August 2020

Dear Friend and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Supporter:

In 2020, it feels strange to look back and reflect on fiscal year 2019. Despite being a challenging year politically, we were able to talk to, laugh with and hug our friends and family. We were able to come together in a Broadway theater and appreciate art and the artists who made it possible. These were simple moments we took for granted, but today are poignant memories. As is the lifesaving difference Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and its supporters made for people in need across the country during this time.

Throughout fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019), through record-breaking annual events, audience appeals and fundraising efforts, Broadway Cares shared your incredible generosity with those facing HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses. This support went to 478 HIV/AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., supporting food banks and meal delivery programs, health clinics, housing programs and more.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS continued as the single largest funder of The Actors Fund’s vital safety net of services for our friends and colleagues in the entertainment community. We support The Actors Fund’s essential programs including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, the Artists Health Information Resource Center, Addiction and Recovery Services, The Career Center, the Safe Workplace Initiative, The Dancers’ Resource, Senior Services and more. With your support, everyone in the industry has access to The Actors Fund’s lifesaving services.

In total, Broadway Cares’ support for the programs of The Actors Fund reached $6.2 million in fiscal year 2019, while our National Grants Program awarded $8 million to social and medical service organizations nationwide.

Hopefully, by next year’s annual report letter, the challenges of 2020 will simply be a distant memory. For now, thank you for proving that what we do together makes a difference.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Wankel, President

Tom Viola, Executive Director

Robert E. Wankel, President

Tom Viola, Executive Director

Throughout the year, for eight shows a week, artists onstage and the unseen theatre professionals offstage entertain audiences across the country. But once the curtain closes and the lights dim, the physical toll of this demanding life can set in. And with unique schedules and often complex health insurance concerns, it can be challenging to know where to turn in times of need or crisis.

That’s why The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts expanded in 2019 to include more specialists and general practitioners to support the needs of the performing arts community. This growth was buoyed by annual support of $1.2 million from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

“We’re responsive to the needs of the community,” said Renata Marinaro, director of health services, national at The Actors Fund. “We’re listening and reacting to the demands of our patients. An example is the number of women who have told us they need good gynecological care in this city as well as quick, easy access to it. So that is something we made sure to add, and part of what has fueled this growth at The Friedman.”

In addition to a female gynecologist, The Friedman Health Center is adding a female family medicine doctor this fall, who joins the two existing male primary care physicians. The center is also gaining a second dermatologist, who is in addition to the dermatology, podiatry and physical therapy services that have been added during the center’s two years in service.

Since 1988, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has granted more than $106 million to The Actors Fund to support these vital initiatives and programs.

In fiscal year 2019, Broadway Cares awarded $6.18 million to The Actors Fund.

Support for The Actors Fund

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS also supported 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 $61,000 for The Actors Fund annual gala, memorial donations, benefit support and other smaller donations.

Ultimately, The Friedman Health Center, thanks in part to Broadway Cares and its supporters, thrives because its wellness professionals appreciate and respect the craft of those onstage and behind the scenes.

“I did plays when I was in high school, but my love of musical theatre didn’t make up for my lack of talent, so I went to medical school,” Dr. Jason Kindt, medical director at The Friedman Health Center, joked. “I never dreamed I’d get to combine both of my passions. The fact that I am this involved with the theatre community blows my mind. It’s truly a dream job for me. I get to work with some of my idols every day.

For Marinaro, her love for the community is driven by how the community inspires her. “They make us laugh, they make us cry,” Marinaro said. “I have such respect for the work that is done in this community. Musicians, dancers, ushers, everybody in every facet puts in long hours. Their resilience is incredible. And I feel privileged to be able to help them when they need it.”

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

 
Tom Viola stepped into his office one morning and was greeted with unexpected gratitude delivered in a surprising manner.

Stacked on his desk, the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ executive director found more than two dozen letters with postmarks from Alabama to Minnesota, Connecticut to California. They came from organizations in a dozen states that received support and hope through Broadway Cares’ grants that had just been awarded in June 2019.

“There are approximately 1,000 people needing a safe place to sleep tonight in the state of Minnesota,” read the letter from Clare Housing in Minneapolis, which again received a $10,000 grant thanks to Broadway Cares’ supporters. “And, for individuals living with HIV, the barriers to housing faced on a daily basis are too numerous, including HIV stigma, racism, poverty and generational trauma. Your commitment ensures that each resident has a stable home with the support they need to live an independent and dignified life.”

While it’s common for those receiving grants to share their thanks and appreciation, this one day’s volume of gratitude was particularly striking.

“To arrive to all these letters from organizations coast to coast, doing groundbreaking work in supporting the most vulnerable among us, was deeply and quietly moving,” Viola said. “It’s such an important reminder of the difference we make together.”

