In Focus #15: January 2003

From Desk of the Executive Director …

Ellen LaPointe, Executive Director

As I reflect upon the activities of Project Inform over the last few months, I am struck by the fact that while the nature of our work remains constant, the specifics of our experiences are as dynamic as the epidemic itself. Every day, we provide vital information about HIV treatment and care. Every day, we advocate vigorously as key decisions are made that affect the lives of people with HIV. And at the end of every day, as we turn off the lights to go home, we feel gratified knowing that we are altering the course of the epidemic, and humbled by the amount of work that remains.

Every day also brings a new challenge in AIDS funding, a new turn of events in drug development, and a new set of voices seeking our guidance, support, and partnership. Along these lines, Project Inform is proud to have joined forces with Howard University and the Hyacinth Foundation to develop and implement the National Peer Treatment Education Program, designed to increase the number of trained educators working in minority communities. We are also proud to have represented Project Inform’s constituents at the XIV International Conference on AIDS in Barcelona, Spain, where the voices of millions were united in their calls for a coordinated international commitment to eradicate the impact of AIDS. And we are honored to have received donations from all our supporters, along with messages of hope and thanks for a job well done.

Sometimes, the day brings news that a voice has been silenced. Earlier this year, AIDS activism lost one of its strongest voices when longtime Project Inform Board member Linda Grinberg passed away from AIDS-related complications. Linda was a fierce advocate for people with HIV since she learned of her own illness in the early 1990s. She was a strong supporter of Project Inform and a dear friend to many who worked with her over the years.

I hope you enjoy this issue of In Focus. As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. Thank you for helping us to make a difference.

For You, Your Loved Ones and Project Inform

Some people wish to give back to organizations that have helped them or their loved ones in the past, such as Project Inform, but don’t know how. After providing for their family and loved ones, one of the most popular gifts is called a planned gift—one that allows the donor to make a satisfying, and possibly substantial, charitable contribution to an organization, through a plan that also addresses the donor’s personal, financial and philanthropic objectives. Planned gifts also provide tax benefits for the donor.

There are a variety of ways you can make a charitable estate gift. The simplest is to include the charities of your choice in your will, either as outright gifts or as part of the remainder after you provide for family and friends. Depending on your individual circumstances and needs, there may be other estate and charitable planning tools that offer you income and tax benefits. We believe everyone should have an estate plan that will direct where you want your assets to go, and work for you and in your name for years to come. Gifts of stock or appreciated property may also have special tax benefits.

Project Inform is grateful for these recent bequests:

Estate of Tommy R. Cunningham
The Estate of Stephen R. Fenwick
Estate of Robert L. Hoy, Jr.
The Dorsey T. Leard Trust
The Estate of Freddie Roy Beggs
Eunice F. Clegg Revocable Trust
Farmers and Merchants Trust Company
The Estate of Peter Dee
The Robert Chapman Trust
The Estate of Robert J. Fisher
The Henry W. Hubbard Jr. Trust
Jonathan Weiss Trust
The Estate of John G. Brunk, Jr.
The Estate of Stephen P. Woodfin
B.C.W. Trust III

For information on making a special gift or including Project Inform in your estate plans, please contact Julie Doherty at 415-558-8669 x223 or jdoherty@ projectinform.org for further information on ways you can give back. You can also learn more about other opportunities such as bequests; charitable remainder trusts; life insurance and retirement plan benefits; and gifts of stock, real estate and real property.

Donate Your Airline Miles to Project Inform

Do you have lots of frequent flyer miles sitting in airline accounts? Have you ever thought about donating them to Project Inform? We’ve developed a way for our friends and donors to help our staff attend important conferences, policy and treatment advocacy meetings in Washington, DC and more.

Here are a few examples of how your airline miles donation supports our crucial HIV/AIDS work:

• travel to Washington, DC for policy work and treatment advocacy;
• travel throughout the country and internationally to attend key scientific and community meetings;
• enable us to respond to last-minute emerging crises;
• enable us to be present at gatherings where key decisions affecting people with HIV are made.

Here’s how it works: Let us know that you’re interested in donating miles to Project Inform by calling Skip Emerson, as noted below. Many airlines allow you to “redeem” your miles in the form of a travel voucher, which you can then donate to anyone you choose—this is the preferred method for us. The second method is for you to be “on call” and we would contact you when we need to travel, and have you book the ticket on our behalf. Each airline handles the redemption of miles differently, so give us a call to find out more.

