A Word from our
Executive Director
Dear friends,
Forty years ago, a small group of people living with HIV made a decision that still defines us: when the world looked away, they would take care of each other. In 2025, that decision was tested again, and because of you, it held.
This was one of the hardest years I can remember. The Trump administration moved to gut HIV prevention and slash the health care our members depend on. Here in Minnesota, we absorbed nearly two million dollars in Ryan White cuts, and some legislators worked openly to defund us. Any one of those could have forced us to close doors and turn people away.
We didn't. We kept every core service running, and we kept our team intact. That is not something Aliveness did alone. It is something you made possible.
Let me tell you what your support built. Last May, our THRIVE pharmacy filled its first prescription. It may sound like a small thing, one bottle of medicine handed across a counter. But think about what it means for the person receiving it. In a single visit to one place, they can pick up their medication, get a hot meal, find help keeping a roof over their head, and sit with someone who treats them with dignity and never judges them for who they are or who they love. That is the whole idea behind Aliveness, finally under one roof. You built that.
This past year, more than 9,000 people turned to Aliveness for care, for food, for housing, for a place to belong. Behind that number are neighbors who are healthier today because you refused to let them face this moment alone.
Here is what gives me hope. We know how to end this epidemic. A person living with HIV who is on treatment cannot pass the virus to anyone. The science is that clear. So we have set ourselves a goal worthy of this community: to cut new HIV infections in Minnesota in half, over the next ten years.
That is not a slogan. It is a promise, and it is within reach, but only if people like you keep standing with us, especially now, when so much is being taken away.
Forty years ago, this community proved that love organized is stronger than fear. You are the reason that is still true today. Thank you for standing with us.
With gratitude,
Matt
Milestone of the year
In May 2025, the pharmacy at Thrive Clinic filled its first prescription. This is more than a clinical milestone.as every prescription filled through our pharmacy generates revenue that flows straight back into the organization, funding the meals, housing, and care our members count on.
In its first full year, Thrive Clinic & Pharmacy served 665 patients and filled more than 4,300 prescriptions. In a year when much of the funding that sustains HIV work came under pressure, the pharmacy is proof of something we believe deeply: that mission and sustainability can work hand in hand. We did not just open a pharmacy. We built a service that helps keep patients engaged in care while creating a new, diversified revenue stream that supports Aliveness for the long term.
“At ThriveRx, community is part of how we provide care. We built a pharmacy that understands the needs of the LGBTQ+ community and makes care easier and centered on people living with HIV.”
- Ryan Bortz, PharmD, MS
2025 Highlights
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Hot Meals Served
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Pounds of groceries given
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People helped into housing
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Prescriptions filled
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Number of clinic appointments
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Countries of origin among our membersWho we serve
Aliveness is rooted in Minneapolis at 3808 Nicollet Avenue, but our reach runs the length of the state. Through our statewide AIDSLine, prevention services, and advocacy, we serve people and communities across Minnesota. Our members include people living with HIV and those at risk, from young people to older adults, and from those who are newly diagnosed to long-term survivors. Our community is also queer and straight, trans and cis, immigrant and U.S.-born, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx. Our members come from more than 40 Minnesota counties and 59 countries of origin, reflecting just how many communities call Aliveness home.
Community Snapshot
Program Focus
Thrive Clinic + Pharmarcy
Thrive is our clinical home, offering HIV care, PrEP, PEP, DoxyPEP, HIV and STI testing, mental health services, gender-affirming care, and a full pharmacy through Thrive Rx. It is built for people who have not always been treated well by health care. Here, how you are treated matters as much as the care you receive.
2025 was a year of growth. We expanded our long-acting injectable program, giving patients more long-acting treatment and prevention options. We launched a Medication Therapy Management program, completed a transportation research study to better understand barriers to care, and deepened the connection between the clinic, the pharmacy, and Aliveness' social services so patients move through care without bouncing between departments.
In 2025, Thrive provided more than 4,600 patient appointments across HIV prevention, HIV care, sexual health, mental health, and gender-affirming care, and filled more than 4,300 prescriptions through Thrive Rx, including the pharmacy's first-ever prescription in May.
Race & ethnicity of Thrive patients
Age of Thrive patients
gay/lesbian
bisexual
straight
something else
undisclosed
Social Services
Our kitchen serves hot meals, and our choice-model food shelf lets members shop with dignity for up to 65 pounds of groceries a month. Case management and housing support meet people at their hardest moments. Our peer-led groups make sure no one does this alone.
