Every year Elton John has an A-list celebrity bash Academy Award party where the partygoers are asked to donate to help in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. He started six years ago and raised roughly $250,000. This year donations were over $5 million. Usually, Elton asks musical guests to perform, but this year, due to the writer's strike and the uncertainty of an Academy Awards show, Elton John did not ask anyone and entertained the gathering for over an hour himself.

Sir Elton told Larry King on CNN that he started the AIDS foundation that bears his name and began actively campaigning for AIDS research and relief to "atone" for all the years he had ignored the epidemic and the devastating impact it was having on the gay community. Donations are accepted by non-celebrities as well at the Foundation's website.