Equity Fights AIDS was founded in October 1987 by the Council of Actors’ Equity Association. Money raised through the efforts of Equity theatre companies across the country was specifically earmarked for The Actors Fund’s AIDS Initiative.

Broadway Cares was founded in February 1988 by members of The Producers’ Group. Money raised was earmarked to be awarded to AIDS service organizations nationwide, including Equity Fights AIDS.

In May 1992, Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway Cares merged to become Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The Board of Trustees of this newly established not-for-profit fundraising organization assumed the missions of the previously separate organizations and continues to fund the social service work of the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) and to award grants three times a year to AIDS service organizations nationwide.

Unlike most other nonprofit, grant-making organizations, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS must raise every single dollar of our philanthropic budget every year in order to fulfill our mission. In turn, Broadway Cares works hard to ensure that the money we raise is spent carefully and wisely on programs where these hard-earned funds can have the maximum possible impact.

The ongoing funding support provided through Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ National Grants Program is an essential component of our commitment, specifically to people with AIDS outside of the entertainment industry and the organizations that serve them.

Our National Grants Program was conceptualized with two objectives. The first was to responsibly grant funds as quickly as possible so that organizations responding to the AIDS crisis would be able to address the constant state of emergency that people with AIDS faced during the early days of the epidemic.

The second was to spread resources to as many organizations throughout the country as possible in order to create an awareness of HIV/AIDS among service providers and to use relatively modest grants to leverage greater resources to address the needs of all communities affected by HIV/AIDS.

The HIV epidemic has grown and intensified beyond the gay community, particularly in communities of color, with a high incidence among women and their children, as well as in persons with substance abuse histories. HIV has always reinforced or created economic hardship. Therefore, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS saw a need to focus its National Grants Program on direct services such as food programs, support programs for clothing and personal hygiene items and emergency assistance programs to avoid evictions or loss of health insurance.

At the same time, Broadway Cares was compelled to develop funding options that supported the integrity of families and the quality of life of people living with AIDS. Funding became available for family support, including bereavement support, burials for family members, summer camps, recreational and cultural outings and alternative therapies.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS also demonstrated its leadership by being among the first to fund needle exchange programs, long before most other funders supported these programs, and even before New York State decriminalized syringe possession.

1988 -1990s

In 1988 Broadway Cares was created specifically to raise funds within the theater community to be distributed through grants to AIDS service organizations in New York City and across the country. During the four years from 1988 through the merger of Broadway Cares with Equity Fights AIDS in May 1992, $1,067,000 was granted to 85 AIDS service organizations by a committee made up entirely of theatrical professionals. Following the 1992 merger and through 1996, this same committee granted an additional $4,740,000.

In 1996, the National Grants Committee was restructured to include both AIDS service providers and those in the theater community active in raising funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

2000 – 2010s – One Grant Round Per Year Becomes Three

Initially Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ National Grants Program committee met once a year to award grants to AIDS service organizations in six categories: Food Services; Emergency Assistance; Direct Services; One-Time Expense; Substance Abuse and Harm Reduction Services; and Quality of Life Programs.

In March 2002, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS initiated a second grant round for a small subset of Nationally Recognized AIDS Service Organizations, as well as a number of organizations doing advocacy and public policy work that affects the hundreds of service providers Broadway Cares funds. These are organizations whose mission as providers of HIV/AIDS services and/or advocacy is nationally recognized as pivotal within a large geographic area or an area with a particularly high concentration of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS serves as a grant-making conduit between Broadway audiences (groups that immediately respond to the fundraising appeals made by entertainment professionals) and people living with HIV/AIDS. Consistent with this ideal, our grant-making targets direct services. Nothing embodies this concept more than ensuring a person who is sick has a decent meal. In January 2006, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS decided to make the Food Service Organizations category its own separate grant round affording the opportunity for a larger award than was available in the overall national grant round awarded every spring.

We heard from both the entertainment community and our donors who said that while they are still deeply concerned about HIV/AIDS, they were also worried about the ability of people homebound with other life-threatening illnesses to receive regularly delivered meals. In the last two years, a number of the largest meal delivery programs have tried expanding their services to include those with other debilitating illnesses. Because we believe that this expansion of services is a smart, strategic plan, beginning in January 2006, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS offered those food service and meal delivery programs with expanded missions the opportunity to receive larger grants of up to $35,000. This not only offers assistance to more people in need, but in doing so encourages increased funding opportunities in a very difficult fundraising climate, thereby ensuring that delivered meals will continue to be provided to people with AIDS for the foreseeable future.

2020 – today

In March 2020, theaters on Broadway and across the country were darkened because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ supporters shined brightly, fueling an extraordinary $3,473,000 million in grants to 381 social services agencies across the country during fiscal year 2020.

In 2021, $4.98 million in grants from Broadway Cares’ National Grants Programs was provided to 424 social and medical service agencies in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. These agencies were supported in three rounds: $2,452,500 in grants to 131 food service and meal delivery programs in January; $925,000 to 41 nationally recognized AIDS service and advocacy organizations in March; and $1,604,000 to 252 direct service programs in June.

