Dear Friend and BC/EFA Donor:

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS through our online Annual Report for fiscal year 2014 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014).

We are happy to report that through another generous season of giving, BC/EFA has continued to reach hundreds of thousands across the country who, marginalized by gender, race, sexual orientation, age and class, face serious and life-threatening challenges. Simultaneously, we also continue to support an important safety net of social services for thousands in the theatrical community as provided by The Actors Fund.

Because of help from our supporters both onstage and off, we’ve had a remarkable year of fundraising. In an economy that continues to force devastating government cutbacks, thank you for being an important part of our fundraising and, in turn, our grant-making.

Together, in fiscal year 2014 we provided support to 463 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states. With your great support, BC/EFA’s national grants program continues to help food banks and meal delivery programs, health clinics, housing programs and much more. In this continued time of hardship for so many, you make it possible for BC/EFA to reach men, women and children who do not have the resources or blessings that many of us today can be thankful for.

At the same time, your support has allowed BC/EFA to reinforce the safety net for our friends and champions in the Broadway community through the vital programs of The Actors Fund. It began with the creation of the HIV/AIDS Initiative in 1988. In 1996, BC/EFA stepped up with the first support for the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and we remain the program’s largest funder. In the ensuing years, BC/EFA added continuing support for the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, the Artists Health Information Resource Center, the Actors Fund Work Program, The Dancers’ Resource and more. In doing so, together we ensure that everyone in the industry has access to the services The Actors Fund so expertly provides.

BC/EFA’s support for the programs of The Actors Fund reached $4.6 million in FY 2014, while our National Grants Program awarded $5.7 million to AIDS service organizations nationwide.

Our ability to extend a hand to others would not be possible without you. Thank you for continuing to stand by us, one donor, one artist, one event, one dollar in a red bucket at a time. It is the passion, generosity of spirit and commitment of each and all of your that ensures we will, together, continue to make a difference.

Sincerely,

Paul Libin, President

Tom Viola, Executive Director

Paul Libin, President

Tom Viola, Executive Director

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For more than two decades, a unique collaborative relationship has existed between Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Actors Fund, with our fundraising success contributing directly to the vital programs The Fund provides for professionals in the theatrical community.

A little bit of history: Equity Fights AIDS was created as a committee of Actors’ Equity by the Equity Council in 1988, not long after the creation of The AIDS Initiative by The Actors Fund.

Broadway Cares was founded by a group of producers in 1988 with the mission to raise funds in the Broadway community and make grants to AIDS service organizations across the country, including Equity Fights AIDS. With the merger of these two separate organizations and the creation of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS as a new not-for-profit organization in 1992, the missions combined: support for the HIV/AIDS Initiative of The Actors Fund and a national grants program.

AIDS funding remained BC/EFA’s sole grant-making focus until 1996, when it was determined by the BC/EFA Board of Trustees to provide support for The Actors Fund’s newly created Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative.

Today, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS supports the essential social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, the Actors Work Program and The Dancers’ Resource, as well as numerous projects such as The New York Stage Managers Unofficial Health Directory and more.

Since 1988, BC/EFA has granted more than $73 million to The Actors Fund to support these vital initiatives and programs.

In fiscal year 2014, BC/EFA awarded $4,603,000 to The Actors Fund.

The HIV/AIDS Initiative received $2,100,000, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative received $600,000, the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic received $600,000, the Artists Health Insurance Resource Center received $500,000, the Actors Fund Work Program received $300,000 and The Dancers’ Resource received $150,000.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS gave The Actors Fund a one-time grant of $250,000 for its Lillian Booth Actors Home capital campaign. BC/EFA also was glad to support the Stage Managers’ Project with a grant of $50,000 for the print and online version of The New York Stage Managers Unofficial Health Directory, as well as $53,000 for The Actors Fund annual gala, memorial gifts and other smaller donations.

Through our partnership with The Actors Fund, BC/EFA has touched the lives of thousands of entertainment professionals living with HIV/AIDS, as well as hundreds of thousands more coping with a variety of other health issues, emergencies and challenges. In fiscal year 2014, $826,302 was distributed by The Actors Fund in emergency financial assistance to 215 individuals living with AIDS.

