AIDS Fund Philly to end after three-decade run

A Philadelphia organization that has raised millions to combat AIDS is shutting down after more than three decades.

AIDS Fund Philly, the group behind the city’s annual AIDS Walk and other charitable efforts, announced Sunday that it would shut its doors Dec. 31.

Founded in 1989, the group offered a lifeline to Philadelphia’s LGBTQ community as the HIV/AIDS epidemic neared its peak.

But according to organizers, AIDS diagnoses are falling in the city and nationwide, and the group’s work is less needed than before.

“The landscape has changed dramatically since we started our work,” said Robb Reichard, executive director of the AIDS Fund. “We actually hoped that we would one day close our doors, because we would no longer be needed.”

Since it was started by volunteers in 1987, the annual AIDS Walk has raised more than $18 million to combat the disease and raise awareness. In the last decade, the AIDS Fund has pivoted to offering grants to support those with the disease, providing financial assistance with housing and health-care costs.

It’s a bittersweet end for the group; HIV and AIDS cases have dropped in the last decade, as new medications and treatment options can leave HIV at undetectable levels in the bloodstream and prevent transmission from occurring.

For example, new HIV diagnoses in Philadelphia fell by 12% between 2018 and 2022, according to city health data.

Meanwhile, about 19,000 people nationwide died from AIDS in 2022, compared with around 50,000 at the disease’s peak in 1995.

The fund’s work affected all corners of the city.

Each October, thousands of supporters gathered at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the 5k AIDS Walk fundraiser.

And since the AIDS Fund launched its grant program in 2017, the group has given nearly 2,000 microgrants totaling around $700,000 to some of Philadelphia’s most vulnerable people with the disease.

The AIDs Fund is also behind GayBINGO, the longtime monthly fundraiser that received nationwide recognition and became the subject of a 2001 WHYY documentary.

Fans of the event will be pleased to hear that while the fund is coming to an end, GayBINGO will continue.

The AIDS Fund is transferring oversight of the event to Action Wellness, a nonprofit organization for people living with chronic diseases in the Greater Philadelphia area, according to Reichard.

And the fight against AIDS isn’t over, Reichard said.

A little more than 18,000 Philadelphians are living with the disease, according to city health data.

AIDs still disproportionately affects Black and brown men who have sex with men, as well as opioid users who may contract the disease though syringe use, Action Wellness CEO Evelyn Torres said.

Prescription medications like PrEP have greatly curbed the transmission of HIV through sex and drug use in recent years, according to Torres.

But “social determinants” of health, such as homelessness and food insecurity, are still contributing to the spread of AIDS, she said. A CDC study found that other areas like substance abuse, incarceration, and education level can increase someone’s likelihood of acquiring infectious diseases.

“We’re happy to continue the legacy of GayBINGO,” Torres said, “because there’s still a lot of nonmedical issues that we need to address if we hope to end the epidemic.”