New York Pride Faces Funding Shortfall as Sponsors Withdraw
NYC Pride faces a $750,000 shortfall as major sponsors pull support, citing economic concerns and fears of Trump-era backlash over DEI.
Nearly 1 in 4 of the corporate donors of New York City’s annual Pride festivities have pulled support for 2025, citing economic uncertainty and fear of retribution from the Trump administration.
Heritage of Pride, the organization that produces New York City’s Pride festivities, now faces a shortfall of nearly $750,000, according to the New York Times.
The loss has prompted organizers to launch a grassroots fundraising campaign, hoping to raise $25,000 by the end of June to keep Pride events “free and accessible for all.”
Only one of five “Platinum” sponsors ($175,000 donation) from last year has re-upped its commitment: cosmetics giant L’Oreal, which donated through an LGBTQ employee group. Garnier, Skyy Vodka, and Mastercard have either scaled back their financial support or withdrawn support completely.
PepsiCo, Nissan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Citi, who typically have sponsored at a lower level, have also dialed back support for Pride festivities, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Kilbride said several corporate representatives “have definitely mentioned the fear of potential blowback from the Trump administration” if they are perceived as supporting LGBTQ events.
Target is sponsoring as a “silent partner” and forgoing any sponsorship mentions. Company spokesman Joe Unger told the Times that Target “is sponsoring N.Y.C. Pride at a level consistent with last year” but declined to comment further.
According to the Times, LGBTQ social service organizations in New York and nationwide have also seen decreases in corporate giving this year, with some donors asking for anonymity to avoid attracting the attention of right-wing activists or the Trump administration, which has floated the idea of prosecuting companies that keep DEI programs in place.
Kazz Alexander and Michele Irimia, NYC Pride’s co-chairs, told the Times that the shortfall threatens the organization’s ability to hire private security for events. As a result, NYC Pride may be forced to downsize or cancel some of its June events, as it did when it canceled last year’s Pride Rally and Pride Island music festival.
The funding shortfall may require Heritage of Pride to scuttle its community grant program, which distributed more than $100,000 to smaller LGBTQ nonprofits in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available.
“I find it very difficult to believe this is about the economic context,” Fabrice Houdart, executive director of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors, told the Times. “One thing that is striking about the conversations I have had over the past few months is there are a lot of companies saying ‘I won’t engage on anything LGBT-related because I don’t want to find myself being a target [of a boycott].'”
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