For information or to donate airline miles, please contact Skip Emerson either at 415-558-8669 x222 or semerson@projectinform.org.

Project Inform Extends Thanks to Outgoing Board Members

Project Inform extends its heartfelt thanks to Brenda Freiberg, who will be stepping off the Board of Directors after nearly ten years of extraordinary service. Brenda has been active in national and local AIDS causes for over a decade, and has worked tirelessly on behalf of Project Inform as a volunteer and Board member throughout this time. In 2001, Project Inform was proud to present Brenda with its Humanitarian Award at the Los Angeles Evening of Hope. Thank you, Brenda!

As well, Kathy Fisher is stepping down from her role on the board. For more about Kathy, see below.

Pathfinders Training a Major Success

Project Inform is proud to have partnered with the Minority AIDS Education and Training Center at Howard University, the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation in New Jersey, the Latino Commission on AIDS in New York City and the University of Maryland this summer to develop and implement the National Peer Treatment Education Program (NPTEP). Named Pathfinders, NPTEP is a treatment education training program for peer educators who work in minority communities highly impacted by HIV and AIDS throughout the United States. NPTEP brought together three groups of twelve peer HIV treatment educators to participate in two-week intensive residential training programs this summer. The training programs are to be followed by technical assistance tailored to the individual programs and participants.

The curriculum was designed using a skill-based model and was delivered using adult and active learning methodologies. The participants had the opportunity to learn, develop and utilize skills such as finding and evaluating HIV care and treatment information, understanding anti-HIV treatment strategies, creating client education and service plans and developing one-to-one education sessions.

“The experience was truly transformative for the attendees and participating agencies were provided with computers for the peer educator’s use,” says Judy Leahy, Project Inform’s Manager of Outreach, Education and Technical Assistance programs. “This program provided participants with what is truly needed to begin to address and increase community access to HIV care and treatment in highly impacted communities of color throughout the U.S.—information, skills, tools and support.”

Congratulations and thanks to all who helped to make NPTEP such a tremendous success.

Project Inform Recognizes MoFo for More than a Decade of Service

Project Inform sends its deepest thanks to the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP (“MoFo”) for its tremendous efforts on behalf of Project Inform. In addition to providing top-notch, pro bono legal representation to Project Inform for over a decade, the MoFo law firm and several of its attorneys and staff give generously to support Project Inform’s programs.

Project Inform would like to recognize especially the extraordinary contributions of outgoing Board Member, Kathy Fisher. A shareholder at MoFo since 1982, Kathy’s business litigation practice emphasizes consumer class actions, trust and estate litigation, and alternative dispute resolution-related litigation. Special thanks are also extended to Philip Besirof, Karl Christiansen, Amy Lovell, Genevieve Moore, Brandon Villery and Barbara Ellen for their hard work and dedication on behalf of Project Inform.

Thank you for your steadfast commitment to making the world a better place for people living with HIV and AIDS. Project Inform deeply appreciates it.

Three Shine in the Foundation and Corporate Spotlight

Special thanks to our many donors, including individuals, foundations and corporations. The following is a partial list of some of the recent foundation and corporation donations.

BMC Software
This year, BMC Software, Inc. pledged $7,000 to support Project Inform’s Integrated Treatment Education Programs (ITEP). We are profoundly grateful to Mary Poole, BMC’s Regional Manager in San Francisco, for sharing our commitment to providing the most complete and up-to-date treatment information and advocacy to all who need it. Headquartered in Houston, BMC is a leader in enterprise management, helping its customers proactively improve service, reduce costs and increase value to their business.

BMC Software and its employees are dedicated to making a difference in the communities in which they operate. As a result, BMC Software focuses its community relations efforts in those areas where it can have a meaningful impact on the community and its employees. These include supporting programs that encourage social services, wellness, higher education and the arts. Visit www.bmc.com to learn more.

Wells Fargo Bank
Including this year’s generous grant of $30,000, Wells Fargo Bank has contributed more than $150,000 to Project Inform since 1999. Given this level of commitment, it’s no wonder Wells Fargo tops a recent survey of the 40 largest corporate philanthropists in the Bay Area. According to the San Francisco Business Times, which conducted the survey, Wells Fargo gave $9.6 million in cash last year to 750 Bay Area charities. The bank’s giving is handled internally by the Wells Fargo Foundation. Many of the programs funded by the bank target low- and moderate-income communities.

