Mother Cabrini Health Foundation: Mental and Behavioral Health Grant Program

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation offers a Mental and Behavioral Health Grant Program aimed at enhancing mental health services across New York State. This initiative supports programs that provide affordable, culturally appropriate care, particularly for marginalized communities. The foundation prioritizes proposals that focus on direct services, education, and capacity building. Grants typically start at $75,000 and require adherence to ethical principles of the Roman Catholic Faith. Eligible organizations must demonstrate financial stability and a commitment to serving underserved populations.

Our Grants & Programs
Building upon the legacy of Mother Cabrini and the Catholic tradition of healing for the sick and caring for the poor, our Foundation supports programs that meet the unmet healthcare and healthcare related needs of individuals, families, and communities throughout New York State.
Mother Cabrini Health Foundation envisions a future where all New Yorkers can thrive and lead productive lives with sound mental and behavioral health. MCHF wants to ensure that individuals directly or indirectly impacted by mental and behavioral health will be provided with affordable, high-quality, culturally appropriate support, services, or treatment within nurturing communities. Mental health includes an individual’s emotional, psychological, psychiatric, and social well-being, and needs to also address substance use, addictions, and other behaviors. MCHF understands that mental and behavioral health needs are particularly acute in historically marginalized communities and for populations that have been adversely affected by socioeconomic inequities. MCHF also understands that mental and behavioral health services are embedded in multiple systems and will consider system-specific and collaborative efforts across those systems.
Interventions and Treatment: Improving the quality of care and services in clinical and non-clinical settings, including supporting the delivery of trauma-informed, culturally responsive, person-centered or family-centered care targeting specific populations. It could also include crisis response services or integrating and coordinating mental and behavioral health with other medical providers, social services, or systems.Capacity and Access: Building the capacity of the sector to increase the timely availability of and access to affordable, high-quality mental and behavioral healthcare in clinical or community-based settings. This could include building and diversifying the workforce, introducing services in traditional or non-traditional settings, supporting technological innovations and increasing the volume of providers, professionals, peers, and other supports.Education, Awareness, and Prevention: Increasing education, awareness, and prevention, including suicide prevention; improving engagement, reducing stigma and other barriers to services and treatment; and involving impacted communities into the design and implementation of responsive solutions.

Eligibility

What We Fund:MCHF funds domestic section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service and the State of New York. Specifically, grants may only be made to a domestic public charity as described in Internal Revenue Code section 509(a)(1) or (2) or an exempt operating foundation as described in Internal Revenue Code section 4940(d)(2).
All grants must adhere to and comply with the ethical principles, tenets, and teachings of the Roman Catholic Faith, including but not limited to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Applicant organizations are not required, however, to be affiliated with the Catholic Church to be eligible for grants.
Applicant organizations generally should reside in New York State, and primarily serve New York State residents.
Grants must benefit poor, disadvantaged, or underserved New York State residents.
Applicants should have an annual budget of $750,000 or more.Grants must be used exclusively for the specific program, activity or project approved by the MCHF, which, in all cases, must be in furtherance of the MCHF’s charitable purposes.
Applicant organizations must demonstrate that they exhibit sound financial management and governance practices and are capable of effectively carrying out the programs, activities or projects proposed to be funded.
Applicants must demonstrate their capacity to work with the populations to be served by the project.MCHF primarily funds direct service programs/projects. In certain circumstances, the foundation may consider capital, capacity building, and other types of requests.

Ineligibility

What We Do Not Fund:MCHF will not make grants to individuals.
MCHF will not make grants for any activities that involve carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation (within the meaning of Section 4945(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code).
MCHF will not make grants in support of any activities that involve participating in, or intervening in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, influencing the outcome of any specific public election, or carrying on, directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive (within the meaning of Section 4945(d)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code).
MCHF will not make grants to support events, conferences, or fundraising activities.
MCHF does not plan to support capital grant programs, but may choose to do so on a limited, case-by-case basis.
MCHF will not award grant funds to supplant current government funding but grant funds may be used to augment services funded using government sources.MCHF will not support any programs whose nature, purpose, and/or mission conflicts with or are contrary to the ethical principles, tenets, and teachings of the Roman Catholic Faith, including, but not limited to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.