Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
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National Grants
Grant-Making Restored in 2022 to Pre-Pandemic Levels
The sign on the door of the St. Clement’s Episcopal Church food pantry was ominous: “Closed until additional funds can be secured to fill the pantry shelves.”
Like other neighborhood food banks across the country, St. Clement’s is a vital resource to its midtown Manhattan community, providing canned goods, fresh vegetables, pastas and other essentials to countless individuals and families year-round.
Just a couple blocks from the nonstop bustle of Times Square, the temporary closure at St. Clement’s exemplified the struggles facing organizations large and small as they continue to battle back from the increase in need and decrease in funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet, thanks to the generosity of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ donors and supporters, annual grants to places like St. Clement’s returned to, and in some cases exceeded, their pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
“This achievement will make a significant difference in how a wide variety of services can continue to be delivered to hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other debilitating illnesses in New York City and across the country,” Broadway Cares Executive Director Tom Viola said. “It’s a testament to the commitment of Broadway Cares’ donors and the extended theater community who help make these grants possible.”
Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program awarded a record $8.65 million in fiscal year 2022 to 485 social service organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. In 2019 – the last full year of grants before COVID-19 hit – Broadway Cares awarded a then-record $8 million in national grants.
When COVID-19 shut down the theater industry in March 2020, just as Broadway Cares’ spring in-theater fundraising efforts were to begin, Broadway Cares anticipated having to temporarily suspend grant-making altogether. However, thanks to Gilead Sciences and major donors, $1,171,000 was awarded to 279 organizations. Similarly, in 2021, contributions from Gilead Sciences and major donors meant 252 social service providers received spring grants totaling $1.6 million.
After Broadway fully reopened in 2022, Broadway Cares grant-making returned to its traditional schedule, awarded through three primary grant rounds.
In January, $2.5 million was provided to 127 food service and meal delivery programs.
These organizations are based in cities and small towns, serving urban centers, rural communities and everything in between. The ultimate beneficiaries of the grants – the tens of thousands served by the organizations – found comfort again through eating with neighbors, freedom from isolation thanks to daily home-delivered lunches and strength from a nutritious diet tailored specifically for them.
As one organization noted: “We’ve seen that a spark of connection, just a puff of hope, can become a bright flame. Simply being there – with a shared meal, an outstretched hand or a celebration of goal achieved – fans the flames of dignity and hope.”
In March, $1 million was shared with 45 of the largest AIDS service and nationally recognized advocacy organizations.
Then in June, 21 actors and stage managers who helped lead their shows’ efforts in the Spring Fundraising Campaign met to award 2022’s final grants. They represented 14 shows: Aladdin, American Buffalo, The Book of Mormon, Chicago, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hamilton, The Lion King, MJ, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Six and Wicked.
Gathered around a large conference room table and remotely on Zoom, the committee reviewed 262 applications from organizations providing essential support through direct services, emergency assistance, harm reduction and quality of life services.
Actor Astrid Van Wieren from Broadway’s Come From Away said during the grants committee meeting, “You get to feel like Oprah for a day!”
This round awarded $2,135,000 in grants in four categories. In the first, just over 100 direct services organizations – which focus on the well-being of their clients, including case management expenses, transportation costs, gasoline and care of vehicles, personal care items and clothing – received $795,000 in grants. Emergency financial assistance grants totaling $582,500 were awarded to 72 organizations that provide urgent or short-term support for bills, food, transportation or health insurance.
Another 48 organizations were awarded $527,500 for harm reduction programs to focus on care for those living with addiction, HIV/AIDS or those at significant risk for HIV infection. And 39 quality-of-life service organizations received grants of $230,000 to help provide companion animal support, art and education projects to the underserved, summer camps and recreational programs for children living with AIDS and their families and more.
Because of the success of the Spring Fundraising Campaign, the continued support of Gilead Sciences and countless other donors, the grants were fully restored and even increased for some. The average grant amount in this round increased from $7,584 in 2019 to $8,200 in 2022. The applications also included nine new organizations from Arizona, California, Indiana, New York, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia that were invited to join this grant round.
Some of these organizations are the only of their kind in their area – like Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association, which was established in 1985 and is now the state’s leading HIV/AIDS-focused agency serving 91% of the state. Their existence is essential for those they serve.
John Eric Parker, another grant committee member and actor in Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, said, “With these national grants, we are actually keeping the doors open for some of these organizations.”
As for St. Clement’s in New York, the food pantry – which has been part of the National Grants Program since 2008 – received an emergency $7,500 grant from Broadway Cares to restock its shelves and reopen its doors.
National Grants By Fiscal Year
2022
National Grants
| Food Service and Meal Delivery Programs | $2,532,500 |
| Local AIDS Service Organizations | $3,180,000 |
| Emergency Relief Grants | $1,000,000 |
| Supplemental grants and Shared Support | $1,798,060 |
| Theater Organizations Social Service Grants | $367,500 |
| Total: $8,878,060 | |
2021
National Grants
| Food Service and Meal Delivery Programs | $2,452,500 |
| Local AIDS Service Organizations | $2,539,000 |
| Emergency Grants for Pandemic Relief | $1,010,077 |
| Supplemental grants and Shared Support | $793,125 |
| Theater Organizations Social Service Grants | $317,500 |
| Total: $7,112,202 | |
2020
National Grants
| Food Service and Meal Delivery Programs | $2,317,000 |
| Local AIDS Service Organizations | $2,023,000 |
| Emergency Grants for Pandemic Relief | $955,775 |
| Supplemental grants and Shared Support | $942,000 |
| Natural Disaster Relief in name of Broadway community | $200,000 |
| Total: $6,437,775 | |
2019
National Grants
| Food Service and Meal Delivery Programs | $2,143,000 |
| Nationally Recognized AIDS Service and Advocacy Organizations | $1,157,500 |
| Local AIDS Service Organizations | $2,305,500 |
| Theatre Social Service Organizations | $189,500 |
| Natural Disaster Relief | $500,000 |
| Research, Special One-time Grants and Shared Support | $951,261 |
| Supplemental Emergency Grants | $695,871 |
| Physician Volunteers for the Arts | $90,000 |
| Total: $8,032,632 | |
2018
National Grants
| Food Service and Meal Delivery Programs | $2,015,000 |
| Nationally Recognized AIDS Service and Advocacy Organizations | $1,150,000 |
| Local AIDS Service Organizations | $2,227,500 |
| Theatre Social Service Organizations | $152,500 |
| Hurricane Relief Grants to Hispanic Federation | $350,000 |
| Research, Special One-time Grants and Shared Support | $865,550 |
| Supplemental Emergency Grants | $488,191 |
| Physician Volunteers for the Arts | $85,000 |
| Total: $7,333,741 | |
2017
National Grants
| Food Service and Meal Delivery Programs | $1,915,000 |
| Nationally Recognized AIDS Service and Advocacy Organizations | $880,000 |
| Local AIDS Service Organizations | $2,133,500 |
| Supplemental Emergency Grants | $462,404 |
| Theatre Community Service Organizations, Research Grants, Special One-time and Share Support | $858,618 |
| Hurricane Relief | $425,000 |
| Physician Volunteers for the Arts | $75,000 |
| Total: $6,749,522 | |
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
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