That National Grants support was in addition to $7.7 million donated to the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), which provides a safety net of social services for everyone in entertainment and the performing arts. Overall, Broadway Cares provided $13,024,000 in grants during fiscal year 2021.

“Even with theaters closed and in-person events canceled, our fundraising work continued at remarkable levels thanks to our generous donors and the ingenuity and compassion of theater artists,” Broadway Cares Executive Director Tom Viola said”

In 2024, Broadway Cares awarded $6,217,500 to 466 social service agencies in three rounds: $2,8300,000 in grants to 146 food service and meal delivery programs in January; $985,000 to 44 nationally recognized AIDS service and advocacy organizations in March; and $2,005,000 to 256 direct service programs in June. Separately, 20 theater social service organizations were awarded $397,500.

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History of Grant-Making

Rising Need, Record Grants: How Your Support Helps Those at Risk

Across the country, the longtime lifelines for people living with HIV are confronting a stark reality: government funding cuts, rising costs and increased demand are stretching resources thinner than ever.

In the face of this growing urgency, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS responded with its most ambitious year yet, awarding $9.5 million through its National Grants Program to 483 organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. An additional $8.38 million was shared with the Entertainment Community Fund.

These grants provide a crucial safety net of meals and medication, health care and hope. The  record totals reflect both the extraordinary generosity of the theater community and the staggering need that generosity now meets.

“In this climate of political and economic uncertainty, Broadway Cares’ commitment to sustaining grassroots service providers like ours is deeply meaningful,” shared Aundaray Guess, executive director of GRIOT Circle in Brooklyn, New York. “[Its] partnership over the years has not only provided vital resources but has helped affirm the humanity and worth of the LGBTQ elders of color we serve.”

GRIOT Circle received a $10,000 grant to sustain its Buddy 2 Buddy program, which pairs volunteers with older adults living with HIV for wellness check-ins and companionship.

“From accompaniment to doctor’s appointments and consistent calls, to cultivating the deep emotional support that so many of our members rely on, this program remains a critical source of wellness, companionship and chosen family,” Guess said.

In San Diego, Townspeople continues to serve as a beacon of stability for people living with HIV/AIDS, providing housing, peer-based counseling and other lifesaving support. The organization received a $5,000 grant in support of its direct services, funding that fills critical gaps left by restricted public contracts.

“The kind of care we provide isn’t always visible on a spreadsheet,” William Ward, Townspeople’s grants and compliance specialist, said. “It looks like trust built over months, a timely intervention that prevents a crisis or simply showing up when no one else can. It’s in the way we listen, the way we stay and the way we honor each person’s path to stability.”

That compassion has also long extended to Nashville CARES, a Broadway Cares grantee since 1988. The organization provides comprehensive care for people living with HIV across Middle Tennessee, offering everything from case management and access to medication to food assistance, counseling and community-building programs.

Nashville CARES’ impact resonates through clients like Margaret, who knows firsthand how vital that support can be.

“I lost four apartments, and every time, Nashville CARES was there to pick me up,” Margaret said. “They never criticized me, never judged me. Through their programs, I learned everything I could about living with HIV, and got control of my health. But if folks start cutting the resources that keep us going, the death rate’s gonna soar again.”

In 2025, Broadway Cares awarded $12,500 to Nashville CARES. While these funds directly support Margaret and others like her in accessing life-affirming care, Nashville CARES – like many organizations across the South – faces the ongoing risk of losing critical funding beyond this generosity.

“Right now, we’re being funded year to year for prevention education in Tennessee, which makes it nearly impossible to build sustainable, long-term programs,” said Amna Osman, CEO of Nashville CARES. “We’re fighting every day just to keep these essential services going. That’s why the support of Broadway Cares and our donors means so much. Because we can see the difference it makes, every single day, in people’s lives and in our community.”

Together, these grants form a lifeline for millions navigating difficult, impossible choices – between rent or medication, between food or transportation to a doctor’s appointment. For Broadway Cares, this record-breaking year is not just a celebration of generosity, but a call to sustain it.

“While we can’t replace every dollar of lost funding, we can promise this: Broadway Cares will remain a steady, reliable partner, now and in the years ahead,” Executive Director Danny Whitman said. “The need has never been greater, and neither has our shared humanity.”

That shared humanity is what connects every meal delivered, every prescription filled and every hand extended in care. It’s what fuels GRIOT Circle’s Buddy 2 Buddy volunteers, inspires Townspeople’s frontline workers and drives Nashville CARES’ compassionate team to meet each client where they are.

“You’re helping people who are struggling,” Margaret said. “Paying a security deposit, turning lights back on, finding a safe place to live. Your generosity helps them live healthier, fuller lives. We can’t do it without you.”
 

At the Intersection of Art and Care

For decades, Angela Babin has balanced science and compassion. Before leading the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, she built a career in occupational safety, pediatric oncology and industrial hygiene — fields that demand precision, empathy and resilience.

