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Established by Sir Elton
John in 1992, the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF)
is one of the world’s leading nonprofit
organizations supporting innovative HIV/AIDS prevention
education programs and direct care and support
services to people living with HIV/AIDS. Since
its founding, EJAF has raised over $125 million
to support worthy programs in 55 countries around
the globe. EJAF supports its work through proceeds
from special events, cause-related marketing projects,
and voluntary contributions from individuals,
corporations, and foundations.
EJAF reviews and awards grants to worthy projects
worldwide and also participates in a partnership
with the National AIDS Fund (NAF) to provide challenge
grants to NAF member community organizations domestically
that must be matched two to one as an incentive
to leverage additional local support for their
work from other sources.
EJAF focuses on supporting community-based prevention
education programs, harm reduction programs, and
direct services to persons living with HIV/AIDS,
especially populations with special needs. These
efforts include HIV/AIDS-related physical and
mental health services, HIV testing and counseling,
street outreach and education, food distribution,
assisted living services, social service coordination,
and community volunteer recruitment and support.
In 2005, the U.S. reached a new milestone in the
HIV/AIDS epidemic – the number of Americans
living with this disease topped 1 million. Worldwide
last year, over 3.1 million people died from AIDS;
over 570,000 of them were under the age of 15
– that’s one child dying every minute.
Clearly, current public and private sector prevention
responses are inadequate to stop new HIV infections.
More importantly, studies show that the epidemic
is being driven by several key factors in core
populations, which, if properly addressed, could
significantly slow the spread of the disease.
We need realistic, science-based approaches to
HIV prevention, and we need them now.
Last year, EJAF conducted a strategic review of
its grant-making programs and the status of the
AIDS epidemic domestically and internationally.
Armed with this data, EJAF is leading the way
with new funding initiatives targeting HIV prevention
in poor communities of the Southern U.S. and the
Caribbean, among young people, among gay black
men, among injection drug users, and among people
newly released from prison. Because of EJAF’s
strong history and reputation as an HIV prevention
grant-maker, the Foundation is uniquely able to
leverage additional funding for the programs and
organizations EJAF supports through its challenge-grant
partnership with NAF.
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