AMFAR

amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, known until 2005 as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of AIDS-related public policy.
amfAR is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) and operates as an independent nonprofit with worldwide initiatives. amfAR was formed in September 1985 by actress Elizabeth Taylor, Dr. Michael Gottleib, Dr. Mathilde Krim, physician Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, and activist Michael Callen. The organization was created when Taylor and Gottleib’s California-based National AIDS Research Foundation, which sought to actively engage in HIV-related drug development. , merged with Krim’s New York-based AIDS Medical Foundation (AMF), which sought to lessen the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS diagnoses, as well as to increase funding to the cause. What resulted was a foundation that prioritized both research and development as well as policy influence. This foundation was one of the first of its kind to embody both aspects of healthcare.
amfAR currently has three headquarters, located in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Bangkok, Thailand. amfAR spurs research and development through providing grants and fellowships to organizations, such as the Family Institute of Health, and individuals through the Mathilde Krim Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Research. amfAR has provided over 3,300 grants to research teams across the world and has invested over $400 million to research aiming to effectively treat HIV and AIDS related illness. amfAR's funds historically have gone to funding research, and as a result have helped pioneer community-based clinical research trials in the 1980s, as well as the involvement of AIDS patients in the drug approval process (see also: Denver Principles). Changes in leadership have marked changes in focus, resulting in shifts from public health outreach (needle exchange program pushes) to public education (the amfAR AIDS Handbook) to international research and outreach.amfAR has embarked on various national and international campaigns to spur AIDS/HIV research, create a dialogue and decrease stigma surrounding the disease. Through TREAT Asia and GMT, amfAR took international roots and began funding research and outreach on all inhabited continents. National initiatives have included the Countdown to a Cure for AIDS. The Institute for HIV Cures Research and amfAR Research Consortium on HIV Eradication (ARCHE) were both created to aid this countdown, both to help fund research as well as provide a facility at which those researcher can work. To supplement the funding of these initiatives, amfAR is funded through sources like stock donations and their annual galas, which represent the majority of their source of funding.After Kenneth Cole stepped down as chairman, he was replaced by William H. Roedy. The current CEO Kevin Robert Frost joined amfAR in 1994 and became CEO in 2004. Together they lead 9 members of the Management Team, 25 Board of Trustees members and over 100 advisors to both their scientific and political platforms.CharityWatch rates the Foundation for AIDS Research an "A−" grade.Charity Navigator rates amfAR a four-star charity.