This story was written in partnership between RANGE and Stonewall News Northwest, a newsroom serving the rural LGBTQ+ community of the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about Stonewall News Northwest’s work here.
If Matt Danielson would have known four months ago that Spokane Pride was losing one of the major corporate sponsorships, he would have had time to prepare, call local breweries and begin to pursue replacement sponsorships. Instead, Anheuser-Busch — the brewing company behind Budweiser, Busch Beer, Michelob Ultra and other brands — waited until March to tell Danielson, the executive director of Spokane Pride, that they wouldn’t be giving their usual $5,000 sponsorship or providing industry equipment for Pride’s beer gardens, like the mobile tap trailer Danielson said “made our lives a whole lot easier.”
“ At the end of the day I was never super excited about having Anheuser-Busch versus like, No-Li [Brewhouse] or something, because I would much rather have something more local, because you gotta have pride in your local beers,” Danielson said. “ It's just hard to find the monetary contribution in addition to the beer.”
On top of the $5,000 from Anheuser-Busch, Danielson estimated they are set to lose about $12,000 in $1,000 contributions from smaller organizations.
A national context
Spokane Pride isn’t alone in the financial uncertainty; Anheuser-Busch has pulled its sponsorship from other Pride festivals across the country, and other corporate donors are backing away from prior large donations. Pride Houston reported losing $100,000 in corporate sponsorships, St. Louis Pride $150,000 and San Francisco Pride more than $300,000; all financial losses that have come amidst a wave of anti-DEI rhetoric from President Donald Trump’s administration and corporate kowtowing to scale back their own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
“ I didn't actually think the anti DEI stuff would trickle down so quickly. I tend to be kind of an idealist, so I was like, ‘Oh, these companies are still gonna wanna support Pride,’ because you can't just legislate a change in the cultural feeling of a community,” Danielson said. “People don't just suddenly hate Pride.”
Seeing how rapidly corporations have pulled back from public support has been “extremely frustrating and kind of depressing,” Danielson said.
The Spokane Pride event is going to cost around $150,000 and typically sponsorships from large corporate donors and smaller, local businesses cover a little more than half of those costs, he said. But with the loss of Anheuser-Busch and the lack of a firm commitment from Amazon, who was a big donor during the 2024 celebration, Spokane Pride is scrambling to make sure they can pay for the 2025 event.
“ I'm crossing my fingers and hoping people are just being flakes and not thinking about Pride yet, but also, it's April now and it is really time to get on top of all this,” Danielson said.
And anti-DEI sentiment isn’t the only thing causing funding insecurity. It’s also a more general fear and anxiety around access to federal funding, as rolling cuts from Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continuously impact regional organizations.
Danielson’s been reaching out to sponsors from last year, but “I just have a pile of unanswered emails,” he said, “And the types of organizations they are, I’m reasonably certain they’re federally-funded organizations whose funding is uncertain because of all the chaos so they're just not able to toss Pride $1,000 dollars for their booth like they usually do.”
‘Cautiously optimistic’
Still, Danielson has found lots of reasons to hope.
Locally, Spokane Pride’s big partners — Nyne Bar & Bistro and the Davenport — are sticking by them, with similar contributions to what they gave in 2024.
And as Anheuser-Busch backed out, Walmart stepped up. The corporation sponsored Spokane Pride with $5,000 in 2024, and told Danielson they would be donating more this year, with 15 of their stores across the Inland Northwest represented at Spokane Pride.
There has also been an uptick in individual support at local rallies and queercentric events, like the Gender Freedom March and the Trans Day of Visibility Art Show last month. Spokane Pride has had successful fundraisers, too, like the Broadway Brunch they recently threw in conjunction with West Coast Entertainment.
Spokane Pride has also stepped up in the community, taking on an active role beyond just planning the annual event to sponsor other local rallies and events. Danielson personally started a new digital organizing group to collate and share regional protests and actions, which he moderates with a few other community members. The support from and for LGBTQ+ people in Spokane has given him a lot of hope.
“ I'm cautiously optimistic we're gonna be okay. But, it's still looking to be a pretty rough year because we do have some rising costs in the park and a lot of other areas,” Danielson said. “ We are losing a lot of low level sponsors, like a lot of the $1,000 ones.”
Danielson added that Spokane Pride is still looking for sponsorships from businesses, as well as event registrations, which cover the remainder of the costs. Individual monthly recurring donations, which empower them to better estimate revenue, and one-off donations are also welcomed, he said. And for those who want to support Spokane Pride but can’t afford to do so monetarily, there are other options.
“We need about 250 to 300 volunteers for the weekend of Pride,” Danielson said. “So if you don’t have money, volunteer!”
