Grantmakers in Health (GIH) Annual Meeting on Health Philanthropy: Panel on The Future of HIV/AIDS

March 18-20, 2009
New Orleans, LA,
Facilitated by FCAA

Along with a few select affinity groups, FCAA was asked to design its own panel at this year's GIH Annual Meeting on Health Philanthropy, held in New Orleans on March 18-20. This was a special opportunity for us to bring together a potentially wider audience of funders than we might otherwise be able to reach. We were very fortunate to be able to assemble an outstanding panel, including: Allison Bauer (The Boston Foundation), Diane Lewis (Consumer Health Foundation), Jeff Sturchio (recently retired from Merck) and Kandy Ferree (National AIDS Fund, and FCAA Board Member), which reflected the diversity of our constituency. Bob Bronzo, FCAA Program Manager, moderated.

Our session, "The Future of HIV/AIDS," explored the challenges and opportunities for funders in this difficult economic climate, and encouraged those in the room (most of whom did not identify primarily as HIV/AIDS grantmakers) to think cross-sectorally and collaboratively, and to engage in the sometimes difficult discussions that will put the most pressing realities of the epidemic on the table. Funding opportunities in the areas of advocacy, prevention, data collection and analysis, and the scaling-up of programs that work were discussed, and the panel urged its peers to continually challenge one another and not shy away from investing in risk and innovation. FCAA is grateful to GIH and looks forward to participating in future conferences.