Philanthropy Roundtable recently discussed spiritual formation and mental health with David Rogers, president and CEO of the H.E. Butt Foundation.
Much of the foundation’s work takes place deep in the Texas Hill Country on 1,900 acres situated along a breathtaking stretch of the Frio River Canyon in Texas. There, they run five programs—a youth camp, a family camp, an adult retreat center, an outdoor school and a camp that provides free facility use to qualifying groups. Outside the Canyon, they operate a sixth program dedicated to fostering community engagement on behalf of families and children in San Antonio, Kerrville and Real County. They also provide other community programs including an annual Capacity Building Program for local nonprofits to become more efficient, effective and cooperative in their communities.
In 2023, the foundation created The Congregational Collective, an initiative focused on equipping congregations to become community leaders in mental health and wellness by partnering to build support systems, networks, and ministry tools that include educational resources, training and a network of relationships. The Collective’s vision is to collaborate with others to make San Antonio’s congregations the safest places in the world for people seeking mental wellness.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Could you share with us why the H.E. Butt Foundation decided to invest in the area of mental health?
Rogers: My wife, Deborah, and I represent the third generation of the Butt family dedicated to this mission. This legacy isn’t new to us. I spent 25 years working alongside my father-in-law before he passed, during which he informed us that most of his estate would go to the foundation. This pushed us to steward these resources more broadly. Unlike a grant-making foundation, we’re an operating foundation—we initiate projects by hiring the right people, serving as a trusted convener in the community and conducting thorough research.
Deborah’s grandparents, particularly her grandmother, were deeply involved in addressing mental health issues in Texas, engaging with the state legislature and governor. Deborah’s father was both a businessman, running the HEB grocery company, and a member of Billy Graham’s revival team in the 1940s and 1950s. After experiencing a mental health breakdown, he found little support from his Southern Baptist peers, leading his mother to establish Laity Lodge, a retreat center in the Texas Hill Country. The center hosts around 40 retreats annually, fostering faith-based openness and small group vulnerability.
While Laity Lodge has built strong ties with various church denominations in Texas, we’ve observed a gap in mental health support within the church community. We recently conducted a survey among our pilot churches, and found that 77% of churchgoers are very likely to turn to their faith leaders during times of trouble. And 74% of respondents—almost 3 in 4—said they or someone they know has experienced emotional or mental health issues over the past 12 months. But national data tells us that less than 27% of churches have a plan to assist families affected by mental illness.
Given our trusted reputation and personal connection with mental health, Deborah and I saw an opportunity to help churches become more effective leaders in promoting mental health and wellness within congregations. This is our contribution to the ongoing family legacy of helping people find the help they need when they face mental health challenges.
Q: Could you share more specifically about your decision to invest in the area of faith and mental health and how The Congregational Collective came to be? How has the H.E. Butt Foundation been instrumental in the initiative coming to fruition?
Rogers: Our goal was twofold: to act as a catalyst for positive change and to prevent our foundation from becoming too cumbersome for future generations. In other words, we wanted to do this work, but we also wanted it to be able to stand on its own. With these goals in mind, we established a new 501(c)(3) entity called The Congregational Collective (The Collective).
The Collective focuses on equipping congregations to become community leaders in mental health and wellness by partnering to build support systems, networks and ministry tools that include educational resources, training and a network of relationships. Through The Collective’s work, we aim to collaborate with others to make San Antonio’s congregations the safest places in the world for people seeking mental wellness. It is such a bold vision, and we are committed to supporting this initiative for five years.
Our support is not just financial—it’s a true partnership. We provide funding as well as overall partnership, leadership and essential backbone services such as accounting and HR. Our vision is to nurture The Collective’s independence, helping them secure their own resources and become self-sustaining with a solid infrastructure in place. Ultimately, our aim is to create a successful initiative that can flourish autonomously.
Q: The foundation has a long history of investing in mental health and overall wellness. Do you have stories or reflections that stand out as you reflect on your investment in mental health?
Rogers: In the 1940s, mental health institutions across Texas, and likely the entire country, were in poor condition. The governor invited Mr. Butt to join the board of MHMR (My Health My Resources). However, Mr. Butt suggested his wife instead, despite the lack of women on any governor’s board at the time. She accepted and one of her first acts was to personally visit every institution in Texas to assess their conditions. At her first board meeting, she presented each member with a metal bowl and spoon, pointing out that this was how patients were being fed and declaring it inhumane. She led the charge to change that and make further reforms to create better conditions for those seeking healing and wholeness.
Regarding The Collective, one of the most impactful outcomes isn’t part of the original design. Currently, eight churches are participating in an 18-month cohort, learning and training together. Recently, a non-member in crisis visited one church, lacking proper clothing. The church contacted another church cohort member with a clothing pantry to provide aid. This resource-sharing and collaboration, and unity across denominational lines, is a significant achievement that is emerging in unexpected ways. We envision these efforts to only continue as The Collective continues to strengthen and deepen its relationships and connectivity.
