things I need to be doing that help advance our mission faster."
Janet Lindow | CEO and Founder, Rural Behavioral Health Institute
Lindow put that time toward applying for new funding, meeting potential funders, and building the partnerships that carried RBHI's program beyond Montana.
During the due diligence process, Mindful also worked with RBHI on how to describe its program to funders who had not funded mental health before, and Lindow says that framing has helped in her later conversations with other funders.
"We are so grateful to everyone at Mindful Philanthropy for helping donors understand the importance of gifts like the one we received!"
Janet Lindow | CEO and Founder, Rural Behavioral Health Institute
Youth mental health is one of Mindful Philanthropy’s Flourish Together priorities. Learn more about Youth & Their Support Systems.
Explore RBHI’s work by visiting their website.