Her path might seem far removed from the arts, but Babin’s life has always moved to a creative rhythm. Raised by a pianist-composer father and a ballerina mother, she understands the beauty and fragility of a performer’s life. That mix of artistry and expertise now proves essential.

“I’ve always been drawn to work that connects people to care,” she said. “Now I get to do that in a world that feels like home. … My work intertwines the people I know and love with topical matters I care about and have spent my life studying in research and health care settings.”

That connection defines the initiative she now leads. The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative at the Entertainment Community Fund was established in 1996 with seed funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The program provides direct assistance, health guidance and emotional support to women and nonbinary members of the performing arts community navigating serious illness, mental health challenges and caregiving responsibilities.

Over nearly three decades, the initiative has grown from a single caseworker serving a handful of artists into a cornerstone of the Fund’s care programs, helping hundreds each year. Broadway Cares continues to sustain that vital work through annual grants, ensuring the program’s reach extends wherever artists need help. 

This year, thanks to Broadway Cares supporters, $800,000 was shared with the initiative, part of $8.38 million sent to the Entertainment Community Fund. 

Since Broadway Cares first expanded its support beyond the HIV/AIDS Initiative to the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, the organization has championed a safety net of services, including The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, Artists Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC), Addiction and Recovery Services, The Dancers’ Resource and the Broadway Flu Shot Initiative.

Babin understands the aspects of an artist’s life that make accessing traditional care difficult. Performers often lack stable health insurance, work unpredictable schedules and face the unique pressure of staying “on” even when unwell. A diagnosis or family emergency can jeopardize both health and livelihood. The initiative steps in to bridge those gaps — covering rent or medical bills, offering counseling and connecting clients with trusted specialists who understand the demands of a creative life.

“We are needed so much right now,” Babin said. “Our community went through COVID and its shutdown, the writers’ strike and wildfires. Now, in the United States, there are challenges affecting health care and health insurance coverage. People can’t afford treatments.”

Artists are resilient, she said, but they shouldn’t have to go it alone.

Babin’s caseload reflects the scope of need: artists managing endometriosis, thyroid cancer, long COVID or recovery after gender-affirming surgery. Others seek mental health support or relief from the exhaustion of caregiving. Each story is unique, but the goal is the same — to restore health, hope and stability.

Voice artist and writer Charity James knows that firsthand. Facing a glaucoma diagnosis, her mother’s strokes and the threat of eviction, she turned to the Entertainment Community Fund. Babin personally visited her home, helping her navigate the initiative’s resources.

“I didn’t have any other resources at that time, and I didn’t have any way of helping myself at that point,” James said. “People may think, ‘why are you bothering with your career when your mom’s in the hospital?’ And I say, ‘I have to. I can’t allow myself to get swallowed up by this situation. I have to continue to move forward in my own career, in my own life. The Fund helps me do that.”

Her story mirrors countless others whose lives are steadied by the initiative’s support. 

“It’s valuable to champion these efforts because life happens,” James said. “You can think of yourself as strong, capable, financially set, but life happens and the Fund is an amazing, amazing, amazing resource that I didn’t know existed.”

For Babin, the impact isn’t measured in numbers alone but in renewed confidence. 

“When someone knows their rent is covered, their energy can turn back toward healing,” she said. “They get better — and then they tell someone else. There’s a ripple effect.”

Sometimes, that ripple looks as simple as self-kindness. Babin recalled a client from a meditation group who had recently recovered from illness. Mid-session, the woman excused herself to answer the door and returned with a bouquet she’d sent to herself. That small act of care became a moment of inspiration for everyone on the call.

To Babin, those moments embody what the initiative represents. 

“We remind people that they matter,” she said. “Even when they’re scared or struggling, they’re still part of a community that won’t let them face it alone.”

Support for the Entertainment Community Fund by Fiscal Year

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Food Service and Meal Delivery Grants

Applications for this grant round will be mailed out to previous grantees on November 14, 2025. The deadline will be December 12, 2025. The grants committee will meet to review proposals in January 2026 and awards will be announced in February 2026.

Nationally Recognized Service and Public Policy Grants

By invitation only. Applications for this grant round will be mailed out to previous grantees on February 13, 2026. The deadline will be March 13, 2026. Awards will be announced in April 2026.

National Grants for Emergency Assistance Programs, Direct Services, Substance Abuse and Harm Reduction Services, Quality of Life Programs

Applications for this grant round will be mailed out to previous grantees on April 10, 2026. The deadline will be May 8, 2026. The awards will be announced in June 2026.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will extend invitations to apply for our National Grants Programs in 2026 only to those organizations receiving grants previously.

Organizations that received a grant in 2025 will automatically be sent the application materials as they become available. Any organization that received a grant in the past but not in 2025 should contact Brian O’Donnell at odonnell@broadwaycares.org.

Please use the drop-down box below to view all the agencies Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS funded in fiscal year 2025 by state.