New Mexico AIDS Charity Seeking Another Organization to Take Over

A Santa Fe, New Mexico charity that helps AIDS patients is looking for another organization to take over its assets after finding it increasingly difficult to raise money. The board of Santa Fe Cares voted unanimously to affiliate with another group and sought proposals from other organizations. Santa Fe Cares, which makes grants to agencies that provide services to people with HIV/AIDS, has an endowment worth almost $1 million.

Alicia Miller, president of the board, said Santa Fe Cares was finding donations more difficult to collect because fewer people are dying of AIDS and donors are moving on to other causes. "There's a general feeling that this is no longer a pressing deal. AIDS is no longer in the front of people's minds. They like to think it's gone away. They're tired of hearing about it," Miller said. The charity's budget has exceeded its revenues for the last couple of years, Miller said. Although mortality rates are declining, the number of new AIDS cases in New Mexico is not going down, and people with HIV/AIDS are living longer and healthier lives. "It was easier to get money when people were dying than when people are living," Miller said. "It's not a funeral we're talking about. It's a lifetime of maintenance, job retraining, housing assistance."

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