Seattle Pride faces $350,000 funding gap as companies scale back support nationwide

Seattle Pride Executive Director Patti Hearn told KOMO News that corporate support has shifted dramatically. "We have seen shifts in corporate sponsorship as companies assess their budgets and priorities, and some sponsors have not yet renewed their commitments this year," Hearn said. "We are still in conversations with many of them — it’s important to us that we partner with organizations that demonstrate genuine and sustained support for the LGBTQIA2S+ community year-round. This is especially imperative as our community faces ongoing political attacks. We know that relying on corporate sponsorships is not the future of Pride. The future is community. That's why we're leaning into grassroots partnerships and radical mutual aid."

Seattle Pride, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, puts on the Seattle Pride Parade and Seattle Pride in the Park, in addition to year-round advocacy, arts, and youth pride programs. Organizers say the funding gap puts key parts of the celebration at risk. The Seattle Pride Parade draws about 300,000 people each year and is one of the biggest Pride Month events in the country.

To close the gap, Seattle Pride is begging for money from the public: "When you donate today, you're not just funding Pride 2025, you're investing in a future where LGBTQIA2S+ events are empowered by the community," Hearn said. "If every single one of us gave just $1 that donation could close the funding gap and make a real difference. Together, we can keep Pride accessible to everyone. This is our community, our pride. Let's make sure it thrives," she added.

Seattle isn’t the only city facing problems. San Francisco’s 2025 Pride celebration recently lost $1.3 million after four major corporate sponsors—Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, Benefit Cosmetics, and Diageo—pulled their support. SF Pride’s Executive Director, Suzanne Ford, said the event will continue but will have to operate with a much smaller budget.

Ford linked the loss of corporate support to a growing national trend. She believes companies are distancing themselves from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts after the Trump administration’s crackdown on federal DEI programs. "It's coming from all sides for us," Ford told KRON 4. "And we're going to remember who stood by us and this is going to swing back. This won't last forever; we're going to fight and we're going to be okay, but right now it stings for anybody to desert us."

SF Pride also ended its relationship with Meta after the company cut DEI initiatives and scaled back fact-checking efforts. This move came soon after Trump returned to the White House in January and signed executive orders ending DEI policies for federal workers, contractors, and federal spending. Other companies like McDonald’s, Walmart, and Harley-Davidson have made similar cuts.

St. Louis is seeing the same struggles. Pride St. Louis announced this week that Anheuser-Busch, based in St. Louis, has ended its 30-year sponsorship of PrideFest. Pride St. Louis President Marty Zuniga said the split was disappointing.

"For them to walk away from the table in negotiations, simply to note that, ‘we just don’t see the value in it anymore,’ it’s like a bad breakup," Zuniga said. He also pointed out that other big sponsors are coming in with much lower support, leaving the group about $150,000 short.

To make up the difference, Pride St. Louis launched a grassroots fundraising campaign called 45for45. Zuniga said, "We’re hopeful that by asking the community now to get involved, to help us make up some of these shortfalls, that we can continue to have this celebration. Pride will happen, period. We will have a festival. May it look different than other years? Yes."

Angelo Ossessivo, co-founder and festival director of Tower Grove Pride, a separate St. Louis event, added, "We feel for Pride St. Louis; it isn’t easy navigating a shifting and increasingly hostile environment. Every Pride, no matter how they get their support, is at serious risk right now."

The corporate retreat from Pride support isn’t a surprise to many industry experts. After boycotts last year against companies like Target and Bud Light caused big financial losses, many brands are scaling back their Pride campaigns.

Pink Media President Matt Skallerud told USA Today, “Nobody in the media, marketing and advertising world wants to admit how heavy and hard this has been.” He added, “Ever since Target and Bud Light had their fiascos last year, a tremendous number of brands have decided it would be much better to sit on the sidelines and let this sort itself out.”

Neil Saunders, Managing Director at GlobalData, said brands are stuck between unhappy consumers on both sides. “If you promote Pride, some people will be unhappy with it,” he said. “If you don’t promote Pride, some people will be unhappy about that. It’s not a battle you can win completely, which is why some retailers and brands are taking a middle-of-the-road approach and keeping it moderate.”

“They are doing some promotion but they are restricting it to things that they think are palatable and acceptable for most people,” Saunders said.