Financial security for other regional Pride festivals
North Idaho Pride Alliance
Across the state border and less than an hour away, the North Idaho Pride Alliance (NIPA) organizes Coeur d’Alene’s Pride in the Park festival, which had over 2500 attendees last year.
While a few of their typical donors pulled out or scaled back their contributions from 2024 to 2025, NIPA received enough new donors to fill the funding gap, executive director Sarah Lynch wrote in an email.
“NIPA has been blown away by the community who continue coming out of the woodwork to support our vision of a North Idaho where LGBTQIA+ people belong, can connect, and are empowered to thrive,” Lynch wrote. “Whether as individuals, local businesses, or state corporations, we are deeply appreciative of the support from folks who understand, as we do, that Pride saves lives.”
She added that Pride planning in this cultural moment reminded her of a Chinese proverb that reads, “A crisis is an opportunity riding a dangerous wind.”
“While we acknowledge the immediate physical danger many in the LGBTQIA+ community currently face, we also recognize an opportunity for community healing through the connection and visibility that NIPA provides,” Lynch wrote.
She encouraged the community to engage with NIPA digitally, consider signing up to volunteer with the organization, work to uplift queer voices and “be a safe space for your LGBTQIA+ neighbors and family.”
Tri-Cities Pride
In Pasco, Washington, the Tri-Cities Pride Festival is planned for June 22. Organizers there said that support for Pride has mostly stayed steady. They currently have 35 exhibitors signed up for the event, and while they had 54 in 2024, it’s not a cause for concern yet: Kenzie Budgie, the Communications Chair on the Tri-Cities Pride board said that last year many of their exhibitor sign-ups came in a last minute rush.
“Something we have all noticed as a board and just as we organize this event is that you can definitely see a sense of excitement in the people that are signing up to participate from the businesses, the vendors, the exhibitors, the performers — there's this very unified front of excitement because this community knows that we need it right now,” Budgie said. They added that for folks looking to get involved, there’s still time to sign up to sponsor, exhibit, perform or volunteer at the event.
“There is so much fear and anxiety and just unknown surrounding the political state of the world right now,” Budgie said. “ But I think that fear also inspires so much hope and so much resilience and so much push and drive to be like, ‘No, we are here and we are going to celebrate and we are going to be happy.’”
Grays Harbor Pride
Since the Grays Harbor Pride festival isn’t scheduled until September 13 of 2025, they have more time for event planning and have yet to see any potential impact to their fundraising and sponsorships, wrote Kat Bryant, the interim president of the Out & Proud Grays Harbor Coalition — the group planning the festival.
Since they’ve never relied on big corporate sponsorships, though, they don’t anticipate any negative impacts on their planning. Locally, businesses and individuals have actually been showing more support, wrote Steven Puvogel, the chairman of the coalition’s Pride Committee.
Bryant wrote that folks can show their support by attending their local Pride events, donating money or specific skills, posting supportively on social media and volunteering to help at Pride festivals.
“Given the situation in our nation’s capital, it’s more important than ever to celebrate Pride. The LGBTQ+ community must continue to raise their voices, to be seen — to show not only that they’re not afraid to be their true selves, but that they are happier and healthier humans for it,” Bryant wrote. “Straight and cisgender people who give a damn need to be willing to stand publicly with the LGBTQ+ community. Allies’ voices — and actions — must be every bit as powerful as those they care for during this dreadful chapter of our nation’s history.”
Walla Walla Pride
As they head into their fifth year, the Walla Walla Pride Festival hasn’t felt any hardships from loss of corporate donors, in large part because they’ve kept their past celebrations quiet and organized on a shoestring budget. Instead, they’ve been feeling the community love: this year, they’ve been asked to move the festival to downtown Walla Walla, “into the very heart of the town.”
“Because of this, we see only the potential of what we might gain rather than feeling the loss of something we never had,” wrote Jeremy Mendenhall, board chair of Walla Walla Pride. “With the constant pressure from this current presidency, we have seen the community rally and stand with us. It is heartening to see such a loving and supportive community here in the Walla Walla Valley.”
Still, it doesn’t mean the national climate hasn’t impacted queer people in the Walla Walla Valley. Mendenhall wrote that it has been “overwhelming to see so much hate directed towards the very community of people who open their arms to all the misfits and outliers, and, in my opinion, best exemplify non-judgmental love.”
National attitudes have been tempered by local love, with the Walla Walla Pride organizational team swelling from five people in 2024 to 40 in 2025, and Mendenhall has more ideas to keep the community support rolling: “One of the biggest things we need is for businesses to stand with us all year long, not just in June. If you are a business owner, hang an inclusive flag up in your shop to let people know that you are safe and they are welcome there. Convert those outdated single-user gendered restrooms to all-user restrooms. Let people know you stand with the queer community.”
We also reached out to organizers of Yakima Pride and Pacific County Pride for comment. If we receive a response, we will update this story.
