Strategic Grantmaking
The National AIDS Fund (now AIDS United) was founded in 1988 to reduce the incidence and impact of HIV/AIDS by promoting leadership and generating resources for effective community responses to the epidemic. Through our network of Community Partnerships and targeted Special Initiatives, AIDS United promotes collaborative local planning and provides strategic grants and technical support to more than 400 direct service organizations annually.
AIDS United strategic, community-driven grantmaking initiatives include:
Access to Care (A2C Initiative)
Launched with a multi-million dollar, multi-year commitment from Bristol-Myers Squibb and an expansion grant from Walmart Foundation, AIDS United’s Access to Care (A2C) initiative recently received a $3.6 million federal Social Innovation Fund award to significantly expand the development of community-driven, collaborative programs to improve individual health outcomes and strengthen local services systems, connecting thousands of low-income and marginalized individuals living with HIV to high quality supportive services and HIV specific health care. Read more
Community Partnership Program
The Community Partnership Challenge Grants Program has been a cornerstone of the organization’s grantmaking since 1988. AIDS United raises national resources and earmarks grants for its Community Partnerships around the country. Community Partnerships leverage their national grants to raise Challenge Grants of up to 2:1 matching local funds, potentially turning every $1 raised nationally into $3 locally for life-saving prevention and care programs. Over the years AIDS United has worked closely with its Community Partnerships to leverage more than $168 million to support more than 400 community-based HIV/AIDS organizations across the country, increasing those organizations’ capacity to serve thousands of people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Read more
GENERATIONS: Strengthening Women and Families by HIV/AIDS
Supported by Johnson & Johnson, GENERATIONS’ unique, signature community-science collaborative model utilizes a combination of cash grants, evidence-based prevention programs, technical assistance, grantee convenings and evaluation support. Grants support development of new evidence-based interventions or adaptation of existing prevention models for specific populations of women and girls at high risk for infection. Read more
Southern REACH
AIDS United’s Southern REACH (Regional Expansion of Access and Capacity to Address HIV/AIDS) initiative improves policy/advocacy capacity of organizations in one of the nation’s most impacted regions, the U.S. South. With support from the Ford Foundation, the initiative awards grants to community-based HIV/AIDS organizations in nine Southern states (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN) to promote smart public policies that address the needs of those most vulnerable to the disease. Read more
Syringe Access
The Syringe Access Fund is a national grantmaking initiative that supports service providers and policy projects to reduce the risk of HIV infection, hepatitis C and other blood-borne pathogens among injection drug users and their sexual partners through expanded access to sterile syringes. Established in 2004, the Syringe Access Fund has been a collaborative effort of various private foundations, corporations and public charities that together have granted over $8 million. Currently, leading partners include the Irene Diamond Fund, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Levi Strauss Foundation, Comer Foundation and AIDS United. Read more
AIDS United has been ranked a Four Star Charity by Charity Navigator.