In 2025, we served 53,060 hot meals and distributed 341,121 pounds of groceries. We housed 34 people through our own housing program and helped another 157 members into housing through our waitlist and coordinated-entry assessments, 191 people in all who found stable housing with our support.
In 2025 we also launched HEART, Health Education through Art, a new program from our Member Experience team. Through biweekly creative classes, therapeutic art woven into support groups, pop-up art in the lunchroom, and creative field trips, HEART is a reminder that care is about the whole person, not just the diagnosis.
“Thank you for all your awesome help, for all you have done. You've been an amazing help with everything you've done and helped me accomplish.”
-Aliveness member
Every Penny Counts
When rent is due, the lights are about to go out, or a medical bill stands between someone and their care, Every Penny Counts steps in. It is emergency financial assistance for people living with HIV, and in 2025 it did an extraordinary amount of quiet, practical good. Working alongside EPC, benefits counseling helps remove the bureaucratic barriers that keep people from the support they are entitled to.
In 2025, Every Penny Counts provided assistance to 2,632 unduplicated clients, delivering more than 19,000 individual assistance services across food, rent, utilities, and medical
needs.
EPC assistance by type:
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- Food (15,084)
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- Medical/dental (1,511)
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- Rent (1,252)
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- Utilities (1,159)
Outreach
Aliveness goes beyond the building to provide field-based HIV testing, harm reduction and syringe services, and a steady presence in the community spaces where people already are. We partner with organizations across the Twin Cities to help make this a reality. This is where some of our most direct, life-saving work happens.
In 2025, participants in our syringe services program reported reversing 748 overdoses. Our outreach team administered 3, 502 field tests, gave out 15,080 doses of Naloxone, linked 55 people to treatment for substance use, and had 10,170 participant interactions in 2025.
Development
None of this important work happens without our incredible community. Our development efforts, fundraising activations, external relations and volunteers are how the work stays funded, and how supporters like you become part of it.
In 2025, Dining Out For Life, our annual fundraising event raised $261,865 and Red Undie Run raised $74,028. Across the year, 308 volunteers gave 4,372.98 hours of their time.
Advocacy
While we meet immediate needs through nutrition, support, and services, we also work to change the systems that shape the lives of people living with HIV.
2025 was a state budgeting year, which made our advocacy more critical than ever: decisions made at the Capitol would determine whether Minnesotans living with HIV kept reliable access to care.
This work was led by Ezra McNair, Aliveness' first-ever Advocacy Organizer, supported by
Development Director Dylan Boyer and Executive Director Matt Toburen.
Through our work with Minnesota's HIV Public Policy Coalition we held HIV on the Hill on
May 5, 2025, setting legislative priorities and shared fast-moving intelligence in a year
when the news from Washington changed by the hour.
What we won
Our advocacy secured $6.5 million in the state budget to support HIV services, ensuring these critical programs are now a permanent component of the state's ongoing budget forecast.
How we showed up: Four digital campaigns that drew 2,325 sign-ons from community members:
- Fund the Fight (407)
- Say No to HIV Prevention Cuts (1,799)
- Defend Minnesota Medicaid (43)
- Protect PEPFAR (76)
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is elected by the Members of Aliveness and consists of up to 20 community members, at least 30% of whom must be people living with HIV.
Thomas Keller
Travis Allen
Raquelle Paulsen
Mary Jo Kasten
Joe Waters
Helue Vazquez
Michelle Bahr
Joel Isenberger
Dr. Margaret Pertzborn
Dr. Rachel Prosser
Jenn Schaal
JoAnn Vertetis
Shanasha Whitson
Membership Advisory Committee
The Membership Advisory Committee consists of up to 20 members of Aliveness Project
elected at the Annual Meeting. They advise and make recommendations on member-
related issues and oversee Charitable Gaming.
Jo Ann V.
Joe R.
Scott S.
Tim K.
Joe S.
Sherry O.
Terral E.
Justice C.
David V.
Thomas D.
Mohamad A.
Brandon C.
With Immense
Gratitude
We want to say thank you for the support you gave to Aliveness Project in 2025. Your
generosity is in every meal served, every prescription filled, and every activity we take in
ending the HIV epidemic.
You did not just fund a program. You kept our community whole.
The work is not finished, and the year ahead will ask a lot of us. But 2025 proved what this
community is made of. We grew when we were expected to shrink, we built what will
sustain us, and we held the line for the people who count on us. If you want to be part of what comes next, you can by using the button below.