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2025 Community Fundraising
2025 is already proving to be one of the most important moments in time for our community. That’s why we at Cincinnati Pride have made the decision to reset our expectations around organizations that we partner with this year. While our organization relies heavily on achieving financial goals to help achieve our mission, we cannot in good conscience continue to collaborate with organizations that work against our mission of providing the greater Cincinnati LGBTQ+ community with resources to positively impact the lives of all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. This decision puts a significant amount of funding at risk.
Cincinnati: we need your help. Financial investments from individual donors within our local community will supplement the dollars given to us from corporate sponsorships. Your donation will ensure we can continue providing year-round programming for our community, including a free festival and parade for all LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies to attend, and continued financial support to local community organizations through our community grants. With your help, we can continue to provide spaces and resources as we continue to fight for full equality for all people. Click here to view our Sponsorship Guidelines
THIS ISN’T ONLY OUR IDENTITY ON THE DAY OF OUR FESTIVAL AND PARADE- OUR RAINBOW SHINES EVERY DAY, EVERY MONTH, EVERY YEAR. |
An update on our crowdfunding efforts on April 2nd, 2025:
To our Cincinnati Pride community:
We thank you for your very generous donations over the past two weeks, along with those who have taken the time to share our ask for community support to your larger networks. As of this writing, you have helped raise over $32,000! We are truly humbled by your outpouring of support.
We’ve received some questions regarding who isn’t sponsoring, or if we’ve abandoned sponsors altogether. So we wanted to clarify that- yes, there will still be corporate sponsors for the festival and parade. The overall budget required to finance the programming and events we facilitate as part of our mission does not currently allow us to turn away all corporate funding. We want to state clearly, no- we will not be naming who isn’t participating from previous years. We are focusing positive energy on uplifting those who will be supporting our mission instead of giving a platform to those who are not.
We also wanted to elaborate a bit on how we arrived at this financial ask of the community. We made the request for your support just two weeks ago, based on the current state of affairs in our world right now.
As some of us have witnessed over the decades, we are currently experiencing a turning of the tides around acceptance and inclusion of our LGBTQIA+ community, by some parts of our society. This fluctuation drove us to reevaluate some sponsor relationships, ultimately leading us to reject and not pursue sponsorships from various companies this year. Some companies declined to participate altogether. Rather than immediately slashing various parts of our overall budget—which would negatively impact other local organizations—we chose to ask the community for financial support- to fill in that gap.
Support from the community is vitally important at this time. Not just for Cincinnati Pride, but for all of our community organizations, businesses, and safe spaces. Many are facing some very tough choices regarding how to continue funding their operations and provision of services to the community. “Has our grant been revoked?” “Have our larger donors abandoned us?” “Will my business face backlash or a boycott for selling a specific brand of product?” “Are we hurting people by accepting this funding?” Constantly weighing personal feelings and convictions against legal and practical responsibilities as board members and business owners. We are all having to make choices that not everyone is going to agree with. Our community is not a monolith. But we are making these difficult decisions in an effort to ensure that our organizations and businesses don’t disappear from existence.
We need community spaces at which to celebrate, protest, dance, get tested, share meals, and be in communion with each other. Spaces where we’re able to be our authentic selves, even if it’s just for that one day a year in June. All of these require our community’s participation. If we want to keep these spaces, we have to show up and support them, physically and/or financially. Whether it’s Cincinnati Pride, or any other community organization, please consider donating if you have the means to do so. Volunteering your time can be just as valuable.
We have a ferocious love for our community and our resilience. And we know you do, too.
In solidarity,
Cincinnati Pride Board of Directors