Condition: critical: Frank talk on AIDS and apathy from Ana Oliveira, the first Latina and lesbian to serve as executive director of Gay Men's Health Crisis.

How do groups balance providing client services with education efforts?

Educating a client is something that cannot be accomplished effectively before his or her basic needs are met. Once we are able to help clients with their daily sustenance issues, it is much easier to engage them around health education.

We are 25 years into the AIDS epidemic and we still cannot do enough with regard to services or prevention.

How do groups maintain visibility in the community in regard to HIV/AIDS?

We believe it is critical for success that we address the underlying factors of risk to HIV, which fuel HIV transmission. They include homophobia, poverty, stigma, depression, and substance abuse among others. We do this through individual and community interventions, including educational campaigns, that emphasize the value of people's lives to themselves and to each other.

What are the biggest challenges to fund-raising right now?

The perception that AIDS is either no longer a problem in this country, or if it is, it's someone else's problem. The incredible community mobilizations that occurred at the beginning of the epidemic were largely responsible for the advances in treatment that have made such a difference in the lives of so many people living with HIV. But it is too soon to declare victory and move on.

The challenges of raising funds are helped by community and public education that emphasize the acute crisis still facing us from HIV and AIDS. As an example, just recently the CDC announced that the HIV infection rate in the U.S. has risen to over 1 million for the first time since the pandemic began. Clearly, this type of disturbing news points out the need for more resources to fight the AIDS battle.

Are GLBT people still a significant segment of your clientele and volunteer base?

Men who have sex with men still represent the vast majority of new HIV infections in the U.S. And at GMHC, the GLBT community makes up a large part of our volunteer base and clientele. Of the more than 15,000 clients we provide services to, approximately two thirds are from the GLBT community.

Over time, while the pandemic has not left the GLBT community, it has vastly extended within the LGBT community and into other communities including heterosexual women, the majority of whom are women of color.

What do you say to critics who say that AIDS service organizations have become too large and "corporate"?

Many institutions are faced with the challenge of balancing their passion and mission with the realities of being fiscally viable entities. Our lives and the political power we need to exert in the fight against AIDS are dependent on our institutions being operated in a sound manner. Nonprofits face enormous financial and administrative challenges that we should not be afraid to take on if we want to be vibrant and successful.