Our vision is for 100 San Antonio churches to engage in this work, bridging the divide between faith communities and health care institutions and providers. Traditionally, churches have operated in silos, unaware of each other’s efforts or the valuable contributions they make to addressing critical community problems. Through this initiative, churches now collaborate across denominations, forming meaningful relationships and partnerships. This could significantly transform San Antonio, fostering strong connections and effectively preparing congregations to support their members who are struggling with mental health and other forms of crisis. I am eager to see the impact this will have as we continue to hone and refine our model.
Q: How do you consider impact and success metrics in your mental health-related funding strategy?
Rogers: By integrating these services, we can prevent individuals from unnecessarily cycling through emergency rooms or other forms of emergency support, which often leads to costly and inefficient care. Instead, when someone in need enters The Collective, their history with one of the partner churches is acknowledged, allowing us to promptly reconnect them with our support network and access resources to complement the care they’ve received. This allows for a more streamlined continuum of care.
This approach not only restores the continuum of care to a more personal, human-centric level, but also significantly reduces the financial strain on hospital systems. By addressing these needs upstream and preventing individuals from falling through the cracks, The Congregational Collective’s work will save the healthcare sector significant resources over time. The promise of this initiative cannot be underestimated, and we are so thankful for Becca Brune who leads The Congregational Collective. Her ability to articulate and operationalize this vision is something I greatly admire.
Q: Are there any foundations or donors who have been instrumental in impacting your approach and thinking regarding mental health-related giving?
Rogers: In our efforts to establish a program tailored to our community, we drew significant insights from the Hope and Healing Center in Houston, led by Matt Stanford. During our initial phase of defining our approach, we studied his successful program that operates within a church context. However, we realized that directly replicating it might not suit San Antonio’s unique environment. Instead, we learned that while Houston’s model is robust and quite resource-intensive, San Antonio required a different starting point that aligns with the cultural vibrancy of our community.
Furthermore, in our exploration, we also considered other organizations, such as one based in Waco. These explorations highlighted a gap in San Antonio where the church has not historically been a recognized player in addressing mental health and wellbeing issues. With 65% of the community potentially benefiting from church-led initiatives, it’s surprising that churches haven’t been asked to play more prominent roles in this space. We are stepping into relatively uncharted territory here, as historically there hasn’t been significant support from other foundations or organizations for church-led mental health and wellbeing initiatives.
Q: What lessons have you learned in your journey of giving in the mental health area? What recommendations would you give to other funders who are considering funding in this area?
Rogers: When faced with an emergency, our instincts often guide us to act swiftly and decisively. Imagine you’re driving and come across a scene where someone has been hit by a car. What’s the first thing you do? You dial 911. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrive, transport the person to the hospital, and they enter a continuum of care. The process is clear and systematic.
Now consider a different scenario on the same street. You see a man talking to himself, without clothes, clearly needing help. What do you do? Again, you might call 911. But this time, it’s the police who arrive. They may take him to jail, not a hospital, leading him into a different system entirely.
This contrast highlights a critical gap in how we handle mental health crises versus physical injuries. While we have a well-defined protocol for physical emergencies, the response to mental health situations is often less clear and can vary widely, and often lacks compassion and care. If you want to make a difference in this area, it’s essential to understand how your local systems work and what resources are available. By educating ourselves, we can better support those in our communities who need it most.
Q: Any other key takeaways you’d like to share with the Philanthropy Roundtable community?
Rogers: Stigma is a significant barrier we need to overcome, particularly within church communities. However, I believe our society is gradually beginning to understand that mental health issues are not a consequence of personal failings. Rather, they involve brain chemistry imbalances, much like how heart issues arise from biological factors. Thankfully, the stigma surrounding mental health is decreasing, and this change presents a valuable opportunity for philanthropic efforts to catalyze innovation and drive progress in this area.
When Deborah and I started exploring mental health, we noticed an interesting gap in the training for camp counselors. In Texas, every college student working at a camp must complete a sexual abuse awareness program, but there’s no similar requirement for mental health training. Yet, camp counselors are likely to encounter mental health issues among their campers. Recognizing this, we proposed developing a mental health training program for the camping industry, which could potentially receive legislative support.
We collaborated with organizations like the American Camp Association and the Alliance of Camp Health to create an educational program. I’m proud to say that we recently completed our third summer of implementing this training across 70 camps. Our vision is for the 15,000 college students in Texas who work as camp counselors each year to gain sufficient mental health awareness, enabling them to return to campus with a better understanding of these issues. The impact of this early exposure to mental health is timeless. As young camp counselors transition into adulthood, they take with them critical life lessons to better understand, embrace and respond to mental health crises, whether in the workplace, home, school or church.
The scope of this initiative is potentially vast. According to the American Camp Association, about a million college students are involved in camping nationwide. They are confident that the number of camps participating in our program will triple next summer. Although it targets a different audience, this initiative remains closely linked to the core issue of mental health awareness and early intervention.
The camping industry is significant in the United States, and this program’s expansion could have a profound impact. Whether or not legislators require counselors to participate officially, insurance companies could offer discounts to camps whose counselors complete this training. I’m incredibly proud of this work and excited about its continued growth and the positive changes it will bring.
If you are interested in learning more about how Philanthropy Roundtable supports donors committed to addressing our nation’s mental health crisis, please contact Esther Larson, senior director of programs at Philanthropy Roundtable here.
