ABSTRACT
Community-based organizations have played a crucial role in the nation's response to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This chapter examines the use of voluntarism in the provision of services and its implication for the future needs created by the AIDS epidemic. It analyzes the value of volunteer labor, the ability of community-based organizations with minimal paid staffs to serve the growing and changing AIDS population, and the problems of relying exclusively on volunteers to provide services to minority communities. Assessing the economic implications of providing direct services to persons with AIDS through the use of nonprofit organizations that rely heavily on volunteer labor is a formidable task. Despite the growth of Gay Men's Health Crisis and other community-based organizations, and the addition of substantial new governmental resources for treatment and services, the size of the AIDS epidemic in New York City threatens to shake the foundations of the entire health care system.
