Terence Higgins Trust
 |
|
| Founded | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Type | Charitable organisation |
| Registration no. | England and Wales: 288527 Scotland: SC039986 |
| Focus | HIV and Sexual health, Health policy |
| Location |
|
| Coordinates | 51°31′43″N 0°07′09″W / 51.528555°N 0.119243°W |
|
Area served
|
United Kingdom |
|
Chief Executive
|
Ian Green |
|
Chair
|
Jonathan McShane |
|
Revenue (2016)
|
£18 million |
|
Staff (2016)
|
324 |
| Slogan | The HIV and sexual health charity for life |
| Website | www |
Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns on and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV; to eradicate stigma and discrimination around HIV; and to promote good sexual health (including safe sex).
The Trust is generally considered the UK's leading HIV and AIDS charity, and the largest in Europe. It is also the lead organisation for Public Health England's HIV prevention partnership HIV Prevention England.
Established in 1982, Terrence Higgins Trust Trust was the first charity in the UK to be set up in response to HIV and AIDS. It was initially named Terry Higgins Trust, after Terry Higgins, who died aged 37 on 4 July 1982 at St Thomas' Hospital, London. He was among the first people in the UK known to have died from the AIDS virus, which was only identified the previous year.
Terry's close friends Martyn Butler, Tony Calvert and Terry's partner Rupert Whitaker along with other friends started the Trust to raise funds for research as a way of preventing suffering due to AIDS. Shortly, with the generation of a groundswell of support for the organisation at a meeting at Red Lion Square, Tony Whitehead and others joined the group and formally founded the organisation and saw it through registration as a charity to provide direct services to those affected by HIV.
The trust was named after Terry to personalise and humanise the issue of AIDS. It was formalised in August 1983 when it adopted a constitution and opened a bank account, and the name of the trust was changed (Terrence rather than Terry) to sound more formal. It incorporated as a limited company in November 1983 and gained charitable status in January 1984.
The charity received almost a million pounds in donations over the Christmas of 1991, with the proceeds of Queen's re-released chart-topper Bohemian Rhapsody going entirely to the charity, following the recent AIDS-related death of lead singer Freddie Mercury. After being diagnosed as HIV positive in 1987, Mercury had been concerned that financial support should be available to those less fortunate than himself.
...
Wikipedia