When Blake Mycoskie founded Toms Shoes in 2006, philanthropy was always at the heart of the company’s mission. Since its inception, for every pair of shoes the company sold it gave away another pair to a child in need, in what became known as the TomsOne for One program.
Toms has now given away more than 100 million pairs of shoes, proving that the model was effective as a business as well as a philanthropic effort, and that it was something that customers would support.
Mycoskie, 47, is now targeting another lofty figure: US$100 million. That money isn’t from one of his companies, but rather, from himself.
Last year, he announced a plan to give away one-quarter of his net worth, dedicating the funds in full to the advancement of mental health research, treatment, and therapies involving psychedelics.
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“We have a mental health epidemic in our country,” Mycoskie says. “The statistics are quite dismal.”
He cites figures such as the fact that 9 million Americans receive medication for depression, but that for nearly one-third of those people, existing medications don’t work. One in five adults in the country have a diagnosable mental illness, and for those between the ages of 18 and 25, the figure rises to one in three. Mental health and wellness has become a particular problem for veterans, with 17 dying per day from suicide in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
To combat this, Mycoskie believes it’s time to develop new treatments and solutions, because the standard protocols for approaching issues such as mental health, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide, are not effective enough to stem the tide.
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“My belief lines up with one of my favorite Einstein quotes: ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them,’” Mycoskie says.
Mycoskie, 47, spoke with Penta about his philanthropic achievements and future plans.
PENTA: Can you explain your philanthropic approach with Toms, and what you’ve been able to achieve as a result?
Blake Mycoskie: The approach is simple. For every pair of shoes we sell, we give away a pair to a child in need. We wanted to give customers the opportunity to help a child in need when buying a pair of shoes they wanted for themselves. As a result we have given over 100 million children a pair of shoes.
How do you balance that type of massive charitable effort with running a business for profit?
It was really seamless since we started with the giving model at the core. We did not have any confusing percentages the customer had to figure out. The hard part was when we started selling so many shoes, we had the obligation to give that many away. It was actually harder to give the shoes away in a responsible way than it was to sell them for a long time.
Why did you decide to get involved with psychedelic research and initiatives?
My psychedelic philanthropy started by being one of the initial funders of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. Next, I helped fund the MAPS initiative, or the Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems, to get MDMA, the pure form of [the illegal recreational drug] ecstasy, through the FDA and to help people suffering from PTSD. These two donations showed great promise and I was impressed with the potential of psychedelic therapy to address many of our challenging mental health challenges.
Having more exposure to the research and trials being done, I began to see that there was no other area of philanthropy that could have such an impact in the mental health space. The results seemed almost unbelievable. And I realized that due to stigma, there were very few large donors and foundations in the field. This seemed crazy to me with all the potential. And I have always loved taking chances and being early when there were available investments that could have a huge impact.
What would you say to someone who feels your money would make much more of an impact in say, feeding or homing an in-need population, rather than psychedelics, for instance?
The research and clinical trials speak for themselves. For instance, a 2021 study found that when therapy was paired with MDMA for people with severe PTSD, two-thirds of the study group no longer had diagnosable PTSD two months after completion of treatment. Meanwhile, the suicide statistics and the number of people with debilitating depression and PTSD continue to rise, and the current methods of treatment are just not working any better than they have for last 20 years. I believe psychedelics can be a new answer to helping those with the most challenging mental health problems.
What is most exciting to you about the field of psychedelics and its potential for positive impact?
Right now, I think the MAPS initiative I mentioned, working to get MDMA through the FDA is incredibly exciting. The research shows this medicine is incredibly effective in treating PTSD. This is especially important for our veteran community.
In five or 10 years as you evaluate your effort and its results, what would be your loftiest hope or dream for what you’ve been able to achieve?
My dream is that psychedelics will be legalized and available to all people who are suffering. To do this, we need not only these medicines becoming legal, but we need therapists trained to work with these medicines at scale. And, in order for it to be affordable, we are going to need the insurance companies to be on board as well. I believe this is possible because the efficacy of these medicines will continue to win over these key constituencies. Besides acute mental health issues, I hope these medicines will be used with traditional talk therapy to help with relationship conflicts, inner child work, and generally opening up one’s heart to their life purpose.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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