The pool had to go. Not permanently, but for a weekend in November 2018, when the courtyard pool at Ann and Gordon Getty’s Pacific Heights home was covered to make room for an unusual kind of fundraiser.
Vanessa Getty and her husband, Billy, hosted amfAR’s charity poker tournament in 2018 and returned to host the event again the following year. The evenings transformed the private Pacific Heights residence into a temporary casino, bringing supporters together around a serious purpose: raising funds for HIV/AIDS research.
But Vanessa’s involvement with amfAR began long before the poker nights. More than a decade earlier, the organization had recognized her commitment to the fight against AIDS with one of its honors: the Award of Courage.
Bringing amfAR to Pacific Heights
Vanessa and Billy Getty hosted the inaugural tournament in November 2018 at Ann and Gordon Getty’s Pacific Heights home. They were joined by an honorary committee that included Aileen Getty, Ann and Gordon Getty, Lynne and Marc Benioff, Robin Wright, and others supporting amfAR’s work.
The house was transformed into a casino inspired by the world of James Bond. Poker tables were installed throughout the ballroom, music room and courtyard, with the swimming pool covered so the space could accommodate additional players.
Behind the black-tie setting was a straightforward fundraising model. Participants bought into the Texas hold’em tournament, while a live auction provided additional opportunities to contribute. Proceeds from the poker buy-ins and auction benefited amfAR and its work to combat AIDS.
During the evening, Vanessa took the microphone to talk a little about her own experience with amfAR and why its work had remained important to her over the years. She encouraged everyone to bid big during the auction, bringing the evening back to what it was really about: raising money for AIDS research.
Vanessa Getty also participated in the tournament while helping lead an evening intended to draw attention and resources to the organization’s research mission.
The event offered a different approach to fundraising: rather than a conventional hotel ballroom gala, a private San Francisco home became the setting for an evening built around participation, giving and awareness.
Returning for a Second Year
Vanessa and Billy Getty hosted amfAR’s Charity Poker Tournament and Game Night again on November 15, 2019, returning to the same Pacific Heights setting.
They were joined by an honorary group that included Aileen Getty, Alan Cumming, Ann and Gordon Getty, Jon Hamm, and Gwyneth Paltrow, among others lending their names and support to the evening.
The second year expanded on the original concept. Poker remained at its center, accompanied by a live auction and additional casino-style activities designed to encourage participation and raise money for AIDS research.
The 2019 tournament ultimately raised approximately $400,000 for amfAR, adding another chapter to Vanessa’s long association with the organization.
The amfAR Award of Courage
Vanessa’s support for amfAR dates back years before the Pacific Heights tournaments. At amfAR’s San Francisco Fall Dinner, she was honored with the organization’s Award of Courage for her contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The event raised more than $430,000 for amfAR and brought nearly 450 supporters together in San Francisco. But Vanessa’s connection to the cause was also deeply personal.
In accepting the award, she spoke about losing a close family friend to AIDS in 1983, when she was only eleven years old. It was the early years of the epidemic, before HIV had been identified as its cause and before an HIV test was available.
Her remarks focused on how dramatically the landscape had changed since then and on the role research organizations such as amfAR had played in that progress. She described amfAR as an organization that had continued raising money for research, educating the public and working against the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.
The Award of Courage put formal recognition behind a relationship with the organization that would continue for years. Vanessa remained connected to amfAR and its fundraising efforts, eventually hosting two consecutive charity poker tournaments in San Francisco with Billy Getty.
The Research Behind amfAR
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, has supported HIV/AIDS research since 1985. Its mission is focused on ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research.
Over the decades, the organization has funded thousands of research projects around the world, supporting scientists pursuing new approaches to HIV prevention, treatment and, increasingly, a cure.
That research mission also has an important connection to San Francisco.
In 2016, amfAR established the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research at the University of California, San Francisco, with a $20 million grant supporting a collaborative scientific effort focused on developing the basis for a cure for HIV.
For a city profoundly affected by the AIDS epidemic, the investment carried particular significance. San Francisco had long been a center of HIV/AIDS activism, treatment and scientific research, and amfAR’s commitment placed cure research directly within that history.
A Longstanding Commitment
Seen together, the Award of Courage and the later poker tournaments tell a broader story than either event does on its own.
Vanessa’s association with amfAR spans years. She supported the organization’s work in San Francisco, was recognized with its Award of Courage for her contributions to the fight against AIDS, and later hosted two consecutive fundraising events with Billy Getty benefiting its research mission.
The poker nights may have provided the most visually memorable setting — black tie, poker tables and a swimming pool temporarily covered to make room for more players — but the relationship with amfAR began well before them.
At its center has remained the same objective: supporting research capable of changing the course of HIV/AIDS.
For Vanessa Getty, that has meant using philanthropy not simply to bring attention to a cause, but to help sustain the organizations doing the work.
*The San Francisco Weekly newsroom and editorial were not involved in the creation of this content.