CU Anschutz Receives $50M Challenge Gift to Transform Mental Health Care

The Anschutz Foundation investment will launch the CU Anschutz Campus Mental Health Collaborative, unite programs and drive new therapies and innovation for adults and children.

AURORA, Colo., Sept. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Anschutz Foundation has committed up to $50 million to the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus to jumpstart a sweeping new initiative in mental health. As a challenge gift, the investment aims to generate $200 million in funding from public and private partners and will create the CU Anschutz Campus Mental Health Collaborative to develop scalable, tech-enabled programs to improve access and interventions for adults and children in need of mental health care.

Drawing on the deep reservoir of expertise on the CU Anschutz campus, including hospital partners Children's Hospital Colorado and UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, the Collaborative will expand and transform these programs into community interventions, crisis care systems and workforce development models. The hub for the Collaborative will be in the state-of-the-art Anschutz Health Sciences Building.

According to a 2024 study by the nonprofit Mental Health America, Colorado ranked 46^th overall in the country when considering prevalence of mental illness and access to care.

"There is a critical need for mental health care support across our state. We hope this gift will help attract additional funding to advance this vital work in Colorado and beyond," said Christian Anschutz, president of The Anschutz Foundation. "While we are honored to take a leadership role, true progress requires many partners. We invite federal and state partners, and challenge other donors to join us in this effort to meet this $200 million goal. Together, we believe we can create lasting impact that will improve and save lives."

This gift is another powerful realization of The Anschutz Foundation's vision for the campus. In 2018, The Anschutz Foundation invested $120 million to support strategic priorities with $30 million of that allocated to mental health. 

"This gift is a continued reflection of The Anschutz Foundation's commitment to this campus and to Colorado. From pediatrics to geriatrics, CU Anschutz was built for collaboration, bringing together expertise across disciplines to further advance care, research, and innovation in mental health," said Don Elliman, chancellor of CU Anschutz. "With this strong foundation already in place, the CU Anschutz Campus Mental Health Collaborative is positioned to expand its strengths and grow its mental health programs to reach more people and shape the future of mental health care."

"This gift positions us take a bold step to unify our programs across campus into a powerful platform with a shared purpose for care and discovery," said John Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, vice chancellor for health affairs at CU Anschutz and dean of the CU Anschutz School of Medicine. "By further integrating into communities, primary care, and specialty care, we can expand access and transform mental health care for generations to come."

This transformational gift, one of the largest mental health philanthropic investments in Colorado to date, supports the CU Anschutz Campus Mental Health Collaborative's unified vision.

"Since declaring a State of Emergency for youth mental health in 2021, we have been committed to improving care models and expanding access to expert care for kids in crisis," said Jena Hausmann, president and CEO of Children's Hospital Colorado and the Cille B. and Ronald W. Williams Endowed Chair in Executive Leadership. "This investment underscores Children's position as a national leader in pediatric mental health and enables us to further collaborate with our campus partners to advance a more connected, compassionate system across the lifespan. Every child deserves a hopeful future, and together, this partnership helps us build it."

"This new mental health collaboration will bring our hospitals, researchers, and providers together to address one of the most pressing health challenges of our time with innovation, compassion, and shared purpose," said Tom Gronow, president and CEO of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. "Over the past five years, UCHealth has integrated behavioral health services into more than 50 of our primary care clinics across the state and opened a new, 40-bed inpatient behavioral health unit at University of Colorado Hospital. This new investment will ensure that even more people across our state have access to this essential care."

The new funding will support a variety of mental health interventions including suicide prevention; community interventions focused on schools, workplace, the home, first responders and co-response; primary care integration and care transitions for pediatrics and adults; crisis and acute care including substance abuse treatment, inpatient care and advancing innovative new therapies including neuromodulation.

About the University of Colorado Anschutz
The University of Colorado Anschutz is a world-class academic medical campus at the forefront of transformative science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus encompasses the University of Colorado health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes and two nationally ranked independent hospitals - UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado – which see more than two million adult and pediatric patient visits yearly. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, CU Anschutz delivers life-changing treatments, patient care and professional training and conducts world-renowned research fueled by $910 million in annual research funding, including $757 million in sponsored awards and $153 million in philanthropic gifts.  

About Children's Hospital Colorado
Children's Hospital Colorado is one of the nation's leading and most expansive nonprofit pediatric healthcare systems with a mission to improve the health of children through patient care, education, research and advocacy. Founded in 1908 and ranked among the best children's hospitals in the nation as recognized by U.S. News & World Report, Children's Colorado has established itself as a pioneer in the discovery of innovative and groundbreaking treatments that are shaping the future of pediatric healthcare worldwide. Children's Colorado offers a full spectrum of family-centered care at its urgent, emergency and specialty care locations throughout Colorado, including an academic medical center on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, hospitals in Colorado Springs, Highlands Ranch and Broomfield, and outreach clinics across the region. For more information, visit www.childrenscolorado.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.  

About UCHealth
UCHealth is a nationally recognized, nonprofit health system that pushes the boundaries of medicine through advanced treatments and clinical trials, improving health through innovation and providing unmatched patient care in the Rocky Mountain West. Investing $1.3 billion in community benefits including $570 million in uncompensated care each year, UCHealth is Colorado's largest Medicaid provider and dedicated to the communities it serves. With the region's only adult academic medical center, University of Colorado Hospital on CU Anschutz Medical Campus, UCHealth includes 35,000 employees, 14 acute-care hospitals and hundreds of physicians across Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska.

Contact: Julia Milzer, University of Colorado Anschutz
[email protected]  (303) 725-0733

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SOURCE University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus