Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Entertainment Community Fund are two of Broadway's major charities. Fans often mix them up, and it's easy to see why: they work closely together. But they do different jobs.
Broadway Cares raises money and gives grants. The Entertainment Community Fund delivers services directly to people. Broadway Cares is also the single largest funder of the Entertainment Community Fund's safety net, so the two are partners more than alternatives.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is a grantmaking nonprofit born from the AIDS crisis. It raises money through the theatre community, with red bucket appeals after shows, Broadway Bares, the Broadway Flea Market, and more, and distributes it to organizations nationwide. Read our full guide to Broadway Cares.
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a human services organization for everyone who works in performing arts and entertainment. It provides social services, emergency financial help, health care and insurance guidance, affordable housing, career support, and long-term care. Read our full guide to the Entertainment Community Fund.
Both are respected 501(c)(3) charities, so it depends on what you want your gift to do. If you want to support Broadway's fundraising tradition and its national grants, give to Broadway Cares. If you want to give directly to the organization that serves entertainment workers, give to the Entertainment Community Fund. Either way, you're supporting the theatre community.
Broadway Cares and the Entertainment Community Fund take care of people. Broadway for Democracy works on civic participation, helping fans and theatre workers register, get informed, and vote. We're nonpartisan, and we see our work as complementary to theirs. Our guide to Broadway nonprofits shows how the whole field fits together.
No. They're separate nonprofits, but Broadway Cares is the largest funder of the Fund's safety net.
To Broadway Cares, which distributes it as grants, including to the Entertainment Community Fund.
Yes. The Actors Fund changed its name in 2022.
Want to support Broadway's civic side too? Donate to Broadway for Democracy.
