President Donald Trump’s war on diversity hasn’t succeeded in killing San Francisco’s signature queer rights celebration — yet.
With less than 10 days to go before Pride weekend, the organization behind it is struggling to close a funding shortfall seemingly caused by the Trump administration’s legal and political harassment of companies that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as the economic uncertainty triggered by the president’s trade war.
San Francisco Pride is roughly $180,000 short of its $2.3 million fundraising goal after a slew of long-time sponsors, including Comcast, Nissan, and Anheuser-Busch, pulled out this spring, some citing budget constraints.
A string of money-losing years is plaguing SF Pride’s leadership at a time when the city is paring back grants to community organizations to close its own budget gap, and the climate for LGBTQ+ people generally — and trans people specifically — has deteriorated.
Suzanne Ford, the executive director, says the parade and attendant celebrations will go ahead this year as planned, but there’s a real chance SF Pride may not be able to make it to next June unless there is an unprecedented surge of individual giving.
“If people don’t come out this year, and if they don’t donate, we could be in serious trouble trying to get ready for 2026,” said Ford.
The multi-day event costs about $3.2 million to produce, Ford told Business Insider, including paying drag performers and musical acts, as well as unsexy necessities like bathrooms, permits, and crowd management. Organizers are dedicated to keeping the celebration free for the million or so who attend, which means it relies on corporate funding, which dwindled this year.
“Progressive people in our community don’t like that corporate funding, but I don’t think they would like it if we had $75 tickets,” Ford said. “Something’s got to give.”
Ford ran a name-and-shame campaign in the media that drove some companies to return. But in perhaps the biggest indicator of the state of Pride in 2025, a few of the corporate sponsors that are offering financial support for the event don’t want their names anywhere near it.
Attendance at Pride events has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, while costs have increased due to inflation. The parade’s expenses exceeded its revenue between 2020 and 2023, shrinking the organization’s net assets from $1.72 million in 2019 to $136,201.
Pride has raised about $53,000 from individual contributors this year and desperately needs folks to open their wallets (or Venmo accounts) when they show up to the event.
“We’re going to have drag queens at the gates and a beefed-up effort to raise money,” said Ford. “I’m praying that people give more as they come in, that they realize that this is their Pride. If every person that came in gave us $10 at the gate, we’d be having a much different conversation.”
While SF Pride receives some city funding — $500,000 in 2023 — Ford is fighting for a bigger investment. It’s an uphill climb at a time when organizations like hers are seeing their grants downsized, but Ford thinks she can sell it as a positive-sum investment for the city.
The city hasn’t conducted an economic study on Pride since 2015, when it found that the event generated a $357 million impact. Ford estimates that the number has swelled to more than $1 billion. To prove it, SF Pride has formed a coalition with organizers from the Folsom and Castro street fairs to lobby for updated research.
Quantifying the revenue impact could motivate the city to realize the importance of keeping Pride alive, Ford said: “We’re in the crosshairs. and we can’t keep struggling year to year. If the city provides us money, that’s an investment.”
However, San Francisco is facing its own problem: an eye-watering $782 million deficit that it is legally obligated to close. One way to do that is to cut funding to nonprofit organizations that the city has traditionally supported. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s proposed budget would cut roughly $154 million from grant programming next year, according to an analysis by The Standard.
It’s not just Pride’s budget at risk. “There are queer people in this city who, with these budget cuts and loss of federal funds, will lose their jobs,” Ford said. “People will not be able to get services.”
In the face of so much bad news, discouragement threatens to creep in, Ford said. But this year’s Pride theme — “Queer joy is resistance” — emphasizes the need to both fight back and find rejuvenation in celebration. The city has an obligation to show up as loudly and fabulously as ever, she added.
There’s a slogan among organizers that if you don’t have the money, you need to have the numbers. To that end, Ford is calling on everyone in San Francisco to show up, dance, cheer, and celebrate.
“That should be a responsibility for everybody in the city,” she said. “The whole world will be watching on Pride Sunday to see what happens in San Francisco and if we’re going to stand up and fight for our values.”