The Wall Street Journal - Friday, 6 June 1997.
Beth Burkstrand

Since the discovery last year that new drugs can help control the disease, a number of AIDS organizations nationwide have seen their donations slide. In April, AIDS Alliance closed its Contra Costa County, Calif., office, citing a funds shortfall of $20,000 to $30,000 a month. At the Names Project Foundation, sponsor of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, revenue is running 22% below the $2.5 million budgeted for the first half of the fiscal year, and attendance at this spring's quilt displays was about half what it was last winter. Last week, the foundation's executive director, Anthony Turney, told his 45-member staff that about a quarter of them would lose their jobs in coming weeks.

Causes come and go, and some shrinking of the massive AIDS network seems inevitable in any case. But Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases worries that the public has a "dangerous perception" that the battle has been won, even though the disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. for people between 25 and 44 years old. AIDS charity workers also say the decline comes as funds are needed to help patients buy the expensive new drugs, as well as to provide traditional services.

"All these new drug cocktails are great and wonderful," says the quilt project's Mr. Turney. But, he adds, "the fact of the matter is that protease inhibitors don't do a damn thing to prevent one infection."

Getting that message across, however, is tough. At Gay Men's Health Crisis, one of the nation's largest AIDS service organizations, registration for the New York City AIDS walk in May was so low six weeks before the event that organizers spent almost $10,000 on a mass mailing explaining the need for support. Attendance rose slightly, but donations fell by more than $300,000 from last year's $5 million.

The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts saw fund raising from its Boston AIDS Walk fall about $190,000 to $2.8 million in 1994, and officials thought they had seen the worst. But at the walk held last weekend, contributions declined by another $330,000 -- the largest drop in memory. Volunteers at the event reported that people didn't want to donate because they thought the new drugs were essentially a cure.

That isn't the case, though the drugs can sharply cut the level of infection. Marc Haslam of Clearwater, Fla., almost had to give up his AIDS medicine last year, a move that might have made him resistant to the drug, the equivalent of a death sentence. The agency that paid for his prescriptions closed its doors after a fundraising event that was expected to generate $300,000 ended up $70,000 in the hole instead. At the last minute, Mr. Haslam was able to line up federal assistance. "It was extremely stressful," he says.

In response to the decreasing donations, some organizations are looking at cutting back services or trying to consolidate them with other agencies. AIDS Project Los Angeles, where fiscal-year donations are down more than 10% from the previous year, is thinking about reducing its home health care, dental care and food programs, says its communications director, Allen Carrier.

Meanwhile, AIDS Community Project of Tampa Bay has turned over care for homebound AIDS patients to a local hospice, and it is negotiating for Catholic Charities to take over its pediatric AIDS services. The Tampa Bay organization relies primarily on memorials for its funding. But its traditional clients are living longer while the disease is taking a bigger toll on lower-income groups, where such donations are harder to come by. The Tampa project has received just $2,000 in donations so far this year, says director Kathleen Farrell; last year, it brought in $29,000.

AID Atlanta has been more fortunate -- because of its own forward thinking. Beginning last summer, it sent letters to previous and potential donors emphasizing that money was needed for prevention and to keep services, like food and nutrition counseling, that are crucial to helping the new drugs work. "We started a year ago by saying the challenge of the good news is that our clients will increase because they are living longer," says Ed Marshall, the agency's development director. The organization also sent speakers to civic organizations, businesses and schools. The October 1996 AIDS walk climbed to $1.1 million from $800,000 in 1995, and the group is counting on the same strategy to work again this year.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation relies on an annual walk for about 19% of its funding. Alarmed by the experience of other groups, it is trying to make its needs known well in advance of the July 12 event. To make sure it reaches its $3 million goal, the foundation is targeting corporate teams, hoping that the companies that lent support in the past will pick up any slack. If the walk doesn't meet its goal, the effect will ripple through the community: The foundation gives more than $1 million each year to smaller organizations in the area.

Sandra Thurman, director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, which advises President Clinton on AIDS-related issues, neatly sums up the current situation: "All of the interest in AIDS initially was generated because it was a disease of crisis," she says. "AIDS is no longer the disease du jour."

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