BC/EFA Red Bucket Fundraising to Return Without Easter Bonnet Competition

The iconic Red Buckets of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will return tonight in the hands of cast members and volunteers at Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring theaters across the country as Broadway Cares’ annual Spring Fundraising Competition begins once more. 

Through Sunday, April 28, 2024, audience members who donate in Red Buckets will provide healthy meals, lifesaving medication and more critical support to people in need and crisis. A $10 donation covers one HIV test at a health clinic; $50 in a Red Bucket provides a week of healthy meals to someone living with HIV/AIDS and other debilitating illnesses. 

Broadway shows scheduled to begin their appeals this weekend are & Juliet; A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical; The Book of Mormon; Days of Wine and Roses; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; Kimberly Akimbo; The Lion King; Merrily We Roll Along; and Sweeney Todd, as well as Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors, The Play That Goes Wrong and Titanique. Additionally, the national tours of Beetlejuice, Company, Frozen, Funny Girl, The Girl from the North Country, Hadestown, The Lion King, Mrs. Doubtfire and Wicked are launching into the spring fundraising this weekend as well. More shows participating will be announced during the voluntary six-week fundraising campaign.

In exchange for a donation, audiences at many shows can receive autographed posters, Playbills and other unique collectables or unmissable experiences. Last year, 42 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national tours raised $3.6 million during the Spring Fundraising Competition. 

Historically, these six weeks of Spring Fundraising culminated in a presentation of songs, skits and handcrafted Easter bonnets at the Easter Bonnet Competition.

Starting this year, the Red Bucket in-theater fundraising appeals taking place in the spring and fall will be celebrated singularly at Red Bucket Follies, the variety show spectacular set for early December at the New Amsterdam Theatre. Tickets will be available to the public to join the Broadway theater community for this special celebration. In lieu of the annual Easter Bonnet Competition, Broadway Cares’ major donors – those who are members of our Visionary Circle and Angels Circle - will be invited to a private appreciation concert in late April that will be called Hats Off to You. More information will be shared with those donors later this month.

Donations raised through the in-theater Spring Fundraising Competition will immediately be put into action. Broadway Cares is the single largest supporter of the safety net of programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), helping everyone in entertainment and the performing arts. Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program supports more than 450 organizations nationwide providing nutritious meals, health care and hope for those in need. At times of crisis, Broadway Cares also awards one-time humanitarian grants to provide emergency aid across the US and around the world. 

In 2023, Broadway Cares’ annual grant-making hit $17.2 million, including $7.6 million to the Entertainment Community Fund and $9.1 million through the National Grants Program. 

About Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway, is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theater community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, the HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative. Broadway Cares awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance. At times of crisis, Broadway Cares also awards one-time humanitarian grants to provide emergency aid across the US and around the world.

For more information, please visit Broadway Cares online at broadwaycares.org.