Rock Star's Charity Forges Alliances With Big Foundations

By Grant Williams

The Elton John AIDS Foundation has traditionally worked largely with a single organization to distribute the

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dollars it raises: the National AIDS Fund. But as the charity enters its 15th year — and seeks to expand its independent grant making — it has started to form partnerships with several major foundations to fight the disease on a larger scale.

Sir Elton John announced last month that his foundation was making a $250,000 grant to the Syringe Access Fund to provide equipment, supplies, and training to needle-exchange projects across the United States to prevent HIV transmission among people who inject illegal drugs.

Syringe-exchange programs allow drug users to swap contaminated needles for sterile ones, reducing the risk of spreading disease. Health advocates generally endorse the programs, but they are often opposed by governments and others.

"His gift is hugely important and sends a message to other funders," says Stuart C. Burden, director of community affairs at the Levi Strauss Foundation, which created the Syringe Access Fund two years ago, along with the Tides Foundation and the National AIDS Fund. (The Irene Diamond Fund has subsequently joined the effort.)

"By giving directly and adding his name to the list of funders, Elton is showing everyone that he is confident this is the right thing to do," despite the stigma sometimes associated with syringe programs, says Mr. Burden. The Elton John AIDS fund previously donated indirectly to the Syringe Access Fund through grants it made to the National AIDS Fund.

Mr. Burden adds: "Foundations talk a lot about leadership and taking risks. But for Elton John, this really is."

Aid to the Caribbean

The Elton John AIDS Foundation also gave $200,000 to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation to support the Kaiser fund's Caribbean Broadcast Initiative on HIV/AIDS.

The project, which is supported by the Ford Foundation, is designed to help 30 Caribbean radio and television companies develop educational programs across a broad geographic area that aim to help people avoid HIV/AIDS and to promote tolerance in places where people with the disease receive hostile treatment.

The project's first year will include a public-service campaign, and training programs for journalists, writers and producers.

Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser fund, says that having Elton John's name associated with the program lends visibility and helps generate interest among broadcasters.

"What is fundamentally important," he adds, "is that the Elton John and Ford foundations have been there with us from minute one as planners and partners."

Jacob Gayle, deputy vice president for Ford's Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS who has lived and worked in the Caribbean, says he "recognizes the respect with which Sir Elton is held in the Caribbean and the impact his foundation could have that even many of the larger or longer-term, more-traditional foundations would not be able to have among populations that are of key importance."

The Elton John AIDS Foundation also has joined with another group that works in the Caribbean, the Collaborative Fund for HIV Treatment Preparedness. Sir Elton's organization is providing a $223,000 grant.

"The recognition that his name brings to it is one thing," says David Barr, director of the fund, which is a project of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition and the Tides Foundation. "But also the credibility of the foundation is quite great."