Corporate sponsors are separated from LGBTQ+ Pride organizations

It brings back businesses that once were loudly proud to support the celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.

National LGBTQ+ Pride Festivals have faced significant sponsorship challenges this year, with some corporate partners losing their corporate partners collectively providing six-figure donations. As a result, organizations say they had to change programming, pivot towards other sources of funding, and rethink their dependency on corporate dollars.

Many companies cite economic concerns as a driving force to delay or end their partnership with Pride Group. However, LGBTQ+ group leaders also noted an increasingly hostile climate to diversity, equity and inclusive efforts that have encouraged some companies to rethink their support. Second, Pride organizations are clear about how much their values ​​align with the value of their company’s contributors.

“With so many of these companies being dropped, we’re pointing out that we’re in a different political environment for a long time than we’ve been around for so long,” Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride, told CNBC.

Many LGBTQ+ groups consider certain companies to be long-standing partners, but organizers said they often inked one-year deals negotiated in the months of their annual pride celebrations. If once trusted companies decide to withhold the dollar, they become vulnerable and some organizations say they are facing a sponsorship deficit that considers their summer budget and plans.

Amid the biggest shortage, Seattle Pride and New York City Pride have to make up for a $350,000 deficit, while San Francisco Pride and Minnesota Twin City Pride each face a $200,000 cut.

Some festivals have specified whether previous sponsors will not return, while others have said they have kept that information private to avoid burning the bridge.

San Francisco Prideford said Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Diageo and Nissan I told the organization that this year it was not sponsoring the festival. Everything was previously a long-time partner, Ford said.

Companies have shown various reasons for change.

Comcast representatives said the company has participated in other pride events in San Francisco and supports California Pride Parades in Oakland, Sacramento and Silicon Valley. A representative from Diageo said the company will appear at Pride events nationwide through this year’s Smirnoff brand. A Nissan spokesman said in a statement that the automaker will not sponsor the Pride Festival this year, as it reviews all marketing and sales spending. Anheuser-Busch did not respond to requests for comment.

Washington, DC-based Capital Pride Alliance is holding an equal Global World Pride celebration this year, and although Comcast and Deloitte regularly supported the group’s Pride Festival, they refused to do so this year. Booze Allen Hamilton Initially they promised to sponsor the event before retreating later.

A spokesperson for Booz Allen Hamilton said in a statement that the sponsorship decision of the defense giant did not reflect pullbacks in employee support.

Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, said economic uncertainty, safety and security issues and fear of losing federal funds all prevent businesses from returning to the country as sponsors. He emphasized that President Donald Trump’s executive order ordered agencies to investigate and sue companies supporting DEI.

“The sad thing is that businesses have stepped into our corner for a long time,” Bos said, citing the benefits of the company’s domestic partners and support for LGBTQ+ employment programs. “The fact that they now question their commitment during this uncertain time is extremely discouraging, hurtful and frustrating for many.”

Ford said the White House anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and executive orders aimed at transgender people had an impact on Corporate America.

“We’ve all seen a culture war unfolding about how businesses react, and I think this is part of that movement, and it’s part of that movement,” she said.

The White House did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Even businesses that are sticking to the Pride Festival have reduced their support. Denver Pride’s return sponsors cut by an average of 62%, according to Natalie Zanoni, interim CEO of the LGBTQ+ organization The Center on Colfax. The center will host a Denver Pride celebration. This faces a total deficit of $230,000.

The festival is still in standby mode. Byron Greencarish, president of St. Pete Pride, said several sponsors asked Tampa Bay in the Florida area if they could discuss sponsorships that are closer to April rather than the usual period that starts in January. As of late March, St. Pete Pride said it had achieved its funding target of 55% compared to the usual 80% to 90% during this period.

Seattle Pride executive director Patty Hearn said the group is looking for a sponsorship this year of around $400,000. She said the organization could stop the event planned this year, but that programming would need to be changed in the future if the $350,000 deficit becomes permanent.

The corporate sponsor is responsible for 75% of Twin Cities Pride’s budget, executive director Andi Otto told CNBC. As a result of the loss of sponsorship, Minnesota organizations will need to reduce performance stages for upcoming festivals and reduce programming throughout the year, Otto said.

Not all businesses are stepping back from festival sponsorship. Some groups said Delta Air LinesAbove all, they remain strong supporters of their events. Others said small businesses are unmoving.

