August 2021

Dear Friend and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Supporter:

To call the 12 months of fiscal year 2020 “unprecedented” would be an understatement. When we were beginning the fiscal year back in October 2019, we never would have anticipated an industry-wide shutdown that would leave our colleagues out of work for more than a year. We’ve also felt profound sadness as the pandemic’s cruel hand robbed us of brilliant artists, dear friends, and beloved family and coworkers.

And yet when theaters went dark, our supporters shined brightly. They stepped up to donate or share their talents when many of our annual tentpole events – such as Broadway Bares and Fire Island Dance Festival – pivoted to online presentations. They were also there when we “opened the vault” to revive online past in-person benefits, relishing in the chance to relive performances by many of Broadway’s best.

That outpouring of care allowed us to again extend a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people across the country in our industry and far beyond. That support also allowed us to provide emergency grants for pandemic relief and social justice initiatives as the nation faced a long-overdue reckoning.

We’re extremely grateful to have sent more than $11.2 million to The Actors Fund in fiscal year 2020, including $6.5 million from our COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund for those in our industry who never expected to need a helping hand. An additional $6.4 million went to 452 social and medical service organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico to combat the food insecurity and daily crises these organizations face even when there is not a raging pandemic.

While we never expected the devastation that 2020 brought, the kindness and compassion shown to us was not surprising – it’s what has been shared with us for more than 30 years.

Early in the pandemic, Tony Award-winning actor André De Shields shared some wisdom in a Zoom meet-and-greet with a donor.  “Generosity and gratitude are the fuel of the universe,” he said. We could not agree more. Thank you to our supporters for being our most precious fuel, even when the world turned upside down. We are eternally grateful.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Wankel, President

Tom Viola, Executive Director

Robert E. Wankel, President

Tom Viola, Executive Director

NaTonia Monét had just made her Broadway debut in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, fulfilling a decade-long dream. Then, the pandemic hit.

“My dream was snatched away,” Monét said. “And I was faced with the reality of my entire industry being shut down.”

Broadway alone supports more than 96,000 jobs in New York City. Multiply that by theaters and arts communities across the country and the hundreds of thousands in the industry facing the same dark days as Monét, not knowing if they can pay next month’s rent or even put food on the table.

Just days after the Broadway shut down, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS launched the COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, created specifically to help all those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes find some solace of hope and help.

The Actors Fund, the employee assistance program of the entertainment industry, administers the emergency fund, which was seeded with $250,000 from Broadway Cares. Broadway Cares has been the largest single financial support of The Actors Fund for decades. And with the community in trouble, a pandemic wasn’t going to change that.

“When crises hit, the extended Broadway community and the theatre fans everywhere have always responded with generosity, compassion and action,” Broadway Cares Executive Director Tom Viola said. “Buoyed by and on behalf of those onstage, backstage and throughout the theaters of New York City and on the road, we proudly launched this emergency initiative to provide immediate, basic support for those facing uncertainty in this unsettling pandemic.”

In fiscal year 2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund provided $6.5 million to The Actors Fund. An additional $1 million was shared with The Actors Fund to launch the Every Artist Insured program, expanding on The Actors Fund’s free and confidential health insurance counseling and enrollment support services.

In total, Broadway Cares awarded a record $11.2 million to The Actors Fund in fiscal year 2020.

The pandemic-specific grants were in addition to annual support of the vital safety net of social services of The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts.
 

Support for The Actors Fund

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS also supported The Stage Managers’ Project with a grant of  $60,000 for the print and online version of The New York Stage Managers Unofficial Health Directory, $50,000 toward Looking Ahead – The Paul Libin Center and $65,000 for The Actors Fund annual gala, memorial donations, benefit support and other donations.

The remarkable total surpassed the $6.2 million in support for The Actors Fund provided by Broadway Cares in 2019.

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

“We are extremely grateful to everyone in the theater community – those onstage, backstage and in the audience – for sharing their generosity and talents to accomplish such a feat when half our fiscal year was consumed by a pandemic,” Viola said.

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

 
When Broadway and theaters across the country went dark in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS moved to be a light for those facing immediate health and economic hardship.

Thanks to the generosity of the theatrical community and dedicated supporters, Broadway Cares awarded more than $5 million to AIDS and family service providers in fiscal year 2020 through the National Grants Program.

