Elton John AIDS Foundation
The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom[1] to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with or at risk of HIV. It has raised over $565 million to support HIV-related programs across ninety countries.
Founded
1992
United States
1993
United Kingdom
The Elton John AIDS Foundation is in the top 10 philanthropic funders of HIV/AIDS grants worldwide, the second largest HIV-related philanthropic funder of LGBTQ+ communities, and number one philanthropic funder in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.[2]
The organization supports its work through proceeds from special events, cause-related marketing projects, and voluntary contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations.
The organization has been well-known in Hollywood since 1993, when it began hosting the annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party.[3]
EJAF is chaired by David Furnish, a producer of theater and music.[4] He has been in a relationship with Elton John since 1993; they entered a civil partnership in 2005 and married in 2014.[5]
The Elton John AIDS Foundation funds programs across all aspects of the disease, including prevention, testing, treatment, palliative care, education and global health initiatives. However, part of EJAF's strategy to effectively support people affected by HIV is to fund a broader scope of projects; their grants are not exclusively held by initiatives that are specifically HIV-focused. They also fund programs dedicated to supporting specific HIV risk groups or under-attended regions with high prevalences of HIV. This strategy has been praised and shared as a model for non-profits dedicated to similar epidemics.[11]
Initiatives funded by EFAJ include:
Until her death in 2011, actress and activist Elizabeth Taylor and Elton John were close friends. Taylor was a public AIDS activist since the 1980s and founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in 1991. Like EJAF, Taylor's foundation focused on fundraising for AIDS programs (especially focused on marginalized regions). She also engaged in plenty of individual advocacy; she testified before Congress multiple times to support AIDS-related legislation, including the Ryan White bill for AIDS funding in 1986. in The two celebrities supported each other's organizations often; Taylor spoke at various EJAF events, and John performed at many ETAF fundraisers, starting from the very first ETAF benefit concert in Madison Square Garden on October 11, 1992.[24] The two foundations have also partnered throughout their history to provide bilaterally funded grants to projects that fall within both of their missions.
In 2016, EJAF partnered with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in an initiative to combat AIDS in the Southern United States. They offered grants of $330,000 (funded by both foundations) to five different initiatives in the American South, a region that contains about 44% of the country's HIV-positive population. The five initiatives funded by the combined effort were:[25]