The Actors Fund is a nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment including everyone in the theatre community. With BC/EFA’s expanded support for The Actors Fund, everyone in the entertainment industry can benefit from the safety net created first for people with AIDS, but now for all of us.

The Actors Fund provides for the welfare of all who earn their living through employment in the entertainment industry: the stage manager, dancer or theatrical press agent with AIDS and no health insurance; the actor looking to make a transition into a second career; the retired costume designer having difficulty living on Social Security and unclear about his Medicaid benefits; the stage carpenter, company manager or actress facing a crisis around an issue of addiction or the musician in need of supportive housing. All are part of the entertainment industry and all can find assistance through The Actors Fund.

For more information about The Actors Fund, visit actorsfund.org

Despite the economic challenges still impacting much of the country, fundraising recovered in 2014 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS from the lows of a few years ago. Broadway Cares now proudly support organizations in all 50 states, taking great pride in a coast-to-coast, border-to-border commitment to make sure important services can continue to help hundreds of thousands of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses.

In 2014, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS awarded $10,518,706 in grants. Of that, $5,881,246 was awarded to 464 AIDS and family service providers across the country and $4,300,000 went to support essential programs at The Actors Fund.

HIV is one factor in a long line of obstacles for so many. It often compounds issues of poverty, homeless, lack of access to healthcare and other vital, yet basic, resources. Living in isolation, or in some way feeling isolated from these kinds of life-saving resources, can contribute to a tremendous loss of hope for someone living with HIV/AIDS.

It can be the beginning of the end. That disconnection could keep a mother or a brother on medications from sticking to their essential drug regimens, which then compromises their own health and increases the likelihood they’ll be unable or unwilling to follow other prevention and safe sex practices.

While Broadway Cares cannot fully replace the budgets cuts that have been made in public, corporate and foundation funding, the generosity of the theatre community and Broadway Cares supporters allows us to address immediate short-term needs so these essential social services are able to address long-term challenges.

“If you have access to resources, HIV/AIDS is a livable condition,” said the Rev. Stan J. Sloan, chief executive officer of Chicago House, which received a $35,000 grant from Broadway Cares. “But if you are poor, it can feel insurmountable. And if we’re going to help someone move forward with their life you can’t just address one part of their life. If they need housing, you need to help them find housing. If they need case management or psychological services, you’ve got to help them get that or there’s no way they’re going to successfully stay employed or successfully stay in their housing. We can’t do that work without the dollars we get from places like Broadway Cares.”

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS awards its national grants in three rounds. The first round funds food service and meal delivery programs, which are essential components if lifesaving medical regimens are to have a lasting impact. The second round issues grants to nationally recognized AIDS service organizations, health clinics and advocacy organizations.

The third round supports social service organizations whose essential work enhances the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS and supports the integrity of families, by every definition of the word, who live each day with the multiple challenges of this disease. This grant round covers four categories: Direct Services; Emergency Financial Assistance; Harm Reduction Programs and Quality of Life Services.

A grant from Broadway Cares helps provide vital services from day to day. “I can’t begin to tell you what it means to our clients,” said Stacie Lechot, executive director of North Idaho AIDS Coalition in Coeur d’Alene. “It’s giving them food for a week and gas cards to get to the pharmacy or to the doctor or a food bank. It’s so touching to know that people who don’t even know who we are – or even where Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is – are making lives better for some many people here.”

View the 2014 National Grantees Map >

International Grantees

For many theatrical seasons, Broadway shows originating overseas or with foreign-born actors in their casts have participated generously in BC/EFA’s six weeks of audience appeals prior to Gypsy of the Year and Easter BonnetCompetition.

In appreciation of their enthusiastic efforts, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS grants a portion of the funds raised by these companies to AIDS service organizations in their native countries. These foreign charities are chosen and introduced to BC/EFA by the company members involved. Once the organization’s charitable status has been officially established by Broadway Cares, a grant in the name of the company is wired overseas.

