EJAF has received its 7th consecutive 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. This year is also the second time in a row that EJAF has received a 4-star rating under Charity Navigator’s new, enhanced metrics.

Receiving four out of a possible four stars indicates that our Foundation consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way and adheres to good governance and other best practices that promote and ensure ethical and transparent business dealings. Only 14% of organizations evaluated by Charity Navigator have received two consecutive 4-star ratings under the new system, indicating that our Foundation outperforms most other charities in America.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation’s newest grantee spotlight highlights the work of the Foundation’s Syringe Access Fund grantees and the important issue of syringe exchange as a means of preventing HIV transmission among injection drug users.

More than 4,000 people become newly infected with HIV every year in the U.S. because of unsafe injection drug use. This accounts for nearly one in 10 new HIV infections. In a country as wealthy as the United States, these poor health statistics are entirely preventable, and thus remain entirely unacceptable.

Read the grantee spotlight on syringe exchange programs here.

2012 marks the 20th year since the establishment of the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. To kick off our commemoration of EJAF’s 20th year, we are very pleased to introduce the Foundation’s special 20th year logo, which will appear on our website and in all of our communications, publications, and materials going forward.

We look back over the past twenty years with tremendous pride at what we have been able to accomplish together with the help of generous friends like you. From a modest beginning in 1992, we have since raised over $225 million for front-line HIV/AIDS programs in 55 countries and have become a reputable voice speaking out on behalf of the poor, the marginalized, and the ignored and for key changes in HIV/AIDS policy that could help end this epidemic.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is very pleased to announce that Steven Tyler, a generous Foundation supporter and an Event Chair for EJAF’s 20th annual Academy Awards Viewing Party, is working with us to help make our 20th Oscar-night event especially successful. Through an auction on Charity Buzz, Steven is inviting the highest bidder to be a guest at his table for the Party.

www.charitybuzz.com

The winner of the auction will be a guest of Steven Tyler and Erin Brady, dining at their table for the February 26, 2012 event at the newly redesigned West Hollywood Park on San Vicente in West Hollywood, CA. The Foundation’s 20th year event will feature a cocktail reception, an incredible dinner prepared by celebrity chef Cat Cora and served during the Oscar telecast, an exciting live auction, and an after-show performance by Foster the People.

As The New York Times reported this morning, Sir Elton John will be publishing a book – Love Is the Cure: Ending the Global AIDS Epidemic – later this year about his personal experiences in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the Foundation.

Elton’s book will highlight these important aspects of EJAF’s approach to the fight against HIV/AIDS. In addition, through stories of his personal encounters with people like Ryan White, Freddie Mercury, and many others, Elton will convey the personal toll AIDS has taken on his life and how this loss has strengthened his determination to stop the spread of the disease.

“This is a disease that must be cured not by a miraculous vaccine, but by changing hearts and minds, and through collective effort to break down social barriers and to build bridges of compassion,” Elton writes. “Why are we not doing more? This is a question I have thought deeply about, and wish to answer – and to help change – by writing this book.”