Being Alive; April 1997
Gary E. Costa

While I don't want to rehash the funding issue in this month's column, I do feel compelled to address the questions and comments I received and, I hope, clear up some misunderstandings that the March column created. Outlined below are the issues raised and my response to them.

* Is it wise to list the exact amounts of the donations received from generous contributors? It's the law. As a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, we are required to publicly disclose in detail our funding sources and expenses at least once a year. While many of the larger organizations create beautiful three-color annual reports complete with pie charts and graphs to achieve this objective, Being Alive has traditionally used the pages of the Newsletter to share this information. Complete financial reports are always made available to anyone who requests them any time of the year.

* Why do you take money from drug companies? Being Alive will accept money from most sources, including drug companies, as long as we do not have to compromise the integrity or editorial content of our newsletters or other educational programs. If a donor requests favorable treatment or exposure hinged on their contribution, then we will not accept the funds. In fact, throughout our ten year history, there have been times when we have received contributions from some drug company and then shortly thereafter written an unfavorable article about one of their drugs. Contributions do not affect our ability to share factual information about the efficacy and side effects of the drugs that keep us alive.

* You slapped people in the face. You shouldn't do that to those who give money to Being Alive. I never intended to offend any of our members, contributors, or fellow service providers and people who know me know that that is not my style. I was merely trying to point out the changing attitudes in corporate giving and expose the emerging trends in the distribution of government funds. I must admit that some of the words used to convey these messages seemed harsh and unappreciative but nevertheless they are only my opinions.

It was pointed out to me that I stated "Kaiser Permanente and Glaxo-Wellcome failed to come through at the same levels as in years past" and that it seemed to imply that they let us down. That was definitely not my intent. I was trying to point out that even large corporations like Kaiser and Glaxo-Wellcome have changed their funding patterns and that Being Alive cannot operate assuming that people will just mail us money because they have done so in the past.

The original paragraph was much longer and actually applauded the efforts of Kaiser to assist Being Alive in other ways, such as editing our medical update tapes, generously offering their audio-visual equipment for our fundraisers, providing technical assistance to our medical updates and other educational forums and supporting the efforts of our People with Kaiser advocacy group. The paragraph was edited down by me in the interest of space.

If I offended anyone at Kaiser I apologize. I believe our past action of public support and acknowledgement of Kaiser speaks for itself. Being Alive presented Kaiser Permanente's Southern California Region with the 1995 Spirit of Hope Award for their outstanding contributions to the health and care of all people living with hiv/aids. Additionally, many Kaiser staff members are active key volunteers within the organization and contribute in a variety of ways. Kaiser has always been and continues to be a friend of Being Alive.

* Why did you take money from the porno industry? The porno industry is exploiting women! The events we benefitted from were specifically from the gay male adult entertainment industry. No women were exploited or harmed in the making of any of these gay erotic videos. The infected population is large and diverse and includes people from different walks of life, including the adult film industry. The gay male adult entertainment industry should be applauded for its desire to contribute to the educational and treatment efforts of the aids affected.

* You sound angry, Gary! Of course I'm angry! Almost every day I hear of another friend or colleague who has died. This makes me angry. I watch hundreds of our members putting all of their hopes on a new class of drugs as slowly, one by one, we see the drugs cease to be effective for them. This makes me angry. I hear potential donors telling me, "aids is over, you have those new drugs now." This makes me angry. I see magazines and newspapers making heroes out of researchers and physicians who developed these new drugs and basically reporting that the end is near. This makes me angry. I see the statistics that young gay men are still being infected. This makes me angry. I see see the statistics that more women than ever are being infected. This makes me angry. I hear of politicians dismissing the need to create aids policies because it is no longer a threat. This makes me angry. I see local hiv Commissioners recklessly voting to affect the way local funds are spent in order to ensure their own jobs. This makes me angry. I see no cure in sight. This makes me angry. Need I go on? Of course I'm angry. We all should be. AIDS is not over.

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