Concerns over the continued funding of HIV/AIDS programs both domestically and internationally coupled with a desire to treat this challenge as an opportunity prompted the creation of the inaugural annual conference of Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA). The event was held September 16 to 18 in Washington, DC.  

FCAA is an affinity group of the Council on Foundations, the national association of grant makers. Founded in 1987, FCAA is “the only U.S.-based organization comprised of, and for, private philanthropic institutions concerned about, engaged in or potentially active in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” according to its mission statement.

FCAA Interim Executive Director John L. Barnes
“Fewer funders are giving to HIV/AIDS-related causes,” said John L. Barnes, FCAA’s interim executive director. “We wanted to rally the troops [with this first conference] to encourage the funders who are giving to keep giving, but also to strategize about how to bring more funders to the cause.”

The conference attracted an impressive list of more than 140 participants and attendees from the HIV/AIDS community, including government officials such as Jeff Crowley, director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), and numerous nonprofit executives.

FCAA currently has 76 members, which range from private groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and amfAR to corporate groups such as Johnson & Johnson, the M·A·C AIDS Fund and the Merck Company Foundation.

“Given the current economic climate, collaboration is really the way forward,” said Barnes. “Together we can identify gaps in funding … and make sure that we’re stretching each dollar for maximum efficiency.”

Two concurrent panels—“Reproductive Rights of Women with HIV and AIDS” and “AIDS, Media and Technology”—were held on the first day of the conference. (Click here to read more about the media panel at Oriol’s POZ Blog.)

The second day had two keynote speakers: Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS-Free World, and Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS. Lewis emphasized the importance of funding HIV/AIDS advocacy while Sidibé advocated aiming for universal access to health care and using HIV/AIDS “as a force for social transformation.”

“Participating funders really seemed to agree that in times of diminished resources we really have to focus on advocacy as a way to extend our efforts in prevention and research,” said Barnes.

There also were sessions throughout the second day. “Rolling Back the Epidemic: Washington, DC” spotlighted the local issues and lessons learned that could be applied to domestic and international efforts.

“The Future of Funding for HIV and AIDS” was a two-part session that addressed funding concerns in the United States and around the globe. Part 1 focused on HIV/AIDS funding in the public sector. Part 2 focused on HIV/AIDS funding in the private sector.

During Part 1, Crowley spoke about the importance of health care reform to people with HIV/AIDS. “There’s nothing we can do in the HIV world to get more people into care than what we can do through comprehensive health reform,” he said.

Crowley also discussed the development of the national HIV/AIDS strategy. In addition to talking about ONAP’s 12 HIV/AIDS Community Discussions being held around the country before the end of the year, Crowley announced plans to convene meetings at the White House on topics such as stigma, women and youth.

The other panelists included Michele Moloney-Kitts, assistant U.S. global AIDS coordinator, and Julie Scofield, executive director of the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. Jen Kates, vice president and director of HIV policy for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, was the moderator.

Kates pointed out that Eric Goosby, MD, who has since been sworn in as U.S. global AIDS coordinator, was slated to be on the panel but instead was going through the confirmation process in Congress.

Despite Goosby’s absence, Kates underscored that having Moloney-Kitts and Crowley on the same stage marked the first time that the heads of the U.S. HIV/AIDS efforts domestically and internationally were on the same panel together. She mentioned that fact as a marker of progress and hope.

During Part 2, LaTida Smith, chair of the FCAA board of directors, gave a preview of the seventh edition of FCAA’s resource-tracking publication, U.S. Philanthropic Support to Address HIV/AIDS in 2008.

Total philanthropic funding increased from about $550 million in 2007 to $615 million in 2008. However, the increase was attributed to additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Smith said that without Gates funding, overall funding was flat, as it has been for several years, and that many of the top funders are decreasing their giving for 2009.

“AIDS Grantmaking in the New Economy” was the featured two-part session on the last day of the conference. The first panel, “Postcards From the Edge,” discussed challenges in the current economic crisis. The second panel, “Exploring New Horizons,” allowed participants to find collaborative opportunities.

“[As a result of this conference] we’d like to see an increased number of funders identifying HIV/AIDS as a cause they fund,” said Barnes. “We’d also like those who fund the broad range of social justice issues like reproductive health and human rights and health care to understand that in funding those things they’re also funding HIV and AIDS.”

Click here for the full agenda of the FCAA inaugural annual conference.