support the Ballmer Institute
Help every child get the support they need
The Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health is a national model for youth mental health, creating systems-level change to shape a future where children and families have access to the care they need to thrive. Your gift trains new providers, accelerates research and ideas with real-world impact, and builds the spaces that bring that care within reach.
Why Give
We're building a new behavioral health workforce
Mental health challenges among youth have risen dramatically over the past decade. At the same time, the number of youth mental health providers has remained relatively static—or, by some estimates, actually declined. This widening gap between the need for mental health support and availability of a trained workforce to meet this need led to the creation of the University of Oregon’s Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health.
We believe access to high-quality mental health support is a fundamental right of all children and families. Realizing that right requires transforming how we prepare and deploy the behavioral health workforce.
By training a new type of provider—the bachelor’s-level Behavioral Health and Wellness Practitioner—through a first-of-its-kind program, our graduates are entering the workforce sooner and helping to increase access to mental healthcare for children and families.
By the numbers
Your gift goes to work
- 1st bachelor's degree in the nation to prepare child behavioral health specialists
- 700+ hours of supervised training in schools, primary care, and community settings
- 150 students per cohort, our enrollment goal for the child behavioral health program
- 100K+ hours of supervised behavioral health services students will provide across Oregon each year at full enrollment
ways to make an impact
funding priorities
We're expanding equitable access to behavioral health support for children and families. These funding priorities support the spaces, people, and research that make this work possible.
Priority 01
Build a hub for the future of care
A $15 million lead gift from the Tykeson Family Foundation set this project in motion. Now we are raising the remaining $35 million to complete the Tykeson Child Behavioral Health Building, a new home on the UO Portland campus that will train up to 300 students a year and bring clinical and telehealth care to children and families across Oregon.
Tykeson Child Behavioral Health Building
A new home for training, research and care for children and families across Oregon.
In their words
“Unlike our other gifts, which enhanced careers, this one can save lives, sometimes before it’s too late.”
Ron and Chris Sauer, Class of 1980
Gifts like the Sauers’ are helping build a home for training, research and care for children and families across Oregon.
Support Trailblazing Students
Youth mental health needs are outpacing the workforce. These students are helping close that gap.
Priority 02
Expanding student access and success
As a first-of-its-kind program, the Ballmer Institute seeks to support child behavioral health students who excel in the classroom and in the field, delivering effective mental healthcare to children and families. Philanthropic support for recruiting and retaining these exceptional students is an investment in building a next-generation child behavioral health workforce.
“Seeing the difference that professional help can make was really eye-opening for me. The impact of the support that I was given while struggling inspires me every day to strive to be that supportive person for someone else.”
Priority 03
Elevating excellence in action
As a bold and innovative initiative, the Ballmer Institute is experiencing rapid growth and transformation. The Executive Director’s Strategic Initiative Fund is a vital resource that empowers the Institute to invest in new ideas, respond to emerging opportunities, and accelerate impact—advancing the mission to transform youth mental health.
Strategic Initiative Fund
Flexible funding that lets us act quickly on new ideas and emerging opportunities as we grow.
Research and Ideas with Impact
Research that results in practical solutions that reach children and families in schools and communities.
Priority 04
Accelerating research and ideas with impact
The Ballmer Institute is committed to driving innovations in youth behavioral health by translating research into real-world impact. Philanthropic support fuels cutting-edge research, strengthens school and community-based interventions, and turns new discoveries into real-world solutions—creating bold, upstream innovations to improve outcomes for children and families in Oregon and beyond.
Join Us
By supporting one of our key priorities, you help close the gap between rising youth mental health needs and the shortage of trained professionals. Your investment creates a future where every child has access to high-quality mental healthcare—and the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Gifts to support the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health are processed through the University of Oregon Foundation. For information about planned gifts, stock transfers, employer matching gifts, IRA distributions, and other giving options, visit the University of Oregon Giving website.