In fiscal year 2014, BC/EFA made international grants totaling $377,101 to AIDS service organizations in Canada, England and South Africa.

The first of our international grants was a $5,000 donation made to West End Cares (renamed TheatreMAD in 2008), our sister theatre-based AIDS fundraising organization in London, in honor of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which participated in the 1996 Easter Bonnet Competition.

Many English actors in numerous Broadway productions — including Dame Judi Dench, Petula Clark, Alan Cumming, the late Natasha Richardson, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Elaine Paige, Anthony Sher and Sir Ian McKellen — have been a part of the fundraising efforts since then.

The vast majority of grant money distributed through our International Grants Program has been to South African AIDS service organizations in appreciation of the efforts of the South African members of the Broadway and touring productions ofThe Lion King.

Since 1998, BC/EFA has sent more than $3.8 million to 66 South African AIDS service providers in honor of and identified by the South African actors in the Broadway and national touring companies of The Lion King. As the AIDS pandemic continues to devastate this region, funding for South African ASOs will remain a funding priority for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Angels are donors who support BC/EFA’s vital work with unrestricted gifts of $1,000 or more during a single fiscal year. These gifts are especially important because they provide us with a dependable core of donors whose gifts are not related to the purchase of merchandise or event tickets. These funds go directly into our pool of grant-making dollars, which are, in turn, distributed to HIV/AIDS service organizations nationwide, as well as to the numerous social service and housing programs of The Actors Fund.

In Broadway lingo, an “angel” is an investor in a theatre production. In exchange for that financial investment, angels are traditionally guaranteed the best seats in the house for the shows their dollars make possible. The Angels Circle creates a similar tradition for its supporters, granting BC/EFA Angels VIP status, along with a host of associated benefits.

In addition to the Angels Circle, significant funds are generated through various BC/EFA annual and one-time special events, such as Easter Bonnet Competition, Gypsy of the Year, Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, Broadway Bares and Broadway Backwards. Considerable financial support also comes to us through our Care-Tix and CareCard programs. Contributions from all these sources are vital to Broadway Cares.

The names below are those who have supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS  with contributions of $1,000 or more during our fiscal year 2014, from October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2014.

Names in bold indicate Archangels, donors who have increased their gift by 25 percent or more over the past year.

In addition to the Angels Circle, significant funds are generated through various BC/EFA annual and one-time special events, such as the Easter Bonnet Competition, Gypsy of the Year, the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, Broadway Backwards and Broadway Bares. Considerable financial support also comes to us through our Care-Tix, CareCard and auctions programs. Contributions from all these sources are vital to BC/EFA. Below are the names of those who have supported these events and programs with contributions of $1,000 or more during our fiscal year 2014 from October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2014. Amounts listed are the tax-deductible portion of the donation, the total gift amount minus any fair market value for goods received.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is fortunate to have the continued support of a broad range of corporate partners. Two of our longest supporters are United Airlines and The New York Times.

CORPORATE PARTNERS

CORPORATE SPONSORS

As one of the largest charities representing Broadway and the American theatre and the ninth-largest AIDS grant-making organization in the world, BC/EFA is able to connect major corporate brands with one of the nation’s foremost creative industries and our most loyal supporters. We are also able to ensure that a corporation’s support reaches into nearly every community in the country through our National Grants Program. Our Corporate Partners are able to build brand loyalty among millions of people associated with Broadway, be it on tour, onstage, backstage or in the audience and those passionate about the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Companies can partner with BC/EFA on a broad range of projects, including annual partnership, event sponsorship, cash and in-kind donations that directly support our programs and specialized, cause-related marketing.

With the creation of Broadway Delivers! in 2001 a new way for Broadway Cares and corporations to work together was born.  Many of the events that BC/EFA produced through Broadway Delivers were originally produced for existing corporate clients such as Anheuser-Busch and Target, bringing new corporations into the Broadway Cares family.

We salute the generous companies that provide major support of our programs.

A successful Broadway show can be driven by star power, but even stars need their supporting players to sustain a long run.

