Active Minds is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization supporting mental health awareness and education for young adults. Powered by a network on more than 800 high school and college campuses, in workplaces and communities, and through a vast public audience, Active Minds is creating communities of support and saving lives. Our signature programs include a robust college and high school chapter program, the nationally acclaimed Send Silence Packing® exhibit, our compelling Active Minds Speakers, and the newly launched Active Minds @Work initiative.

Active Minds is recognized as the leading nonprofit organization changing the culture around mental health in society. We believe proactive, preventative mental health care is embedded in all facets of society - where we live, study, work, and play. We aim to change the culture of mental health in society through conversation, innovation, policy, equity, and social norms.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Our first programmatic goal is to establish and fully leverage strategic partnerships to expand reach and impact.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: We are also focused on influence campus policies to better support student well-being; and target young people on either side of higher education, including high school and young professional life.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Three: Our org-wide goals are to broaden and deepen programmatic impact; maximize and increase funding sources; strengthen leadership bodies; and exponentially increase Active Minds’ brand recognition.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Describe an investment in leadership

Of our many goals to invest in leadership development, we assess ed the necessity of implementing parameters around chair leadership and evaluated current board committees to determine if any changes should be made. We were successful in the last 4 years in many of our goals including hiring a Chief Operating Officer; strengthening the Development Department to most successfully harness the organizations fundraising opportunities. We have accessed the membership, and selection process, of our Advisory Committees; determined current use of the Advisory Committees and proposed additional uses; and engaged Advisory Committee members in content development, programming, and fundraising.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

We created virtual spaces where our community could gather safely to learn to support their own needs and those of their community. Most notably, we expanded our support of students of color, who are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and the heightened awareness of systemic racism, through trainings and support of our students to lead programs to reach students of color, webinars and blog posts that elevate the voices of students of color, and our innovative Your Voice is Your Power campaign. We developed a new online version of our acclaimed Send Silence Packing exhibit, both as a stand-alone educational resource and as an enhancement of our in-person display. We effectively supported this digital pivot through content development, increasing production value, marketing, and speaker support. Additionally, our team is growing in exciting ways, including adding a new team to promote mental health in K-12 schools and a new Senior Manager of Health Equity.

In the 18 months since COVID-19 disrupted life as we knew it, Active Minds stayed strong and focused, evolving to provide the tools needed to enhance young adult wellness. We innovated, reimagined, and we led. We created virtual spaces where our community could gather safely to learn to support their own needs and those of their community. Our network of advocates ensured that even in online and virtual settings, the message that it’s okay to not be okay was heard. Most notably, we expanded our support of students of color, who are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and the heightened awareness of systemic racism, through trainings and support of our students to lead programs to reach students of color, webinars and blog posts that elevate the voices of students of color, and our innovative Your Voice is Your Power campaign. We developed a new online version of our acclaimed Send Silence Packing exhibit, both as a stand-alone educational resource and as an enhancement of our in-person display. And after seeing incredible interest in virtual events from our Speakers (increasingly in workplaces, too), we effectively supported this digital pivot through content development, increasing production value, marketing, and speaker support. We held a virtual National Conference for the first time in our history, took first steps to pursue long-term goals of supporting young adults to advocate on local, state, and federal levels, and are developing a research-based curriculum for our chapters to increase the consistency and quality of their discussions across our network. Additionally, our team is growing in exciting ways, including adding a new team to promote mental health in K-12 schools and a new Senior Manager of Health Equity, to help drive on programmatic goals within Active Minds’ Anti-Racism and Inclusion Plan. Through these innovations, Active Minds will continue to keep the country’s attention on the very important mental health culture changes underway.