About Us

Kids’ Mental Health

More than ever, kids are reaching out for support. Demand is increasing and mental health service providers are struggling to keep up. Kids and their families are trapped on waitlists – unable to get the help they desperately need.

The Community

Capitalize for Kids began in 2014 as a charitable investors conference that raised $1 million for the Centre for Brain and Mental Health at SickKids. Today, we are a growing community of financial services professionals rallying our friends, families and firms to support kids’ mental health. To date, we have raised over $10 million for our beneficiaries.

Active Philanthropy

The strength of our community enables us to take an unconventional approach to philanthropy. We don’t cut blank cheques to our beneficiaries. Instead, we work with them to identify opportunities to build capacity and reduce waitlists. Ultimately, we help more kids access the care they need.

Our Impact

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1. IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES

We help organizations find opportunities to support more kids with their existing resources.

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2. DESIGN SOLUTIONS

We develop solutions to capture these opportunities.

3. IMPLEMENT

We fund and support the implementation of our solutions.

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4. SHARE RESULTS

We template, publish, and share our solutions for use by other mental health service providers across Canada.

You likely know a young person who has faced depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or some kind of mental health issue. 1 in 5 kids will experience a mental health challenge and they are asking for help like never before. Unfortunately, service providers just can’t keep up with demand.

If you’ve ever tried to help one of these kids access mental health services, you know that it can feel like an impossible task. It often involves navigating a patchwork of services, turning to expensive private alternatives, traveling to clinics in different cities, or being stuck on year-long waitlists.

We believe that kids and their families deserve so much better. It’s why we focus on building capacity in kids’ mental health services.

We work with great agencies to identify business opportunities to increase the capacity of their existing services. We partner with top for-profit companies on a pro-bono basis to design solutions and then we fund the required changes to an agency’s operations. At the end of the process, we template and share what we learn so that other organizations can implement similar solutions for themselves.

We are helping service providers support more young people with their existing resources. It means that kids spend less time looking for help and more time getting it.

Learn more about our impact →

Our Team

A diverse team of talented professionals committed to maximizing our impact.

Our Board of Directors, Advisory Board and Leadership Development Advisory Council provide strategic leadership and ongoing support.

SUPPORTING

Donate to kids’ mental health and help reduce wait times for youth seeking service providers. 

Please note that our organization does not directly provide mental health services. To find a Children's Mental Health Centre in Ontario, click here. If you are in a crisis, please call 911 or go to your nearest Emergency Department.