When the Staglin family established their vineyard in 1985 and adopted “Great wines for Great Causes” as their personal motto, even they couldn’t have realized what a powerful rallying cry it would one day become. With a keenly focused business approach and a deep commitment to community and medical philanthropy, the Staglins have rocked the landscape from the Napa Valley to Washington, D.C. with sensational fundraisers on behalf of local charities and national mental health research.
The Mission
The Staglins’ lives have a noble purpose. Husband and wife – Garen and Shari – and their adult children, Brandon and Shannon, are a high-energy family. They’re smart. They’re fun. And with their hearts in the right places, they’re driven. With resources of creativity, prized wines and a powerful network of friends and supporters, they’ve donated and raised more than $710 million to date for a variety of charities. This includes $83 million that they’ve raised since 1995 through their Music Festival for Mental Health. (StaglinFamily.com).
Earlier this year at the Napa Valley Vintners’ annual auction, the Staglin’s thoughtfully organized the top wine lot as a celebration of life for their late friend, Bob Mondavi. As a special remembrance dinner at Copia, it featured nine superior wineries and five famous chefs. It garnered almost $900,000 for local charities, and continued Margrit and Bob Mondavi’s philanthropic legacy. It also brought the Staglin’s personal total to $4 million in donations from the last four major wine auctions.
“With Robert Mondavi’s passing, the valley is extremely blessed to have his and Margrit’s good friends, Garen and Shari Staglin, carry on in their footsteps,” says Peter Marks, master of wine and vice president of education for Icon Estates. “The Staglin’s have worked tirelessly for years to benefit new cultural landscapes such as Copia. Helping to make the world a better place is part of the Staglin’s mission in life, and we’re lucky to have them.”
At their September music festival this year, loyal friends and donors flew in from around the world to lend their support for mental health research. The crowd-pleasing Pointer Sisters had the guests jumping in the vineyard and helped the Staglin’s raise $2.8 million. The day also included a medical symposium with Professor Trevor Robbins from the University of Cambridge’s experimental psychology department, a tasting of 70 international cult wines with hors d’oeuvres by celebrity chef Todd Humphries, and a VIP dinner in the Staglin gardens prepared by stellar chef Mark Dommen.
As the Staglin mission statement proclaims, they intend to alleviate human suffering from mental illness caused by severe psychiatric brain disorders, such as schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. And they’re well on their way. Their annual festival has become the nation’s leading charity venture fund focused on mental illness and brain research.
Executive director Rusty Selix of the Mental Health Association in California is in awe of what the Staglin family has achieved. “Their dedication and fundraising activities are unbelievable,” says Selix. “There are others with a similar ability to make an impact in mental health, but the Staglin’s are the most impressive of any family anywhere in the U.S. that I’m aware of.”
The Method
As venture capital practitioners, the Staglin’s have devised a business model that keeps them in control of the research funds they’ve generated and attracts significant, additional leveraged funding.
“We call it ‘venture philanthropy’ because we manage the research,” says Garen Staglin. “We go out and get the RFPs, find the people, and hold them accountable. We own the intellectual property.”
With that kind of control, they also direct the efficiency and drive the pace. And that suits Garen who speaks earnestly as he describes the call for action.
“The time is now; with more money we can go faster toward finding the gene sequencing and the ability to isolate genes,” says Staglin. “We need to raise over $100 million to help accelerate the study of the human genome as it relates to brain development, and we guarantee 100 percent of the dollar-for-dollar investment in this research.”
To guide their policy and research funding efforts, the Staglin’s have assembled a scientific advisory committee with prominent medical and academic leaders. They have leveraged important seed money through their Rising Star Awards to individual scientists, created a web of academic and clinical research centers, and collaborated with the National Institute of Mental Health to move their mission forward. At this year’s festival, the Staglin’s announced that a research grant for $21 million – the largest ever provided from the NIMH – recently had been awarded to Dr. Ty Cannon, PhD, from UCLA’s departments of Psychology and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, who also directs the Staglin Music Festival’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at UCLA.
“We are very proud of how our initial funding has propelled the advancement of research and additional funds,” says Brandon Staglin. “Each dollar from our festival’s funds has achieved another nine dollars in leveraged funding.
The NIMH grant will start a multi-center study for prevention of mental health disorders. Cannon will direct the North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) to identify early symptoms in at-risk teens with the goal to predict and prevent full-blown development of schizophrenia and related illnesses.
“With schizophrenia, there are pre-symptoms, but the onset of a full-blown psychosis usually occurs between the ages of 12 and 28, with 17 being the average when the brain’s frontal lobe is reaching full development,” says Cannon. “If we can detect those who are at risk before a full episode takes place, we can alter the path of the disease, its consequences or perhaps prevent it completely.”
The Meaning
Current research indicates that schizophrenia is largely genetic, affecting about one percent of Americans. It is characterized as a disorder in how the brain processes information. Patients describe common symptoms where they suffer a drastic change in perception, sleep disturbances, and one or more voices that call their name and speak to them in a derogatory manner.
The hunt for a cure comes with a sense of personal urgency for the Staglin family. Brandon was a college freshman in 1990 when he suffered his psychotic break. Extremely intelligent and able to respond well to treatment, he was able to return to Dartmouth and graduate with a double major in engineering science and anthropology. Today, Brandon is committed to working with the scientists’ research efforts as he organizes the annual festival and other charitable activities. Importantly, Brandon’s success and exciting new research developments provide a bright beacon of hope at the end of the tunnel for those who struggle with brain disorders and the stigma of mental illness.
“As the success of the festival and scientific research both continue to grow, we are thrilled and thankful to so many of our supporters who donate and volunteer to this cause,” says Shari Staglin. “We are at a tipping point for brain research, and we are determined to find the cures for mental disorders during our lives.”
A current public service campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council entitled, “What a Difference a Friend Makes,” targets young adults to support their friends who are experiencing mental health illness. The ad asks, “What kind of friend are you?”
