Nearly a decade after starting a mental health initiative, the Fort Worth-based real estate investment firm M2G Ventures wants its nonprofit to stand on its own.
Initially launched in 2022, the firm rebranded its nonprofit earlier this month as Soar: The M2G Mental Health Initiative. The new moniker does not signal a shift in its mission but is the next step for the nonprofit, as it moves further into the mental health advocacy and fundraising space, said Katie Wharry, director of social impact at M2G Ventures.
“We really wanted to convey that upward motion that elevates the organization,” Wharry said. “It also elevates others. We want people to soar. We want them to experience the benefit of a powerful and strong mental health journey.”
The update comes at a moment when M2G’s role in Fort Worth’s mental health philanthropic space has peaked, firm officials said. In December, at its annual fundraising gala Art of the Mind, M2G raised over $520,000. As of 2025, the initiative has raised over $2 million.
Currently, Soar partners with UT Southwestern’s Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care and the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, which provides evidence-based suicide prevention programs in North Texas.
The firm’s nonprofit now wants to add a third partner to its fundraising efforts, specifically one that offers grief and trauma counseling services.
The search began in August. Soar is doing interviews and site visits with the goal to announce a partner before the second half of the year, Wharry said.
This foray into grief and trauma fundraising came after the deadly July 4 Central Texas flooding, Wharry said. M2G’s co-founders, Jessica Miller Essl and Susan Miller, had a best friend who lost a daughter in the floods.
What first started as an effort to support victims of the flooding became an addition to the mission, Wharry said.
“If we look at it in a larger holistic way, we can make a larger impact to, not only these people in Kerr County, but to the families all over the place,” she said.
M2G’s work in the mental health space was born out of tragedy.
A year after the sisters started the real estate firm, Essl’s husband at the time had a mental health crisis. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and struggled to find treatment options nearby. During a manic episode in 2017, he was hit by a car and died.
Essl and Miller made it their mission then to bring the researchers and resources needed to support mental health needs in Fort Worth.
“You can make a difference. You can make a change. You can make an impact if you care,” Essl said during a Fort Worth Report Candid Conversation panel in May.
After learning about UT Southwestern’s Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care and its founder Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, they worked to bring clinical research to Fort Worth at the Moncrief Cancer Institute in 2019.
In 2022, they continued their efforts to support mental health by officially forming the nonprofit, which eventually led to the partnership with the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation.
Soar is the next step for M2G’s mental health efforts, Wharry said.
“Every organization deserves to have its own name,” she said. “People are excited that we’re stepping out in this way.”
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
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