Big corporate sponsors missing from Philadelphia Pride weekend
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Philadelphia's Pride weekend comes amid a sponsorship shakeup.
The big picture: Once-proud corporate America is pivoting. Companies big and small across the U.S. have pulled their support for some Pride events amid a larger rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
- Mastercard, Citi, Pepsi, Nissan and PwC pulled sponsorship of NYC Pride.
- In D.C., Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte pulled out of WorldPride.
- And Minneapolis' Twin Cities Pride rejected Target's sponsorship dollars, citing the company's DEI rollbacks.
State of play: Philly Pride 365's weekend boasts more than three dozen festival sponsors, including NRG, Penn Medicine and the Philadelphia Union, per a news release from the group.
- Missing from this year's backers are big names like Target, Wawa, AARP and Burlington, who were among those listed as festival sponsors last year.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit Galaei pulled out of its role as the event's fiscal sponsor earlier this month, per a social media post from the social justice organization.
- The group has hosted Pride weekend for the last few years, after the event was canceled in 2021 and 2020. Galaei says that the support "was always envisioned as a temporary role" and that the organization is refocusing "on directly serving QTBIPOC individuals."
- The Urban Affairs Coalition is Pride weekend's new fiscal sponsor and managing Philly Pride 365.
What they're saying: Philly Pride 365, the Urban Affairs Coalition and Wawa declined Axios' request for comment, while AARP and Burlington did not respond.
- Target would say only that it is dedicated to inclusivity and will mark Pride month with products, internal programming and sponsored events across the U.S.
Context: Philly's Pride is among the largest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the U.S.
- The weekend culminates in the march and festival in Center City on Sunday.
- Past groups running Pride have sought to prioritize community involvement over corporate sponsorships, per the Inquirer.
By the numbers: Nationwide, 39% of corporations are scaling back external Pride Month engagements this year, according to Gravity Research data, reports Axios' Eleanor Hawkins.
- This is a sharp increase from last year, when only 9% said they were changing their external Pride engagement.
- Roughly 6 in 10 companies cite the Trump administration as the top reason for this change, while conservative activists and conservative policymakers come in second and third, per Gravity Research.
Go deeper: U.S. companies end Pride sponsorships as anti-DEI pressure mounts
Editor's note: This story has been corrected by removing a reference to a Target spokesperson confirming it will not sponsor this year's Philly Pride.