GiveBetter x Denver

Second Wind Fund

Youth suicide-risk therapy funding and insurance navigation

Research time: ~4 min on GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.

Updated: 2026-10-06

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Summary

What do they do? Second Wind Fund pays for therapy for eligible Colorado youth at risk of suicide and helps insured families navigate care. The conditional initial reference combines finite symptom-health benefits with signed caregiver household resources, not deaths prevented or future child salaries. Full FY2025 expenses are $1.9M; the annual recipient cohort and Denver share remain explicit hypotheses.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • The legal recipient and current direct donation route are clear.

  • Funded therapy and insurance navigation address different practical barriers to treatment.

  • Null, adverse, payer-cost and cohort sensitivities expose the assumptions behind the reference.

Our main reservations:

  • The reported 10,000 youth served since 2002 is cumulative, not an annual completed cohort.

  • Insurance, Medicaid, I Matter and other providers can reduce additionality.

  • Local utility, sustained outcomes, caregiver net earnings and marginal donation capacity are unmeasured.

What do you get for your dollar? $1.3M per DALY in Denver. DALY is our one-year comparison unit. QALY-based health gains and income-welfare equivalents retain their original assumptions; they are not measured clinical DALYs. Conditional full annual recipient cost against an explicitly judged finite therapy-access channel; not whole-portfolio expected value or a marginal donation offer..

Current cumulative reach 10,000 youth since2002 and 12-session funding cap; original FY2025 return 12–20 sessions. No verified annual completed cohort.

1. What do they do?

Second Wind Fund Inc, EIN 73-1701536, funds eligible youth therapy and navigates insurance access. Current family information offers 12 funded sessions; the FY2025 return describes 12–20 sessions. These are dated service descriptions, not measured completed treatment or causal recovery.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

Request annual unique youth, completed sessions, Denver county residence, repeated/sibling households, sustained symptom outcomes and referral alternatives. The cumulative 10,000 youth and 70,000 sessions since 2002 cannot supply an annual denominator.

3. Qualitative assessment

Fast referral targets and private therapy access are promising mechanisms, but are not proof of incremental QALYs. I Matter offers another public free-session route. The model uses N500 annual youth and Denver share .6 as judgments, not observations; clinical response .4, utility .05 and half-year persistence are hypotheses.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

Full FYending June2025 expenses are $1,915,520 plus $24,200 netted direct event costs. The conditional center yields 1.35 health QALYs and 0.09782 signed income-equivalent years, approximately $1.3M per DALY. One adult caregiver household proxy per youth is adjusted in deduplication sensitivities. A $1,000 net disposable work/resource gain for 20% of attributed households is already after taxes, benefit withdrawal, commuting and work costs; it is not measured, and is halved for positive overlap. Full $30 access/time cost and health burden apply to every exposed household even with no benefit. Delay .1 is the assumed engagement onset for health and access/resource costs, not immediate costs capitalized into later gains.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Full statewide FY2025 recognized annual cost; partial finite therapy and caregiver channel, unmeasured navigation/prevention effects are unknown rather than zero. Not allocated Denver spend or a next-gift forecast.

Pinned ten-county Denver CBSA19740; .6 beneficiary share is judgment because no county-resident distribution was found. Office location is not beneficiary geography.

Exposed=N×unique; incremental union=exposed×b; health=(union×response×q×discounted finite duration − exposed×harm×onset discount)×Denver share. Income=0.5×joint household log net resources with positive-only overlap and full access costs, plus distinct payer losses localized once. DALY price=cost/(health+signed income equivalent).

C
1939720 USD annual (observed). Observed original IRS full functional expenses plus netted direct event expenses; no event amount in Droste FY2024. Cost scope is full recipient annual work, not a marginal-gift forecast. [finance]
N
500 annual participant household-equivalent hypothesis (judgment). 500 annual youth is a conditional judgment, not cumulative 10,000 divided by years. [services] [cg-cost]
unique
1 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
b
0.5 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
response
0.4 model parameter (judgment). .4 symptom response hypothesis, not a recipient clinical measurement. [services] [cg-cost]
q
0.05 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
T
0.5 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
g
0.6 model parameter (judgment). .6 Denver household share is unmeasured judgment. [services] [cg-cost]
delay
0.1 model parameter (judgment). .1 years engagement onset shared by health and access-resource periods. [services] [cg-cost]
r
0.03 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
harm
0.0005 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
success
0.2 model parameter (judgment). .2 adult caregiver resource-response probability, not child earnings. [services] [cg-cost]
workGain
1000 model parameter (judgment). 1000 net disposable caregiver resources after tax/benefit/work costs, unmeasured hypothesis. [services] [cg-cost]
medicalGain
0 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
overlap
0.5 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
cost
30 model parameter (judgment). 30 incremental net access/time burden on all exposed households, not a retail therapy bill. [services] [cg-cost]
baseline
30000 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
payerLoss
0 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
externalCost
0 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
payerPeople
10000 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]
payerBaseline
50000 model parameter (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not a measured causal recipient coefficient; adverse and null scenarios test this assumption. [services] [cg-cost]

