With President Donald Trump’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as a backdrop for Pride celebrations this year, some organizers both nationwide and in New Jersey are seeing sponsors drop out or reduce the amount of their monetary support, as some organizers either say outright or speculate that the change is due to these initiatives, according to a CNBC report and Out In Jersey interviews with organizers of some of the largest Pride celebrations in the Garden State.
For example, Jersey City Pride has lost sponsorship this year from two city agencies that have collectively contributed $20,000 in the past, according to event co-producer Eddie Baez. The agencies, which Baez did not want to name because he didn’t want to put them “on blast,” cited concerns over their federal funding, Baez said the agencies told him. “To me, it’s a direct impact of the current administration,” Baez said.
Montclair Pride has had sponsors that have supported the event in past years return this year to sponsor the event but at a lower level, according to Genevieve Wrenn, the director of events for Out Montclair Inc., which is the nonprofit organization that puts on the event each year. Wrenn said that there are also “a few sponsors” that donated last year but have declined to give this year, “which is also upsetting.”
“We definitely have seen a decline in sponsorship, not only levels, but also willingness to participate in Pride, which is concerning,” Wrenn said.
The reasons Wrenn said she has been given for this are budgets that have been cut in terms of DEI, the organizations don’t have the staffing, or the event doesn’t fit into their schedule. “We have not gotten reasons like ‘well, our mission no longer aligns with your mission,’ right? But if that was the reason, I don’t know that they’d say that out loud,” Wrenn said.
Like Baez, Wrenn did not want to name the sponsors that have pulled out or that are still sponsoring the event but at lower level. Montclair Pride, which costs more than $300,000 to produce, has lost more than $80,000 in sponsorship and private donations, which fund the cost of Pride and also fund the organization’s staff and year-round programming, Wrenn said.
“We have had to make huge cuts like having to get rid of all salaried positions for Out Montclair and scale back the budget for Montclair Pride and other community events,” she said, adding that the organization is coming out of “a very precarious financial situation” that has caused a volunteer-only model and community members to step up and donate their time or the event would not take place this year. Montclair Pride is slated to take place June 14.
Baez said that Jersey City Pride, which costs approximately $150,000 to produce, is looking to host “a couple of fundraisers” and make an appeal to the community before the event, which is slated to take place Aug. 23. The organization is about one-third of the way there as of early May, according to Baez.
The fundraisers “hopefully will help make up the difference, or some of it,” Baez said, adding that Jersey City Pride cannot charge an admission fee, unlike some other Prides in the state, because the event is held on city property.However, Wrenn said she has been thinking that Montclair Pride might have to start charging an admission fee if the organization cannot pay for the cost of the event. Even $5 per person would help, she said.
“Out Montclair has been operating at a deficit since the start of the first Montclair Pride” in 2022, Wrenn said. An admission fee is one of the revenue streams that helps Jersey Pride, which is held every year in Asbury Park, function successfully, according to Laura Pople, president of Jersey Pride. Other funding sources, she said, include corporate sponsorships and registration for the parade and the festival, which is held afterward in Bradley Park.
“We are closing in on the same amount of corporate sponsorship as we have seen in previous years,” and Bank of America is coming back on board as the event’s title sponsor, Pople said in an interview in early May. Jersey Pride, which began in 1992, is slated to take place on Sunday, June 1 this year.
Pople said that many of Jersey Pride’s sponsors have returned, sometimes at a lower price point because they have less available dollars, but they’re still coming back as sponsors.
The Jersey Pride president said the costs for producing Pride Weekend range from $175,000 to $200,000 and because Jersey Pride is all volunteer, everything raised goes to putting on the event. Pople pointed out that the relationship with sponsors has changed slightly in that Jersey Pride is having conversations with current and potential sponsors to see where they are in terms of supporting their employees and their commitment to the LGBTQ community.
“So it is no longer an automatic ‘you get to be our sponsor because you’re giving us a check,’ but rather we want to find out why do you want to be our sponsor and what is it that you are doing” for LGBTQ employees and the community beyond just handing in a check, Pople said, adding that, as of early May, the organization is within “striking distance” of the level of sponsorship it has had.
