ViiV Healthcare COVID-19 Community Emergency Response Fund

ViiV Healthcare’s mission is to leave no person living with HIV behind and in these uncertain times we remain absolutely committed to ensuring that we deliver on it. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve rapidly, we want to reassure everyone that the safety and well-being of our employees, customers, grantees, partners and people living with HIV remains ViiV Healthcare’s top priority. The COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund aims to support community-based organizations to maintain and evolve their critical services for people living with and at risk of HIV in this time of the COVID-19 crisis.

Eligible Recipients

Currently, all US organizations that have received grant funding from ViiV Healthcare in 2018 - 2020 are eligible to apply for the COVID-19 Emergency Response funding.

Request for proposals

ViiV Healthcare and Positive Action Network are seeking applications from eligible community-based organizations to address the specific challenges that have arisen for people living with or affected by HIV as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organizations should outline how funding will be used to support people living with or at risk of HIV to maintain or increase access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic. This effort should supplement work already being done in community and healthcare settings. Organizations will be asked to identify how their current services have been impacted, any anticipated changes and the ways that funding will be used to maintain or evolve services for people living with or at risk of HIV.

Proposals which primarily focus on research or medical care services are out of scope of this request for proposals.

Research requests should be directed to covid19rfp.research@viivhealthcare.com

Approach

ViiV Healthcare believes that engaging local communities is critical to addressing the drivers of health and life inequalities, it therefore seeks to promote community responses that work at the level of changing beliefs, attitudes and behaviors to improve health and rights at the community level.

Community engagement, participation and/or leadership are mandatory requirements for all grants: your proposal must demonstrate how your work will engage, involve and empower and benefit affected communities.

How to apply

Eligible US Organizations should submit their applications via the online grants portal at https://viivhealthcare.fluxx.io/ where they can select COVID RESPONSE

Positive Action global grantees are required to complete an application form and submit the completed form to COVID19.Community@viivhealthcare.com

All eligible organizations’ proposals will be evaluated against the outlined criteria below.

Eligibility for COVID-19 community grants

  • A US organization that has/have received Positive Action funding in 2018 - 2020 (your organization must have undergone the ViiV due diligence processes within last two years)
  • Addressing community preparedness and HIV emergencies related to COVID-19 and aligned to applicants’ organizational vision/goals
  • Activities must be completed, and funds utilized within 6 months of receiving the funds

Funding areas and themes for COVID-19 community Grants

We invite proposals in one of the following thematic areas:

  • Support for ongoing access to critical HIV prevention, care and outreach services (adherence support interventions, psychosocial support, strengthening access to ARVs, strategies for hard to reach populations, etc.)
  • Capacity building to support the transition of service delivery from face to face service delivery to home or digital services, etc.
  • Short term payments for critical community staff who are responding to COVID-19 challenges (salaries of non-medical licensed professionals, airtime, data, transport costs etc.)
  • Community monitoring and community feedback mechanisms on impact of COVID-19 on HIV services and support

Organizations in the US can use the funds for general operating costs, or for a specific project provided that funds are not used for those activities listed below under “Funding Restrictions

Timeline

Request for Proposals                                27 April 2020
Deadline for submission of applications     15 May 2020
Notification to awardees                             1 June 2020

Questions regarding grant applications can be submitted to viiv@tccgrp.com

Funding Restrictions

Standard eligibility, grant requirements and funding restrictions apply for the Emergency Response Fund. ViiV Healthcare grant funding cannot support:

  • Direct provision of medical care
  • Organizations owned, fully or in part, by a Healthcare Professional or Customer of ViiV Healthcare. Examples of Healthcare Professionals or Customers include, but are not necessarily limited to, physicians, physicians’ assistants, nurses, pharmacists, residents and medical students, phlebotomists, medical case managers, adherence counselors, pharmacy and medical directors within managed care organizations, other personnel within managed care organizations, and policy advocates;
  • Program expenses allocated to support the salary of a licensed medical professional;
  • Direct building expenses, endowments, or other capital expenditures;
  • Support for advertising for local athletics and/or other extracurricular activities (including trips, tours, etc.); Support for brand advertising;
  • Religious groups or other societies that do not serve the general public on a non-denominational basis;
  • Patient education materials for a program/activity that will include ViiV Healthcare staff input on the content (if for a publication, no more than 5 percent of ViiV Healthcare funds to be used to support the publication costs);
  • Product donations;
  • Matching gifts;
  • Patient assistance programs;
  • Certified medical education;
  • Purchasing of any medications;

In addition, as a charitable contribution, ViiV Healthcare cannot support projects that will provide a benefit to ViiV Healthcare. Specifically, the ViiV Healthcare Positive Action Community Grants program cannot consider requests that:

  • Promote a specific ViiV Healthcare product or line of business;
  • Provide more than an “incidental or tenuous” benefit to ViiV Healthcare (generally defined as goodwill and publicity);
  • Involve lobbying or political activity;
  • Create an appearance of impropriety.