central: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

clinical null: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: -0.15; all-population health QALYs: -0.25. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

financial only: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

zero benefit full burdens: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: -0.15; all-population health QALYs: -0.25. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.15. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

no exposure: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

no gift no exposure: Cost: $0; Denver health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

adverse: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: -2.09; all-population health QALYs: -3.49. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.40. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

unknown: Cost: unknown; Denver health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

no resources: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.15. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

clinical response null: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: -0.15; all-population health QALYs: -0.25. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

short health: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.60; all-population health QALYs: 1.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

one year health: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 2.84; all-population health QALYs: 4.74. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

low additionality: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.15; all-population health QALYs: 0.25. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

all additionality: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 2.84; all-population health QALYs: 4.74. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.35. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

half geography: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.12; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.08. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

no local share: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

no positive overlap: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.15. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

full positive overlap: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.34. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

negative overlap zero: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.40. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

negative overlap one: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.40. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

mixed resources: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.22. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

no access cost: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.25. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

high access cost: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.75. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

payer transfer loss: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.20. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

external care cost: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.20. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

double cost: Cost: $3.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

program recognized cost: Cost: $1.5M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.10. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

annual cohort 250: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.67; all-population health QALYs: 1.12. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.05. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

annual cohort 1000: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 2.69; all-population health QALYs: 4.49. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.20. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

household deduplication: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 0.94; all-population health QALYs: 1.57. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.07. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

lower net work gain: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.09. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

higher net work gain: Cost: $1.9M; Denver health QALYs: 1.35; all-population health QALYs: 2.24. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.34. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

Counterfactual: Medicaid, private insurance, I Matter free youth therapy, other providers and household support without recipient-funded access.

Attribution: N500, .5 additionality and .4 clinical response are explicit initial hypotheses; cumulative service reach and referral targets do not identify them.

Clinical utility/duration, annual unique youth, sibling overlap, caregiver net resources, volunteer economic costs, alternative care and gift expansion remain unmeasured.

Sensitivity

  • clinical null: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • financial only: $19.8M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • zero benefit full burdens: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • no exposure: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • no gift no exposure: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • adverse: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • unknown: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • no resources: $1.6M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • clinical response null: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • short health: $2.8M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • one year health: $660K per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • low additionality: $39.3M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • all additionality: $609K per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • half geography: $1.6M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • no local share: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • no positive overlap: $1.6M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • full positive overlap: $1.1M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • negative overlap zero: $2.1M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • negative overlap one: $2.1M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • mixed resources: $1.7M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • no access cost: $1.2M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • high access cost: $3.3M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • payer transfer loss: $1.7M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • external care cost: $1.7M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • double cost: $2.7M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • program recognized cost: $1.0M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • annual cohort 250: $2.7M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • annual cohort 1000: $672K per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • household deduplication: $1.9M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • lower net work gain: $1.5M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.
  • higher net work gain: $1.1M per DALY. Conditional finite annual therapy-access reference; utility, uptake, net resources and donor response not measured.

Unresolved inputs

  • Annual completed unique youth and household deduplication
  • County residence and treatment dose
  • Causal symptom utility and persistence versus alternatives
  • Net caregiver resources and payer/provider opportunity cost
  • Restricted next-gift expansion and volunteer costs

Health and income breakdown

For the modeled $1.9M: 1.35 health QALYs + 0.10 income-equivalent healthy years in Denver: $1.3M per DALY. Income equivalents are welfare comparisons, not observed QALYs or DALYs.

Method and caveats.

5. Funding and previous grants

FY2023–2025 full annual costs are $1.2M, $1.4M and $1.9M. Government grants and insurance routes form part of the counterfactual. Fundraising claims of $100 per session or $1,250 to save a life do not establish marginal impact; annual program cost $1.5M is only a recognized-cost sensitivity excluding other costs and volunteer resources.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $1.2M; org:second-wind-fund, 12-month period, IRS full functional expenses plus netted direct event expenses. Source
  • FY 2024: $1.4M; org:second-wind-fund, 12-month period, IRS full functional expenses plus netted direct event expenses. Source
  • FY 2025: $1.9M; org:second-wind-fund, 12-month period, IRS full functional expenses plus netted direct event expenses. Source

6. Sources

  1. Current family services and public alternatives. Second Wind Fund. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-06.
  2. Recipient and direct donation route. Second Wind Fund. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-06.
  3. Original FY2025 IRS return. IRS original filing. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-06.
  4. Original FY2024 IRS return. IRS original filing. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-06.
  5. Original FY2023 IRS return. IRS original filing. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-06.
  6. Health and logarithmic income comparison methodology. Coefficient Giving. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-06.