Heritage of Pride, the nonprofit organization that produces New York City’s official Pride festivities, announced this week that it is facing a $750,000 budget shortfall this year thanks to major corporate sponsors scaling back or canceling their donations altogether.

In a Wednesday, May 21, statement, NYC Pride Co-Chairs Kazz Alexander and Michele Irimia said that while the overall number of partnerships is up compared to last year, the organization has only reached 75 percent of its 2025 fundraising goal. The 25 percent gap, they said, doesn’t just mean fewer floats, vendors, and performers at this year’s events. It jeopardizes the organization’s grant programs, which awarded over $100,000 to smaller local LGBTQ+ nonprofits in 2023, according to the New York Times.

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The announcement comes as Pride festivals across the country have faced similar situations this year, with corporate sponsors reassessing their contributions in light of both the economic impact of the administration’s new tariffs on goods imported to the U.S. and his administration’s ongoing efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across both the federal government and the private sector.

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Late last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mastercard, PepsiCo, Nissan, Citi, and PricewaterhouseCoopers were among the corporations that have opted not to renew their sponsorship of NYC Pride events for 2025. According to the New York Times, all but one of last year’s top-tier corporate sponsors — including Mastercard, Garnier, Skyy Vodka, and Target — have either dropped their sponsorship, scaled back their donations, or requested that their contributions go unpublicized.

Currently, none of those companies are listed as official corporate sponsors on NYC Pride’s website. Out @ L’Oréal, the beauty brand’s LGBTQ+ employee group, is the only Platinum-level corporate sponsor listed.

While a spokesperson for Target told the Times that the company “is sponsoring NYC Pride at a level consistent with last year,” Heritage of Pride spokesperson Kevin Kilbride explained that the company is doing so as a “silent partner” rather than as an official Platinum sponsor. The retailer is one of several high-profile companies that have faced anti-LGBTQ+ boycotts in recent years. And in January, following an executive order calling for an end to DEI initiatives, Target announced that it would scale back or end programs that promote diversity and cease participation in outside surveys, such as the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index.

Kilbride told both the Times and Gay City News this week that while much of the feedback Heritage of Pride has been getting from corporations this year has had to do with uncertainty around the economic impact of the tariffs, some previous sponsors have also expressed concerns about running afoul of the current administration.

“Some folks have definitely mentioned the fear of potential blowback from the [administration] if you are a big corporation and you are publicly supporting DEI initiatives,” Kilbride told the Times.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal cited a recent Gravity Research survey in which senior corporate leaders said that fear of potential investigations by the government over DEI was their top reason for pulling back on Pride marketing this year. And Fabrice Houdart, the executive director of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors, told the Times that he finds it “difficult to believe” that corporations are divesting from Pride events due to economic concerns.

“One thing that is striking about the conversations I have had over the past few months is there are a lot of companies saying, ‘I won’t engage on anything LGBT-related because I don’t want to find myself being a target,’” Houdart said.

Similarly, Pink Media president Matt Skellard told the Times that in the wake of anti-LGBTQ+ backlash over Bud Light’s 2023 partnership with trans influencer Dylan Muvaney, “A lot of bigger companies are taking a back seat because they are afraid to be boycotted from either the left or the right.”

Kilbride told Gay City News that NYC Pride’s flagship events — PrideFest, the Pride March, and Youth Pride — will go on as planned this year. To make up for this year’s budget shortfall, NYC Pride launched a fundraising campaign this week, aiming to raise $25,000 to help cover next month’s events.

But, as Kilbride told the Times, if the organization doesn’t reach that goal, some of this year’s events may have to be downsized or canceled. Last year, NYC Pride announced the cancellation of both the annual Pride Rally and its Pride Island music festival a little more than a month out, citing the “rising cost of doing business” in the post-COVID environment.

At the same time, Kilbride said that NYC Pride is hopeful that they can bring some major corporate sponsors back to the table. “If not this year,” he told Gay City News, “we want to keep that line open so they are able to show up for us.”

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