The Supporting Players Circle allows donors to have a sustainable impact on our grant-making in a simple, affordable way. A donation is automatically charged to a credit or debit card each month. Membership in the Supporting Players Circle continues uninterrupted and members can increase, decrease or stop monthly donations at any time.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS appreciates and thanks these members of the Supporting Players Circle for helping to create a foundation of giving that makes a difference every month.

Thank you to the following for their ongoing and loyal support and for helping Broadway Cares sustain a long-run in the fight against AIDS:

The Colleen Dewhurst Society recognizes and honors individuals who ensure long-lasting support of those affected by HIV/AIDS by including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in their estate plan or will.

The Broadway Cares planned giving society is named for the late Tony Award-winning actress Colleen Dewhurst, who, as the president of Actors’ Equity Association, spearheaded the formation of the Equity Fights AIDS Committee, which in 1992 merged with Broadway Cares to become Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

“I’m so proud of what we do for each other.  There are so many people who thought this thing would never go.  That it couldn’t be done.  But it happened anyway because so many people came forward and, in many different ways, made it happen.  And to this very day, I love you all for that.”

– Colleen Dewhurst, June 1991

Colleen’s love for those who work in the theatre community, as well as her extraordinary compassion for the forgotten, the disadvantaged, or those not strong enough to be able to stand up to life’s challenges on their own, remains at the heart of BC/EFA’s work. Members of the Colleen Dewhurst Society keep her memory alive by helping Broadway Cares take care of our most vulnerable for years to come.

For more information about the Colleen Dewhurst Society, contact John Halpin, major gifts officer, at 212.840.0770, ext. 275, or halpin@broadwaycares.org.

In Fiscal Year 2014, gifts to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS were received from the following estates:

Estate of Jack Abrahams
Estate of Francine Beers
Estate of Dolores Gray Crevolin
Estate of Roger Franklin
Estate of Robert R. Sinacore

The following people have provided for an estate or other planned gifts to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS:

We salute our many friends and colleagues who are no longer with us and left planned gifts to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS:

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS recognizes major supporters, individuals, businesses and foundations that make a contribution of $1,000 or more annually to Dancers Responding to AIDS. A key program of Broadway Cares, DRA helps raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in support of those affected by HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. That wouldn’t be possible without the generosity and compassion of our most loyal supporters.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS pays tribute to The Maestro Program of Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS, which recognizes individuals, businesses and foundations that make a contribution of $1,000 or more annually to Classical Action. Through the support of these and hundreds of other donors, Classical Action, a key program of Broadway Cares, helps raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in support of those affected by HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses.

Every great Maestro knows that each section of the orchestra, whether strings, woodwinds, brass or percussion, plays an important role in creating an overall sound. Similarly, those who contribute to The Maestro Program know that whatever giving category they choose, their contribution helps orchestrate the success of Classical Action, thus ensuring the future of AIDS services across the country.

Officers

Paul Libin, President
Philip Birsh, Treasurer
Ira Mont, First Vice President
Thomas Schumacher, Second Vice President
Nina Lannan, Third Vice President
Sherry Cohen, Fourth Vice President
Judith Rice, Secretary

Trustees

as of October 2014

At the October 8, 2014, meeting of the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Trustees, those in attendance presented Joe Benincasa, executive director of The Actors Fund, with a check for $4,603,000, representing BC/EFA’s support in fiscal year 2014.

From left to right: J. Jason Daunter, Producing Director; Tom Viola, Executive Director; Nina Lannan, BC/EFA Third Vice President; B. Merle Debuskey; Barry Brown; Joseph Benincasa; Scott Barnes; Nick Wyman; Paul Libin, BC/EFA President; Robert E. Wankel; Maria Di Dia; Thomas Schumacher, Second Vice President; John Barnes; Jay Laudato; Paul DiDonato; David Binder; Larry Cook, Director of Finance and Administration; and Danny Whitman, Director of Communications and Development.

Tom Viola, Executive Director
Michael Graziano, Producing Director
Larry Cook, Director of Finance & Administration
Danny Whitman, Director of Communications & Development

Photo Credit: Brian Mapp, Playbill®