WATERMARK
Issue 5.07
April 7 - 15, 1998
Page 18
A Coming Crisis?
New Medications Have Changed the Face of AIDS. But How Has this Impacted Fund-Raising?
Across the nation, AIDS service organizations and activists have been saying repeatedly that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is far from over, but the message is not getting across to the majority of Americans.
Volunteers and donations are hard to find these days, according to Associated Press reports hinting at a coming crisis for AIDS service organizations. Protease inhibitors, which give the illusion that the disease is in check, are helping the change public perceptions about the nature of the crisis. Many people simply do not feel it is a crisis anymore. Another factor cited by many people working with AIDS service organizations is donor burnout — the people who have faithfully given over and over again for the last 15 years simply cannot give anymore.
Watermark went to the front lines of the fight, and canvassed several directors from local AIDS service organizations to see if the reports are true.
"There is a lot of complcency, but I don't know if I can put my finger right on the reason," said Debbie Tucci of CENTAUR in Orlando.
Her comments were echoed by Tampa AIDS Network's (TAN) Executive Director Chuck Albrecht. "Our events have been doing well, and we bring in expenses under budget. But the difficulty in fund-raising is getting away from 'constant-ask' [requesting the same group of people over and over again for funds] to moving to a broader base of support. And that is going to be a challenge. [AIDS] is not the 'new crisis' that it used to be."
However, Debbie Sanders, Executive Director of Hope and Help in Winter Park, does not see much of a crisis for the organization on the horizon. She credits that with their broad base of donors. "We don't always rely on the same groups of people for money, so fund-raising has been steady," said Sanders. "We have met our goals."
AIDS Resource Alliance (ARA) director Carolyn Gertz went so far as to say that funding is steady for ARA, claiming, "There has been no noticeable falling off; no problems that I can tell."
All of the directors, however, commented on their concerns about the perception that the epidemic is in decline, due to protease inhibitors and potent drug cocktails. Ironically, this perception is actually encouraging a resurgence of unsafe sex. Tucci summed up their fears: "With the complacency, people have dropped down their guards more, and there is an insurgency of infection. The problem isn't getting smaller, it is getting bigger.
#