In January, prior to the pandemic, the Broadway Cares grants committee provided $2.1 million to 125 organizations nationwide as part of its annual food grants round. These grants ensured healthy meals would continue being served to the most vulnerable and marginalized.

Then, when the pandemic struck in March, two remaining annual grant rounds were in jeopardy.

The pandemic and work shutdown struck just as Broadway Cares was beginning its spring in-theater fundraising efforts. With those efforts halted, so was Broadway Cares’ grant-making for hundreds more organizations across the country. Gilead Sciences then offered $1 million to help Broadway Cares award Emergency Grants for Pandemic Relief. They were quickly joined by M‧A‧C Viva Glam, ViiV Healthcare and the P. Austin Family Foundation. Broadway Cares’ supporters helped raise the remaining $250,000, matched by Gilead, to provide a full $2 million in emergency grants.

The 2020 awards to 319 organizations across the country were roughly 50% of their grant totals from the previous year. The grants served as a promise that Broadway Cares would return with full support as soon as the theater industry was back on its feet. For so many of the organizations that received grants, the support was indispensable.

“Our clients are on the front lines and so many have lost their jobs and are wondering how they are going to pay for food and rent,” Bradley D. Childs, deputy executive director at Palmetto Community Care in Charleston, S.C., said in an email. “We are changing the way we work by delivering food, food gift cards, hygiene supplies and medications to clients directly. We are offering mental health support to combat the extreme anxiety and panic that many are feeling. We appreciate your generosity and your compassion.”

2019 National Grants

 
In addition to these initiatives, another $942,500 was awarded in discretionary grants to 67 organizations requesting support during this challenging time. These grants included the Costume Industry Coalition, mobilizing efforts to support Broadway costume shops while the industry was dark; three organizations helping artists who might otherwise be overlooked through other programs – The Indie Theater Fund, the NYC Dancers Relief Fund and the NYC Low-Income Artist + Freelancer Relief Fund; and a series of social justice grants to Broadway Advocacy Coalition, The Bail Project, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Color of Change in solidarity with and support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“In March, thinking of any kind of fundraising seemed daunting, if not impossible,” Broadway Cares Executive Director Tom Viola said. “But, this is proof that impossible is not in the vocabulary of our generous, resourceful and talented community. This is proof that what we do together makes a difference.”

2020 National Grantees by State

Please use the drop-down box below to view by state all the agencies Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS funded in fiscal year 2020.

 
International actors and their productions have long participated in Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ audience appeals. To celebrate these valued and crucial fundraisers, Broadway Cares grants a portion of the funds they help raise to service organizations in their native countries.

These international charities are chosen and introduced to Broadway Cares by the company members themselves. In fiscal year 2020, Broadway Cares made grants to international organizations totaling $398,000.

An ongoing focus for Broadway Cares’ international grants round is South Africa, which continues to have the biggest HIV epidemic in the world with 7.7 million people in the country living with HIV. That reality resonates for many in the cast of Disney’s acclaimed production of The Lion King who are 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 $5.8 million has been awarded in grants to South African HIV/AIDS organizations since The Lion King opened on Broadway. In 2020, $343,500 was shared with service providers identified by the South African actors in the Broadway and national touring companies of The Lion King.

2020 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 that are not related to event or merchandise purchases. Angels provide essential support for those affected by COVID-19, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses across the country.

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 2020, from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2020. We salute these donors for their compassion and commitment to helping others in need.

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

For more information about the benefits of the Angels Circle, please contact Sarah Cardillo, senior development officer, at cardillo@broadwaycares.orgor 212.840.0770, ext. 275.
 

*Indicates members of the DRA Angels Circle
**Indicates members of the Broadway Cares and DRA Angels Circle
Names in bold indicate Broadway Cares Archangels, donors who increased their gift by 25 percent or more over the previous year.

As of September 30, 2020

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

The Colleen Dewhurst Legacy 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

Joining the Colleen Dewhurst Legacy Society ensures that the values that mean so much to you will extend far into the future.

Please contact Nick Mayo, major gifts and planned giving officer, at mayo@broadwaycares.org for information on how to include Broadway Cares in your estate plan or will.
 

In fiscal year 2020, gifts to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS were received from the following estates:

Estate of Basil Merle Debusky
Estate of Aaron Frankel
Daniel Baron in loving memory of Artie Gaffin
Estate of Charles Hamlen
Estate of James O’Neil Jr.
Estate of Robert Russell
 

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 2020

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