SMMILE
Project Inform is proud to be included as a beneficiary of this year’s Up Your Alley and Folsom Street Fairs. Celebrating its 19th year, the Folsom Street Fair has come to embody the pride of the SF leather community, which has always been at the core of SMMILE (South of Market Merchants and Individual Lifestyles Events), the all-volunteer organization that produces these events.

What started as an opportunity to unify the leather community has become the world’s largest leather event. Over 450,000 people converge on Folsom Street in late September to celebrate their leather pride. The more intimate Up Your Alley Fair has blossomed from a private, leather house party to an event that draws 15,000 revelers. The combined annual proceeds of both fairs average between $200,000–$250,000.

SMMILE says that they are pleased to have Project Inform as one of this year’s beneficiaries. “Project Inform provides a vital function in our community,” says Board President, Bob Goldfarb. “Awareness and access to the correct HIV/AIDS treatment information is of vital importance and very close to the heart of SMMILE. We want to include Project Inform because of their outstanding work, mission and heart.” For more information about SMMILE, visit www.folsomstreetfair.com.

Project Inform Welcomes New Board Members

In 2000, John Carr joined Project Inform as a Hotline Volunteer and currently takes two shifts a week. John’s first experience serving on a nonprofit board began in May 2002, when he was elected as a volunteer representative to the Project Inform Board. John recently secured a donation of 40,000 beautiful note cards—full-color lithographs of local landmarks by artist John Wullbrandt (purchases benefit Project Inform). John shares his house with his five Scottish Fold Cats, who prefer to think that they are sharing their house with him.

Mihail Lari joined the Board in September. He is CEO and co-founder of Shaycom Corporation, a San Francisco startup developing software and services for customers on the Internet. He currently serves on GLAAD’s national board of directors where he is the San Francisco Co-Chair for its $1M Digital Initiative capital campaign. Mihail received an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a Masters in Architecture from Rice University. Mihail grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and is especially interested in the intersection of technology and education in the Third World.

Matthew Fust joined the board in November, and has been a long-time supporter of Project Inform. He is currently CFO of Perlegen Sciences. Although this is Matt’s first formal involvement on a Board, he looks forward to contributing to Project Inform’s programs and activities.

Public Policy Pushing Treatment Access Agenda

Access to treatment for people with HIV/AIDS continues to be a top priority for Project Inform’s public policy department. This year, we have taken a leadership role in two issues related to treatment access.

AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP)
is a federal program funded through the Ryan White CARE Act that provides access to treatment for low-income people with HIV who are uninsured or without adequate prescription drug coverage.

ADAP is currently facing a fiscal crisis, due to a number of factors including inadequate federal and state funding, increases in drug prices, and rising demand for services. Many state ADAPs have been forced to implement program restrictions, including waiting lists in some areas.

This year Project Inform, in addition to its ongoing work in the National ADAP Working Group, has been involved with an ad-hoc, grassroots coalition called “SAVE ADAP”. This group is composed of activists in the AIDS Treatment Advocates Coalition (ATAC), primarily from states with the most severe ADAP problems. The SAVE ADAP committee has developed a comprehensive grassroots campaign to obtain adequate funding for ADAP. We have issued Action Alerts, helped organize district meetings with elected officials, and sent people who depend on ADAP to Washington, DC for a lobbying event in early September. For more information about ADAP or the SAVE ADAP committee, contact Ryan Clary at 415-558-8669 x224 or rclary@projectinform.org.

Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA):
Project Inform has also made passage of the Early Treatment For HIV Act a priority this year. This bill would give states the option to extend Medicaid coverage to uninsured low-income people living with HIV. Currently in most states, people must progress to disability before they can qualify for Medicaid. If ETHA becomes law and states are convinced to take up the option, it could alleviate a lot of pressure on ADAPs as people will be able to get their treatment through Medicaid.

Earlier this year, Project Inform joined the Treatment Access Expansion Project (TAEP), a coalition of community organizations and pharmaceutical companies, working on ETHA and other efforts to expand access to HIV care and treatment. Staff and Board members of Project Inform joined TAEP in DC in June to visit Senators and urge them to co-sponsor the bill. Shortly after this advocacy event, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) became the second Republican to co-sponsor ETHA. The goal of advocates is to encourage increased Republican co-sponsorship of this important bill in the Senate and the House. For more information about ETHA, contact Anne Donnelly at 415-558-8669 x208.