Gay Men's Health Crisis

This paper is an examination of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, one of the leading national nonprofit organizations to address the HIV and AIDS epidemic. I have been a volunteer at GMHC for the past two years, which has given me the opportunity to observe some of the agency's inner workings firsthand. The organization serves a growing population of individuals suffering from AIDS, as well as working to increase public awareness of the problem. It was founded by playwright Larry Kramer before the disease had been given its present name. Like many nonprofits formed to deal with urgent issues, GMHC has undergone substantial changes as the crisis itself has changed. This paper attempts to analyze the organization as it exists today.

In June 1981, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control published a report documenting the case of five gay men in Los Angeles who were infected with Pneumocystis carinii, a rare strain of pneumonia. The following month, an article in the New York Times reported 41 cases of a rare cancer that had been identified in homosexuals throughout the United States. By October, the CDC had declared an epidemic, and, by December, 152 American cases were on record (Goldenberg & Wolfe, 1995, p. 2).

That summer, writer Larry Kramer gathered 80 men in his apartment for a discussion with a doctor of the growing "gay cancer." From this group, Kramer and five friends formed the Gay Men's Health Crisis the following January. By either July (Gorman, 1996-1997, De

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both preventive medicine and family practice, a public health expert and a confirmed activist" (Hollander, 1999, Winter, p. 1). The paid staff includes a remarkable array of specialists in the wide range of areas in which GMHC works, from an intensive team of case workers in the Care Management Department to a complete food services staff, an extensive publishing staff devoted to preparing the newsletter, and many others, including specialists in development, marketing, and business management. GMHC's large staff is well organized and compartmentalized, with the elaborate kinds of procedures and policies that show how established an institution the organization has become. The massive volunteer staff is equally well organized, trained, and supervised. GMHC's newsletter, Volunteer, provides volunteers and supporters with regular information about the organization's various programs, people, and policies, mixing articles about other volunteers, organizational news, and profiles of clients with statistics reminding readers of the magnitude of the problem. GMHC's relationship with its clients and its volunteers forms the basis of its relationship with the wider community. GMHC claims to be the oldest nonprofit dealing with th

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