Remobilizing HIV/AIDS Philanthropy

The information in this report was researched and compiled using the following
methods:
• A review of years worth of existing FCAA data on AIDS philanthropy -- from
publications such as AIDS Is Your Business Update and Voices from the Field:
Remobilizing HIV/AIDS Philanthropy for the 21st Century1; and
• Other primary research, including confirmation of grant totals related to
HIV/AIDS through telephone interviews with foundation staff, internet research,
review of foundation annual reports and web-sites, and secondary research,
including review of many resources from the Foundation Center.
To determine the top 25 U.S.-based AIDS grantmakers of 2000, FCAA used the
following methods:
• Creation of a grantmaker list through a review of the websites and annual reports
of foundations that had targeted HIV/AIDS as a priority funding issue in the past
and were reported to be the top HIV/AIDS funders in previous years.
• Comparison of this list with the Foundation Center list of the largest 50
HIV/AIDS funders for 2000, with a review and assessment of any inconsistencies
in reported funding levels.
• Direct contact with the resulting list of the 25 largest HIV/AIDS funders to ensure
the accuracy of all grant information for the year 2000.
Limitations
In general, reports on philanthropic giving focus on the grants of large foundations,
given the easier accessibility to such information and the larger financial sums involved.
For example, the Foundation Center’s database includes only the 1,000 largest
foundations in terms of assets and is further limited to grants exceeding $10,000
dollars. This may not be a significant limitation in the analysis of the volume of AIDS
funding, since large foundations provide most grants made in the United States.2
However, small foundations are also crucial to philanthropy, funding a diverse range of
often innovative programs supporting disenfranchised communities. The leadership of
small foundations has been especially important for HIV/AIDS programs. Because
information about grants and funding patterns for small foundations is more limited,
smaller foundation funding may be underrepresented in this report and total foundation
funding for AIDS for any year mentioned in this report may have been slightly higher
than FCAA or other sources are able to determine.