Three days after the gemstone-studded and defiantly joyous Pride parade, Suzanne Ford, executive director of the nonprofit organizer SF Pride, barely has a voice. But after recuperating from an exhausting month and “epic” two-day free festivities, she plans to immediately start “knocking on doors” to secure the future of the parade and its satellite events.
Because she desperately needs to.
“I don’t know if people understand how fragile it is,” she said of the organization.
Despite record donations from partiers at the gates, the amount raised was “not nearly enough” to hit the fundraising goal, she said. While the books aren’t closed yet — she’s still collecting invoices and paying out partners — the group was unable to raise the final $180,000 it needed to reach its $2.3 million target.
That doesn’t mean Ford is giving up. “I can confidently say that we’ll live to fight another day,” she said. It will require cutting costs, finding new partners, and strategizing with board members at their July 13 meeting on how to boost revenue. “We’ll find a way,” she added. “We have to.”
SF Pride had already been losing money, and it was another tough year. Major corporate sponsors withdrew their support, while some city funding dried up. Meanwhile, members of the LGBTQ+ community are terrified as state and federal governments attack their rights.
While Ford estimates that more people attended this year’s Pride celebration at Civic Center than last year’s, the Saturday event felt less crowded than the team had hoped. (Attendance figures for both days are still being finalized.) And people just didn’t throw back enough booze throughout the weekend.
“It’s very evident that younger generations don’t drink as much as my generation did. Maybe that’s a good thing, but it’s hurting us,” she said. This year, SF Pride reinstated its program of partnering with community groups, like the Gay Softball League, which could staff the bars and receive a cut of sales. “I don’t have the exact numbers we cleared, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t the home run that we hoped for.”
While cuts will be required for next year’s event, the organization already has a lean budget, she said — and inflation-driven costs keep rising. The SF Pride team has been “good stewards of its money,” she added, citing as a point of comparison the High Sierra Festival, which has attendance of 6,000 and a budget of $2.75 million, while her organization entertains hundreds of thousands for $3.2 million.
While she aimed to hire a development director to find new sources of funding, she’s doubtful the budget will allow it. “I don’t know when we’ll be able to have that luxury, though I think it will pay for itself,” she said.
As the glitter of Pride weekend fades from bodies and minds, Ford urges participants to consider donating or asking their companies to be sponsors next year. She plans to pack her schedule with meetings with businesses, foundations, and other nonprofits to “keep telling the story” of Pride’s importance and to spur them to work with it in new ways.
Her rallying cry to the community is more of an imperative. “If you saw the value this year, then we’re going to need your help,” she said. “There’s a level of urgency.”