Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne donated $15 million for mental health services at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland (Calif.), the final gift in a $50 million commitment made by the family in 2014.
The latest gift will address the shortage of mental health services for children and adolescents in Oakland and the greater East Bay area.
"Children are suffering from an extraordinary amount of stress and mental illness, and we must rise to the challenge of meeting this need in what is truly a public health crisis," said Michael Anderson, MD, president of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, which has campuses in San Francisco and Oakland. "UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland stands as a beacon of hope for kids, and thanks to the generous foresight of Lynne and Marc Benioff, we can lay the groundwork to become an international leader in pediatric mental health care."
The funds will partly go toward increased staffing at the Oakland hospital, which will allow 5,000 additional psychiatric visits per year.
"There's nothing more important than the health and well-being of our children," said Lynne Benioff. "Marc and I hope that this gift will raise awareness of the mental health crisis facing children here in our community and that others will join us in supporting the hospital’s mental health mission."