Not that long ago, AIDS was a cause célèbre among Canadian business leaders and corporate donations poured in to organizations fighting the disease. But in recent years companies have moved on to other causes and AIDS is no longer a high priority for corporate giving.
“HIV and AIDS isn't the sexy cause any more,” said Nick Rodrigue, manager of corporate sponsorship and donations for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. “And, I hate to say that, but it's not the cause du jour. Everyone has moved on to breast cancer. It's a great cause and certainly needed but there is certainly a lot of need in HIV and AIDS.”
Many non-profit groups are hoping that the start of the 16th International AIDS conference in Toronto later this month will reverse that trend and encourage Canadian businesses to become involved in AIDS once again.
But Mr. Rodrigue and others are cautious — they know corporate donations to AIDS organizations peaked in the mid 1990s and began to slow down around 1998 with the development of so-called AIDS cocktail drugs. (Those drugs meant that people struck by the HIV virus were not necessarily going to die. That changed public perception about the disease and left the false impression the illness was under control, even though it continued to rage in Africa and parts of Asia.)
“I think there is a sense that it's a problem of over there, in the Third World, and it's a problem which the government seems to be throwing a lot of money at,” said Andy Pringle, a former senior executive at the brokerage arm of Royal Bank of Canada who is president of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. The foundation provides about $1.6-million worth of grants annually to fund research.
Mr. Pringle said that aside from the big banks and insurance companies, which have been major contributors to AIDS causes, raising money from Canadian businesses “is a tough slog.”
“It's a very difficult sell for the rest of Corporate Canada. It doesn't seem to be high on their agenda.”
He added that Warren Buffett's recent $30-billion (U.S.) gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which will double the foundation's assets to $60-billion, has also left the impression that research on the disease is sufficiently funded.
Other AIDS organizations have experienced similar difficulties attracting corporate funding. For example, the Canadian AIDS Society, a national coalition of about 125 AIDS organizations, can't find a national sponsor for the Walk for Life, which takes place in dozens of cities across Canada every September and is one of Canada's largest annual AIDS fundraising events.
“There is still a lot of stigma and discrimination around HIV and AIDS,” said Holly Wagg, the society's director of marketing and communications. She said the organization is hopeful it will find a sponsor and she noted many companies, such as Molson Coors, are involved in local events.
But she said companies tend to align their charitable interests to those of their customers. “So if they are not thinking that the people who are interested in HIV/AIDS are their product users, they are not likely to sponsor you.”
It's not just at the national level that Corporate Canada's interest in AIDS has waned. Until recently, only a couple of Canadian companies were members of the Global Business Coalition on AIDS. The New York-based organization is headed by Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN, and it has more than 200 members, making it the largest international business group tackling AIDS. Members range from multinationals such as American Express, Arcelor SA and Bayer AG to organizations such as the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.
So far, only five Canadian companies have joined the coalition: Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Alcan Inc., Power Corp. of Canada and Indigo Books & Music Inc. Two others, Barrick Gold Corp. and MedMira Inc., are considering joining. Also, Bank of Montreal will soon announce a gift to Dignitas, a Toronto-based HIV-AIDS group that works in Africa.
