San Francisco Pride, the nonprofit behind the annual march, is sounding alarms over corporate donor withdrawals amid President Trump’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-trans mandates.
The organization’s executive director Suzanne Ford told the Bay Area news outlet KTVU that five major corporate donors decided not to sponsor this year’s iteration of the LGBTQ+ community celebration, scheduled for June 28 and 29. In their absence, Ford said the organization would have to look elsewhere to account for $300,000 for the celebration’s $1.2 million budget. The donors in question, Ford told KTVU, had supported the pride event for years before deciding to not renew their financial support for the upcoming celebration.
Ford named four of the ex-donors as Comcast, the brewing company Anheuser-Busch, spirits producer Diageo, and wine brand La Crema. According to Ford, the companies cited limited funds when they withdrew support.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently investigating Comcast and its subsidiary NBC Universal for possibly “promoting invidious forms of DEI.”
“The tone has changed in the country and I think businesses always kind of hedge their bets,” Ford told KTVU in an interview that aired on Saturday, March 15. “I think [for] people who it wasn’t a real hardcore value of their corporation, maybe they’re rethinking their investment.”
Ford also pointed to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI stance as a possible culprit, adding that she fears that more sponsors will pull out.
A spokesperson for La Crema told Hyperallergic that the company had no finalized sponsorship with San Francisco Pride, and that due to logistical reasons, the company was not able to hold its annual tasting pop-up. The spokesperson attributed its more limited capacity to “headwinds” facing the wine industry.
“It was still our hope to partner and be part of the event in some capacity,” they said. “We’re not stepping away from our support of the LGBTQ+ community.”
President Trump’s anti-DEI and anti-trans policies have reverberated through the arts and culture sector, prompting the National Endowment for the Arts to cease its 24-year-old program for “underserved communities” and chilling organizations that affirm trans artists from applying to federal arts grants.
Robert Kesten, executive director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told Hyperallergic that corporate donors have withdrawn from his organization following Trump’s executive orders.
“The fear of corporations is so great they will not do what is right,” Kesten said in an email. “Some of them hope for greater tax cuts, as if that itself were a means to an end. Others don’t want DOGE looking at their bankbooks, as if anything can stop this administration from picking the pockets of others.”
Last week, San Francisco Pride announced that it would end its relationship with Meta over the company’s termination of DEI programs.
“In the last few years, we have pushed the corporations to the back of the parade,” Ford told the San Francisco Chronicle. The group said it would push corporations to the back of the parade march while allowing local queer organizations to lead the front.
San Francisco Pride announced this year’s theme, “Queer Joy is Resistance,” on its Instagram account on March 4. “We’re not gonna let them take our joy,” Ford said in the post caption.
Last month, the Capital Alliance, the producer of Washington, DC’s pride celebration WorldPride, confronted a similar funding withdrawal from Booz Allen Hamilton, a technology firm that relies on federal contracts. A spokesperson for WorldPride confirmed to Hyperallergic that the firm withdrew from its financial commitments to the march, but said that no other sponsors have withdrawn from this year’s pride event.
Ryan Bos, organizer of WorldPride, told Politico in February that the federal contractor suggested that sponsoring the event would make the company non-compliant with Trump’s anti-DEI executive order, which could have implications for organizations receiving federal funds.
“There are still those corporate cultures that feed on prejudice of all kinds and this has offered them an escape hatch,” Kesten said.
