2019 THE YEAR IN REVIEW THE FOUNDATION’S MISSION IS SIMPLE: AN END TO THE AIDS EPIDEMIC Photo: Jason Florio CONTENTS AT A GLANCE 2 LETTER FROM ELTON, DAVID & ANNE 4 OUR COMMITMENTS 8 WHERE WE FUND 9 ACADEMY AWARDS VIEWING PARTY 11 MIDSUMMER PARTY 12 GLOBAL RESOURCES FOR HIV/AIDS 14 AIDS FREE CITIES CAMPAIGN 16 PARTNERSHIPS 2019 18 MenStar 19 Eastern Europe and Central Asia Key Populations Fund 20 Radian: Model Cities & Unmet Needs for Grants 22 LGBT Fund 24 UK Social Impact Bond 26 CASE STUDIES FROM 2019 28 Guyana Trans United: Rapid Response Fund 29 Moscow 30 Atlanta 32 DONOR LIST FOR 2019 34 ANNUAL REVIEW 2019 THE FOUNDATION 1 2019 AT A GLANCE THE FOUNDATION REACHED1,808,943 4,938 207,4 40 INDIVIDUALS WITH CARE, SUPPORT T-SHIRTS SOLD TO BENEFIT THE PEOPLE FOLLOW OR TREATMENT INCLUDING OVER FOUNDATION ON ELTON JOHN’S FOLLOW THE ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION ONE MILLION HIV TESTS THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS MORE THAN $14.02 BILLION THE FOUNDATION LEVERAGED AN ADDITIONAL WAS RAISED TO REPLENISH THE 1,70 0 GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TB AND PEOPLE ATTENDED OUR MALARIA BY GOVERNMENTS AND £10 MILLION ACADEMY AWARDS VIEWING ORGANISATIONS THAT ELTON JOHN HELPED IN RESOURCES FOR THE PROGRAMMES PARTY AND MIDSUMMER PARTY IN TO ADVOCATE TO PLAY THEIR PART WE FUND TO FIGHT THE EPIDEMIC SUPPORT OF THE FOUNDATION $29.9 MILLION RAISED BY THE FOUNDATION IN THE UK AND US TO FUND PROJECTS AND CAMPAIGNS TO END THE AIDS EPIDEMIC (as of 31 Dec 2019) ANNUAL REVIEW 2019 THE FOUNDATION 3 LETTER FROM ELTON, DAVID & ANNE Photo: Carol Ann Storey Photo: Greg Gorman Photo: Greg Gorman 4 THE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019 TO OUR FRIENDS, DONORS, GRANTEES, AND SUPPORTERS OF THE ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION. Firstly, thanks to each one of you for being a pivotal part of our many successes this year! We simply would not able to do what we do without your support. It’s been an exciting year of integration and expansion for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In our first 12 months as a unified force with the US and UK Foundations becoming one in the battle to end the AIDS epidemic, we’ve grown in staff, expanded our global impact and our commitment to the key populations most vulnerable to HIV, whilst raising $29.9 million* to continue supporting our grantees around the globe! Enormous progress has been made since the Elton John AIDS Foundation was founded in 1992, but in 2019 only 23.3 of the 37.91 million people living with HIV were receiving lifesaving treatment. We have been a significant part of this success – but our work is far from done! Achieving an end to the global AIDS epidemic where no one is left behind will continue to require boldness, creativity and love, in addition to medicines and money. With your support, in 2019 the Elton John AIDS Foundation acted as a catalyst in the creation of a future where there is no more discrimination, no more HIV infections, and no more AIDS deaths – no matter who or where you are. We did this at grassroots and policy levels, working with our funders and partners to identify the solutions that will save lives. During 2019 the Foundation was able to award more than 20 grants to help people prevent HIV infections, to make sure HIV-positive people receive and remain on the treatment they need, and to advocate to overcome the barriers that stand in the way of achieving our goals. 1 * As of 31st Dec 2019 UNAIDS 2019 ANNUAL REVIEW 2019 THE FOUNDATION 5 OUR WORK CONTINUES TO BE GUIDED BY OUR DEEPLY HELD BELIEFS THAT: Nobody should die because of who they love: those who are living with drug dependency, rather than This year our commitment to fund grantees where Yet, LGBT people are routinely punished and shamed in criminalizing them. We will advocate for evidence-based no one else would was manifested through RADIAN, many parts of the world. This is why the LGBT community policy and invest in services, such as needle and syringe a ground-breaking $25,000,000 strategic partnership still accounts for 1 in 5 HIV infections worldwide. As the programmes. And we will help people using drugs access with Gilead Sciences designed to combat the tenth largest funder of services for LGBT people globally opioid substitution and HIV treatment programmes, growing number of HIV transmissions and AIDS and seventh largest in the USA2, we work with clinical including in some of the world’s most restrictive settings. deaths in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). and community partners, including in some of the most Finding out your HIV status should be very easy: EECA is woefully under-resourced when it comes to the difficult settings, to create an AIDS free future where Eight million people live with undiagnosed HIV. HIV epidemic, with very few donors compared to other