However, not all Pride celebrations are within that striking distance, as many are facing financial difficulties. “I think a lot of Prides are faced with that now, especially the larger ones,” Baez said, noting sponsorship dropouts in places such as San Francisco.
According to a CNBC report published on the web on April 27, San Francisco has lost sponsorship from Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Diageo, and Nissan. All were longtime partners, San Francisco Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford told the financial news network.
The companies gave a variety of reasons for the change, CNBC reported. A Comcast representative said the company is participating in other Pride events in California, a Diageo representative said the company will appear at Pride events across the country through its Smirnoff brand this year, and a Nissan spokesperson said in a statement that the company will not sponsor any Pride festivals this year as it reviews all marketing and sales spending, according to the report; Anheuser-Busch didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“For this many companies to be dropping off, I think, points to that we’re in a different political environment than we have been maybe in a long, long time,” Ford told CNBC.
Among the largest shortfalls nationally, in addition to San Francisco’s $200,000 funding cut, Seattle Pride and New York City Pride said they have to make up for $350,000 deficits, according to the report.
And in addition to Jersey Pride seeing Bank of America returning as a sponsor, there is more good sponsorship news. Wrenn said Audi is coming back as Montclair Pride’s presenting sponsor, and Ikea is also coming back. “So despite other organizations and corporations and businesses being disappointing, there are a couple of larger organizations that are still coming to bat for us and still very much supporters of the LGBTQ community and programming, and we appreciate them,” Wrenn said.
In addition, she said, there are some new sponsors that have not given money or support in the past but are doing so this year, such as Valley National Bank. “We are really happy about that,” she said, adding that smaller businesses around Montclair that haven’t sponsored the event before are doing so this year. Wrenn said that she believes that sometimes when the community goes through these politically challenging times, the hardships become a catalyst that prompts people who had not previously given support to do so because there is a need.
Pople said she and her fellow organizers have been hearing more from people who are concerned about the “vitriol” coming from the Trump administration “that enables bigots and hate mongers” to say things they might otherwise have contained. That “vitriol” could cause heightened security concerns for the Pride organizers in Asbury Park, Jersey City and Montclair as well as for all the other organizers of Pride celebrations throughout the state. The three New Jersey organizers interviewed touched on the security measures they are taking.
Jersey Pride [June 1] will continue to work with all the different branches of law enforcement that have been providing security for the event over the years and will continue to augment that security as the event continues to grow, Pople said. “We will make adjustments as we close in on the event if we learn that adjustments are needed,” she said, adding that as of early May there have been no credible threats against the event.
Baez said that Jersey City Pride has a very good relationship with the city government and with the police force as well. “We’re taking the precautions on our side,” he said, adding that he just wants people to come out and have a good time.
Wrenn said Montclair Pride is beefing up security this year. She said the organization will continue to work with the Montclair Police Department and with Essex County authorities, including the Essex County Board of County Commissioners, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, and the Essex County Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
Wrenn said that this year it is so important that the LGBTQ community is celebrated. “This event symbolizes acceptance and inclusivity, and we are appreciative for our partners that support us. It means a lot to the community,” she said, noting that Prides are important because she has had people tell her that they felt “suicidal” before coming to Pride but that feeling dissipated when they realized there are supportive people out there.
Baez said that this year is Jersey City Pride’s 25th anniversary, and while he said he would’ve loved to have made this year’s Pride a “big party” only, the presidential election has created a political environment in which the LGBTQ community needs to remain visible and let people “know what we stand for.”
The “reality is that there is another thing that we need to pay attention to, and that’s our rights, standing up for our rights,” Baez said. Pople said that this is the year to be present as much as possible because the community needs to take every opportunity to say it is not invisible and it will not be erased.
“Every opportunity we have to do that we should take it, and Pride events are a great opportunity,” Pople said.
Check out the Out In Jersey listings on the Events page for all 50+ local New Jersey LGBTQ Pride events.