In fiscal year 2019, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS awarded more than $8 million to AIDS and family service providers through the National Grants Program.

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 for lifesaving medical regimens to have a lasting impact. The second round provides 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.

In addition to the three grant rounds, Broadway Cares shared a series of one-off support throughout the year, including emergency grants and grants to theatre community service organizations, research and Physician Volunteers for the Arts. Special grants were made to the Hispanic Federation and Flamboyan Foundation for natural disaster relief.

2019 National Grants

 
In the corner of the letter from Covenant House in Charleston, West Virginia, was a handwritten note from Executive Director Ellen Allen: “We are deeply grateful for your generous support of our work. You can’t imagine what it means to us here, far from New York.”

So much of this work and so many of these stories wouldn’t be told without the generosity and kindness of Broadway Cares supporters.

2019 National Grantees by State

Please use the drop-down box below to view all the agencies BC/EFA funded in Fiscal Year 2019 by state.

 
International actors and Broadway shows originating overseas have long been participating in Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ twice-yearly audience appeals. They are valued and crucial fundraisers for the organization. To celebrate their efforts, Broadway Cares grants a portion of the funds they help raise to HIV/AIDS service organizations in their native countries.

These international charities are chosen and introduced to Broadway Cares by the company members who inspired the donation. Once the organization’s charitable status has been confirmed by Broadway Cares, a grant on behalf of the company is donated abroad.

In fiscal year 2019, Broadway Cares made grants to international organizations totaling $588,920 to HIV/AIDS service organizations outside the United States.

A key focus for Broadway Cares’ international grants round is South Africa. The incidence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa remains among the highest in the world as 7 million people live with the disease. It’s a reality that continues to hit close to the heart for many in the cast of Disney’s acclaimed production of The Lion King. As natives of South Africa, they’ve seen the epidemic’s toll first-hand in their hometowns and villages.

Inspired by The Lion King‘s enthusiastic fundraising efforts, more than $5.5 million has been awarded in grants to South African HIV/AIDS organizations since The Lion King opened on Broadway. In 2019, $448,257 was shared with 17 service providers 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 organizations will remain a priority for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

2019 International Grants

 
Angels are donors who support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS with unrestricted gifts of $1,000 or more during a single fiscal year. These gifts are especially notable as they are a unique, special core of donors whose gifts were not in relation to the purchase of merchandise or event tickets. These generous donations directly fund Broadway Cares’ grants, which are ultimately distributed to the vital social service programs of The Actors Fund and HIV/AIDS service organizations in all 50 states.

In Broadway terms, an “angel” is an investor in a theatre production. In exchange for the financial investment, angels are historically given the best seats in the house as the show could not exist without their contribution. The Angels Circle creates a similar tradition, granting Broadway Cares Angels VIP status within the organization, along with numerous additional benefits.

The names below are those who have supported Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS  with Angels Circle contributions of $1,000 or more during our fiscal year 2019, from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019.

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

*Indicates members of the DRA Angels Circle
**Indicates members of the Broadway Cares and DRA Angels Circles

As of October 1, 2019

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is fortunate to have the continued support of a broad range of corporate partners.

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.

The Colleen Dewhurst Society is the planned giving program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, honoring those who have included Broadway Cares in their estate plan or will.

The society is named for the late Colleen Dewhurst, the Tony Award-winning actress and past president of Actors’ Equity Association. She pioneered the formation of the Equity Fights AIDS Committee, which merged with Broadway Cares in 1992 to become the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS of today.

“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

Dewhurst’s legacy will forever reflect her love for the theatre community and boundless compassion for the disadvantaged and underprivileged, as well as her incredible vision for AIDS fundraising within the Broadway community.

Joining the Colleen Dewhurst Society allows Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS supporters to create their own legacy of benevolence for the most vulnerable for years to come.

In fiscal year 2019, gifts to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS were received from the following estates:

Estate of Harry Bennett
Estate of Basil Merle Debusky
Estate of Christine Plath
Estate of Eileen Stapleton
 

The following people have provided for an estate or other planned gift 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.

Officers

Robert E. Wankel, president
Thomas Schumacher, executive vice president
Ira Mont, first vice president
Mary McColl, second vice president
Sherry Cohen, third vice president
Philip Birsh, treasurer
Judith Rice, secretary

Paul Libin, president emeritus

Trustees

As of October 2019

At the October 2019 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 $6,186,000, representing Broadway Cares’ support in the fiscal year 2019.

Tom Viola, Executive Director
Lane Beauchamp, Director of Communications
Larry Cook, Director of Finance & Administration
Valerie Lau-Kee Lai, Producing Director
Danny Whitman, Director of Development