nobody dies due to stigma, discrimination or violence. Millions more are HIV-negative but worry about their regions. RADIAN will step in where no one else would. status. More than 30 years after the emergence of We can do this by increasing the number of This year in the United States, the Foundation’s work a global HIV response, testing is still not as easy cities and countries where there are HIV services went beyond providing grants to non-profits. To create and accessible as it should be, yet this is essential sufficiently accessible and unbiased to meet the greater leverage where HIV is at its worst nationally, as knowing your status means you can protect needs of LGBT people, preventing and addressing we also signed a Memorandum of Understanding yourself and those you love. Access to Pre-exposure the stigma, discrimination and violence that many (MOU) with Fulton County which manages the health Prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV testing is not available LGBT people face while trying to remain healthy, budget for counties in and around Atlanta, Georgia. in many countries; and in others testing is so and increasing the number of policymakers and This partnership will work with a consortium of key restricted, or dangerous, that people shy away. international organisations who will stand behind us. stakeholders – care providers, non-profit organisations, We have fought to normalise HIV testing since our research institutions, the state health department and, People who use drugs should be inception. We have recently funded pilots on marketing critically, the community of people living with HIV/ supported, not punished: self-tests to men; offered testing in emergency AIDS in and around Atlanta to strengthen and expand Yet, people who use drugs are 22 times3 as likely to departments in the UK and facilitated community-based local access to culturally competent services and acquire HIV compared to the general population. Deaths testing for gay men in stigmatising countries. We will treatment for people at risk and living with HIV there. due to drug overdose continue to rise at a staggering continue to work through impactful partnerships, in Metro Atlanta has the second highest diagnosis of HIV rate globally, with over 70,000 people losing their lives conjunction with community advocates, and through in the United States; it’s where black gay men have a in 2018 in the United States alone. These deaths are funding innovative programmes to give people access to 60% lifetime chance of contracting HIV and it is already preventable. Governments spend $100 billion dollars safe and reliable testing, no matter who or where they are. home to more than 37,000 people living with HIV.5 a year on drug control. Less than 10% of this sum, if We look forward to sharing more specific examples invested in harm reduction, could reduce HIV infections You should receive care no matter where you live: We will continue to work globally, prioritizing regions of our progress in the following pages and hope and AIDS deaths in people using drugs by over 90%4. with high unmet need where there are opportunities that you’ll enjoy meeting some of the beautiful faces We are one of the largest funders of harm reduction to create significant change for people living with HIV behind the work that the Foundation supports. work in the world. Our goal is not to judge those who use and AIDS. Our theory of change prioritizes working drugs but to make them less vulnerable to contracting in partnership with a wide range of public and private HIV. We will continue to speak out in support of stakeholders to mobilize all available resources. 2 3 4 5 6 THE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REVIEW 2019 Funders Concerned About AIDS UNAIDS 2019 10 by 20 report by Harm Reduction International Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Finally, as we are reflecting on the last year and look to the Sincerely, year ahead, it’s impossible not to consider how the COVID-19 pandemic, so devastating for large parts of the world, will viciously affect people living with HIV who do not know their status, or are not on lifesaving treatment. They are at an elevated risk for this novel infection. We are committed to remaining in close contact with our grantees and partners so that we can Sir Elton John assess an increased need for support from the Foundation. Founder If COVID-19 has already taught us anything, it is that there is no room for complacency for potential lethal infectious diseases. In the inevitable case that this new pandemic has an impact on the HIV/AIDS community, another historic pandemic that we’ve made so much progress to end, we will continue to look to you, our dear friends, so that we can David Furnish ensure that we do not lose momentum in our mission to Chairman create a more loving, healthier world than the one we live in.