As you make clear (“Funding cuts threaten Aids ‘success story’ at cost of up to 2.9mn lives”, Report, March 27), any change to public spending priorities in the US and elsewhere, including the UK, is unsettling — and nowhere more so than in the charity and development sector.
It is the responsibility of governments to focus public funds on issues they see as the priority. The competition for financial support is fierce, given the plethora of economic and political challenges facing us all. Not all causes can come out as winners when it comes to public spending.
Now is the time to show the private sector can, and must, step up and show leadership. Private investment is now more essential than ever to support biomedical research, for instance. Whether the focus is on finding a cure for HIV/Aids or retinitis pigmentosa, a rare eye disease I suffer from, private donors are needed to fill the gaps left by shifting government priorities.
For those of us who have the privilege of being able to help, we must remain steadfast in our dedication to finance organisations that are making a real impact, regardless of the level of public funding available. The stakes are simply too high to do otherwise.
Steve Wynn
Former Casinos Owner, Investor and Philanthropist, Palm Beach, FL, US