The Pride organization is also reconsidering its relationship with visible support for sponsors and communities that have rolled back DEI policies, further complicating the financial outlook.

Seattle Pride is not involved with previous sponsors Boeing This year, Hearn said there was a sense that the aerospace giant would not match the organization’s values ​​and would refuse to return as a festival partner. According to Bloomberg, Boeing reportedly closed its DEI team in November. The company did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Cincinnati Pride Development Director Jake Hitch said the Ohio Group has rejected sponsorships from partners earlier this year based on non-discrimination policies, involvement in the LGBTQ+ community and employee support.

“In 2025, when everything is happening politically in 2025, when it’s consistently coming to our community, what better time is it that we really reset our expectations and align with our community about what they want to see?” Hitch said.

Twin City Pride has fallen targetsponsored the festival for more than 15 years after examining retailer DEI policy changes announced in late January. Changes in supplier diversity commitment, the principles of community representation and participation in external DEI surveys have been linked to Otto sufficient to reject the $50,000 sponsorship offer, he said.

“I didn’t feel that my community was right to accept that money,” Otto said.

The target did not respond to the CNBC request for comments.

San Francisco Pride’s Ford said the group was no longer affiliated with its previous sponsors. Metain part because there are changes to fact-checking policies, but also because metastaff who previously worked at SF Pride have left the company in the past few years.

A Meta spokesman said in a statement that since 2024, the company has allowed local employee resource groups to make their own decisions about pride sponsorship.

While understanding policy changes may present unique challenges, some organizations maintain productive relationships with companies that have changed DEI efforts.

Detroit’s Motor City Pride Chairman Dave Way said some community members have spread misinformation on social media about shutting down LGBTQ+ healthcare services, and that Motor City Pride had to clear it with the company before signing this year’s sponsorship agreement.

Twin Cities Pride’s Otto said it is a sponsor of the festival 3m The industrial giant has removed some DEI-related pages from its website, and the industrial giant explained that it is simply changing the language, not the entity of DEI’s policy. 3M did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Lowes It sponsored the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade in North Carolina for nine years, but in August, home retailers ended their support for the parade amidst the reversal of other DEI policies. Lowes is pivoting to fund job fairs and scholarship and internship programs for LGBTQ+ groups, Charlotte Pride Managing Director Meredith Thompson told CNBC.

Thompson opposed the decision that some community members would continue to work with Lowe, but she refused to do so because of her previous relationship.

“My attitude is to have corporate sponsors and meet them where they are,” Thompson said.

Lowe’s did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Some state-owned companies that have reduced DEI efforts still exist as sponsors through local affiliates and operators. McDonald’sIn January, numerous diversity goals were abolished, with local operators sponsoring WorldPride and Charlotte Pride. And while Anheuser-Busch does not sponsor San Francisco Pride or Pride St. Louis this year, Bud Light Distributor Adams Beverages is back as a sponsor of Charlotte Pride.

LGBTQ+ organizations have long debated the role companies should play in celebration of pride, but this year has amplified the idea that Pride Group should not rely on them.

Several groups have turned their eyes to grassroots campaigns. Twin Cities Pride launched a crowdfunding effort to help compensate for the fall of targets, eventually raising over $110,000. Stonewall Columbus received $8,500 in donations, Cincinnati Pride earned over $43,000, and San Francisco Pride raised $35,000 through crowdfunding.

Green-Calisch of St. Pete Pride said the group will focus more on community contributions and also focus on year-over-year, allowing donors to understand the work the organization will do beyond Pride Month.

“We are people. This is people’s power and we can use your dollars to support them,” Green Karish said.

Local governments are also more involved in several festivals. Densil Porteous, executive director of Stonewall Columbus, said the Ohio-based group is helping the organization’s $96,000 sponsorship deficit from Franklin County, home county, Columbus.

Debra Porta, executive director of Pride Northwest, said the group was “very intentional” about its lack of reliance on Portland Pride’s corporate sponsorship, with its top sponsorship level totaling just $15,000. Other festivals offer sponsorship packages at a cost well over $100,000.

The Pride Group says it is more focused on the community than its sponsors. While some festivals have ticketed programs or charged admission fees, many organizations emphasize the importance of making pride as accessible as possible.

“We don’t want to bring back the burden on our community because this should be their celebration,” said Otto of Twin City Pride.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCuniversal, the parent company of CNBC.