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Since a great portion of the money raised for BC/EFA comes directly from theatre audiences and donors across America, not just in New York, BC/EFA is committed to assisting the full spectrum of communities affected by AIDS. By making grants to diverse organizations nationwide, BC/EFA is able to give back to those communities that help us support entertainment industry professionals through the services of The Actors Fund. Active since 1987, BC/EFA’s National Grants Program has become one of the largest of its kind in the United States. A report published by Funders Concerned About AIDS showed that in August 2007, BC/EFA ranked ninth in the nation in terms of grant dollars disbursed for HIV/AIDS, following such behemoths as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Ford Foundation and just behind the The M*A*C AIDS Fund, and ahead of other well-known AIDS philanthropies, including: The Irene Diamond Fund, The Elton John AIDS Foundation, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and The National AIDS Fund, and amfAR among others. This achievement is a result of the rapid growth in our fundraising, and as a result, in our grant-making, over the past several years. From the outset, BC/EFA’s grants program has always been fast, simple, and efficient. A concise two-page application allows us to make disbursements each year to hundreds of community-based organizations, an unusual feature among top AIDS grant-makers, and one that we have learned over the years is meaningful to relatively small organizations. The vast majority of these small service providers are grassroots organizations in urban, suburban and rural areas that have a significant impact in their own communities. BC/EFA’s National Grants Program continues to address the ongoing and unmet needs of these AIDS and family service organizations. Because AIDS is not just a single disease, but a combination of epidemics exacerbated by discrimination and poverty, BC/EFA’s grants are geared to those organizations that are providing food, housing, transportation, case management, emergency financial assistance, emotional support, and non-reimbursable and emergency medical expenses. BC/EFA’s grant-making priority is to respond as quickly as possible to the most basic needs of people with HIV/AIDS. Consistent what this ideal, our grant-making targets direct services. Nothing embodies this concept more than ensuring a person who is sick has a decent meal. Therefore in January 2006, BC/EFA determined to make the Food Service category of our grants program its own separate grant round, giving us the opportunity to make larger awards than those given through the National Grants Committee to organizations providing nutritious meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hepatitis and other life-threatening illnesses. This initiative continues. In addition to the expanded Food Services program, the National Grants program includes five other categories: Direct Services, Emergency Financial Services, One-Time Expense Requests, Harm Reduction and Quality-of-Live Services. In 2007, BC/EFA’s National Grants Committee awarded grants totaling $4,502,000 to over 500 AIDS and family service organizations in 47 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. These gifts include $2,568,000 in small grants to 351 AIDS Service Providers across the country as well as 115 larger grants to food service and meal delivery programs nationwide.
BC/EFA sees expanding our mission to include food service providers as a way to share lessons learned from fighting AIDS with other vulnerable populations, to establish a viable future for many agencies as AIDS funding declines, and as a way to ensure people living with HIV/AIDS can continue to receive these much-needed, critical food and nutritional services in the years to come. Overall, from the time when it was founded in 1988 through 2007, almost $43 million has been awarded to hundreds of AIDS and family service organizations across the country by BC/EFA through its National Grants Programs.
Grantees By State :
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