Corporations left Spokane Pride in the lurch. Then the community stepped up

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Jun. 7—April was a tough month for Matthew Danielson, director of Spokane Pride.
The annual celebration that draws tens of thousands of Inland Northwest residents to downtown Spokane was just a few months away, but some of the event's largest sponsors in past years had yet to recommit their support.
"I'm not gonna lie, April was scary," Danielson said.
Spokane Pride's main event is the Pride parade at noon Saturday in downtown Spokane, followed by festivities in Riverfront Park at 1 p.m.
Multiple past sponsors of Spokane Pride opted not to return this June amid economic uncertainty, increased anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and pressure from the federal government to abandon diversity, equity and inclusivity efforts in the public and private sectors. It's a trend affecting Pride celebrations across the country, as some of the largest contributors in size and monetary donations have left organizers and communities of all sizes scrambling.
The Inland Northwest was one of those communities, until locals stepped up in the eleventh hour. Nonprofits, businesses and community members have made up for the gap in funding over the last few months, allowing the event to go on without the cuts Spokane Pride had feared, Danielson said.
"It's been pretty beautiful to watch," Danielson said. "I haven't ran the exact numbers, but I think we're actually in quite good shape. Not quite as good of shape as I thought we would be, because we had some big promises from a lot of those big corporate sponsors last year, but we're in a lot better place than we were a few months ago."
In Spokane, the short list of big -ticket corporate donors who've walked away include Walmart, Verizon Wireless and Anheuser-Busch, according to a screen grab of last year's sponsors captured by the internet archiving platform Wayback Machine.
Of those companies, Walmart was the sole respondent to a request for comment to The Spokesman-Review regarding why they decided not to lend their support despite doing so a year ago. In a written statement, Walmart spokesman Jimmy Carter said the company's focus "remains on creating an environment where our associates and customers feel they belong," before adding that employees in the region are volunteering with community organizations in June, "including those which support the LGBTQ+ community."
"It's really hard to get straight answers out of any of them," Danielson said. "They're not incentivized to tell me why they actually dropped us."
Speaking generally to the possible motivations for the groups, Danielson said some shared apprehension about the state of the economy, some nonprofits couldn't because of budget cuts as a result of state and federal funds drying up, and others indicated they were saving funding to provide to other community events. He also theorized some organizations are feeling the pressure put on by the federal campaign against DEI initiatives.
"It's hard to tell, because they won't actually come out and say, 'Hey, we're not supporting Pride anymore,' " Danielson said.
The withdrawals threatened community events throughout the Inland Northwest. Organizers of Coeur d'Alene's Pride in the Park shared a similar experience of losing sponsors this year, and events in smaller communities throughout the region were threatened as a result of Spokane losing support.
Pride gatherings in Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint and Waverly are among communities that have received financial backing from Spokane Pride, Danielson said.
"Part of our mission has expanded to helping with smaller, more rural prides," Danielson said. "... Helping to develop the smaller pride events out in these smaller towns and places, where I think we kind of need pride the most."
The cavalry arrived around the start of May, Danielson said.
The Episcopal Diocese of Spokane provided $10,000, which was followed by another large donation from Gonzaga University's Lincoln LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Then a wave of smaller donations from organizations and community members alike rolled in, ranging in values of tens, hundreds and thousands of dollars.
Anheuser-Busch's usual $5,000 and beer garden equipment gave them sole product rights in the designated drinking areas of the park festival, so their departure has provided an opportunity for local breweries and distilleries to take their place. A number of craft brewers in the area have provided kegs free of charge to Spokane Pride, including Natural 20, Hat Trick and Humble Abode, as reported by the Inlander.
Humble Abode co-owner Courtney Gilbreath said it was a no-brainer to lend a helping hand. She and her husband, Matt Gilbreath, have established relationships with some of the organizers, and they love supporting community events, she said.
"We don't really get into politics and all that," Gilbreath said.
Danielson said the influx of local support, particularly from faith-based organizations, was as meaningful to him personally as it was to Spokane Pride as an organization.
"It almost made me cry as kind of a recovering Christian who was really hurt by the church and growing up gay," Danielson said. "... I love it; they became our largest sponsor just with that."
The list of sponsors this year also includes several familiar names and logos from year's past. The Davenport Hotels and Amazon remain top-level sponsors, and a number of local advocacy groups chipped in.
VIP Production Northwest is supporting once again by providing the stages and sound systems that will be located throughout the park at a generous rate, said Chief Operating Officer Triston Ward. He said the event company does the same for a number of events in Spokane, whether it's Pig Out in the Park or an Independence Day concert.
"When they have financial struggles, we always work with them to figure that out, because we don't believe that sponsors and donors really should dictate the fun that the community has," Ward said. "We do what we can to help, and we've had a wonderful relationship with the people over at Pride for many, many years."
Ward said the funding struggles are popping up for other community events as well, a trend he believes is from concerns about the state of the economy. VIP has seen some of those concerns, he said, in less equipment orders from customers and the challenge of providing accurate quotes.
Still, there's value in an organization attaching itself to a community event like Spokane Pride, Ward said. It increases visibility and generates a new customer or client base. It also helps make the area a better place to live for all walks of life.
"VIP is very community oriented, and we kind of exist to support all swaths of life," Ward said. "In the events industry, we have to work with all religions and all political decisions and all everything, so we don't discriminate. We're a bunch of creatives over here helping put a bunch of different events on for all sorts of people."
The nonprofit Spokane Independent Metro Business Alliance is another one of those returning sponsors. Executive Director Robin Hanes said their support aligns with the organization's mission of supporting local small businesses, which it does through educational outreach and training throughout the Inland Northwest.
"It's our rural businesses, it's our LGBTQ businesses, it's our BIPOC businesses, it's our veteran businesses, it's our women in business; it's everyone who's an independent and local business owner," Hanes said, using an acronym for Black, Indigenous and people of color. "Because we think, for small business owners, there are more similarities than differences, regardless of where they came from and what they believe in and who they love."
Despite their own funding challenges as a nonprofit, SIMBA prioritized being there for Danielson and company.
"We think it's just really important, particularly to some of our community members, who are just facing some pretty ugly language and behaviors," Hanes said. "We want to make sure that we are supporting."
Danielson said that in a roundabout way, all the scrambling and backfill led Spokane Pride to become more of the grassroots, community-supported affair he always envisioned. There will be local beers in the gardens, neighbors bumping into each other and friendly faces at the vendor booths to direct Spokane residents to local resources, opportunities and more.
"We still have a little bit of work to do; it's not perfect, but we've shifted so far toward local money and just being community funded," Danielson said. "I cannot believe how much our community stepped up. I'm just so proud of everybody."
The Pride parade will kick off noon June 14 in downtown Spokane, while the festivities at Riverfront Park officially begin at 1 p.m.