amfAR: The Foundation for AIDS Research
/OVERVIEW: AmfAR, also known as the Foundation for AIDS Research, devotes its global funding to research, advocacy, and treatment on HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Grants support a network of medical researchers and clinics in Asia, as well as HIV/AIDS services for gay men and transgendered people in low- to middle-income countries.
IP TAKE: AmfAR is one of the most internationally recognized organizations supporting HIV/AIDS-related projects. It makes several grants to large INGOs, but exclusively dedicates HIV/AIDS related funding to smaller NGOs through its GMT Initiative. This is a crowded grant space.
For a nonprofit foundation, amfAR is unusually glamorous. Its board chairman is famed fashion designer Kenneth Cole, while its ambassadors include Liza Minnelli, Katy Perry, and Janelle Monae. It also holds posh, star-studded galas in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, São Paulo and Miami. Moreover, it holds the annual Cinema Against AIDS black tie fundraiser, previously attended by Elton John and Mary J. Blige, at the Cannes Film Festival. These are all great events at which to network — if you can get an invite.
PROFILE: Founded in 1985, amfAR began as an organization of doctors seeking answers to the unfamiliar immunodeficiency epidemic that baffled health experts. Since then, amfAR has grown and seeks to “end the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research.” Since its inception, amfAR has invested $450 million in its programs and has awarded more than 3,300 grants to research teams globally. AmfAR supports various projects, including scientific research, public awareness campaigns, and public policy work.
Grants for Global Health and Diseases
AmfAR’s TREAT Asia program focuses on research, education and advocacy in the areas where the initiative is located. It reflects a collaborative network of clinics, hospitals, research institutions and civil society that works to "ensure the safe and effective delivery of HIV treatments to adults and children across the Asia-Pacific," a populous region that has more HIV-positive people than any other region beyond sub-Saharan Africa. Grants through this program range from $1,000 to $100,000 each, and support universities or university researchers in Asia. It also supports various sexual health clinics that deliver HIV/AIDS services in the region. TREAT Asia also periodically advertises requests for proposals on its site, so grant seekers are advised to check back often.
Grants for Science Research
AmfAR’s Research Grant program serves the foundation’s mission by “identifying critical gaps in our knowledge of HIV and AIDS” and “supporting groundbreaking studies that often lack the preliminary data required by more traditional funders.” The main goal of amfAR’s research giving is to find “the scientific basis of a cure for HIV.” It therefore prioritizes funding “studies that uncover vital knowledge that is directly applicable to curing HIV in people living with HIV/AIDS.” Grantees are selected through peer review by amfAR’s Scientific Advisory Committee. In selecting grantees, the foundation will consider whether the research is “necessary and sufficient to accomplish our goal” or would “propel several cure-focused approaches forward with the answer.”
Important Grant Details:
Grants tend to range from $1,000 to $100,000. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s Previous Grants for more information on the type of research it tends to support.
AmfAR releases an annual Request for Proposals (RFP) for its research grant program. The specific target topic may vary from year to year. The deadline tends to fall early in the year.
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