A handful of Pride celebrations throughout Illinois have reported a decline in corporate sponsorships this year, raising questions about whether Chicago’s Pride Fest and Parade will also be affected.
Organizers of two Chicago-area Pride events—the Queer Fam Pride Jam and the Buffalo Grove Family Pride Parade—told Windy City Times they lost their largest sponsors this year. In both cases, the corporations cited a review of how their company goes about supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Meanwhile, other Pride organizers in the suburbs said many of their traditional supporters are sponsoring in smaller amounts this year due to economic strain.
This decline in financial support for local Pride events is part of a national trend in which sponsors are backing away from the LGBTQ+ celebrations, including Anheuser-Busch ending its 30-year partnership with St. Louis PrideFest and Diageo ending sponsorship of San Francisco Pride.
In Chicago, whether the city’s two largest events—Pride Fest and the Pride Parade—will be affected by changes in sponsorships this year was not immediately clear. But the trend suggests the role of corporate sponsors in today’s Pride celebrations may be shifting.
Lululemon and Zebra drop local Pride sponsorships
Organizers of the Queer Fam Pride Jam, a family-focused Pride festival in Chicago that started in 2023, told Windy City Times they will significantly scale back this year’s event after losing its largest sponsor, Lululemon.
The athletic apparel brand sponsored the Pride Jam with $15,000 and an on-site presence in both 2023 and 2024 but notified producers this year it will not.
“There was no promise of this year—I want to be clear about that,” said Kristen Kaza, who co-organizes the Pride Jam with businesswoman Keewa Nurullah. “But I think there was a precedent set.”
This year, the Pride Jam team received a brief message from Lululemon stating it was moving its Pride efforts to an “internal program.”
In an emailed statement, a Lululemon spokesperson said the company looks to “regularly evolve our efforts so we can show up for our communities in new and meaningful ways.”
This year, that means partnering with groups like Off the Dribble and the Swish Queer Basketball Club to hold a Pride Basketball Day of Play, the spokesperson said.
“We remain committed to promoting wellbeing for all and our values of connection and inclusion continue to guide how we celebrate and serve our communities,” the Lululemon spokesperson said.
Adding to the uncertainty is whether the city’s Chicago Presents grant program—another major source of support in years past—will be available. Pride Jam organizers said they were caught off guard when the program was placed under review this spring, with no call for applications yet released.
“This has been hard,” Kaza said. “When you’re going into building a budget for something on a larger scale like this, having confirmed funding is essential to being able to plan and announce your event.”
Updates on the Pride Jam will be shared on Slo ‘Mo’s Instagram page.
The Buffalo Grove Family Pride Parade is also adjusting after losing its top corporate sponsor, Zebra Technologies, a computer manufacturing company based in Lincolnshire.
Zebra Technologies had been a presenting sponsor that contributed $10,000 in 2024, marching at the front of the village’s Pride Parade.
Carolyn Pinta, organizer of the Buffalo Grove Family Pride Parade, didn’t name the company directly, but Zebra Technologies had previously been listed as a presenting sponsor for 2024’s parade and is not included in this year’s list of sponsors.
“We’ve gone from this group being at the front of the parade and on our signage to nothing,” Pinta said. “And it’s definitely because of the political climate.”
In an emailed statement, a Zebra spokesperson confirmed the company pulled support of this year’s Buffalo Grove Family Pride Parade, but did not answer questions about why.
The Spokesperson said Zebra “annually review[s] how we support the communities represented at Zebra, including our LGBTQ+ employees, and we make charitable donations to organizations related to our core philanthropic focus areas.”
The Zebra spokesperson said the company wishes “continued success” for the Buffalo Grove Family Pride Parade.
Organizers of other suburban Pride celebrations said they are also seeing a dip in sponsorship dollars this year due to companies donating in smaller amounts. This includes the Lake County PrideFest and Woodstock Pride.
Lake County PrideFest’s top sponsor in 2024, the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS), reduced its support this year. Kristal Larson, executive director of the LGBTQ+ Center Lake County, said the change was due to DCFS budget shifts.
DCFS spokesperson Deborah Lopez said the agency had reached its hiring capacity, limiting its need to advertise at events.
“In addition to connecting with the LGBTQI+ community, a primary goal of our sponsorship has been recruitment,” Lopez said. “Thanks to our successful recruiting efforts in recent years, DCFS has nearly reached its maximum agency headcount, allowing us to concentrate more on our community involvement rather than solely focusing on recruitment.”
For Woodstock Pride, where corporate support has always been small, local business donations are also down, said Melissa McMahon, board member for Woodstock Pride.
“It’s not necessarily due to a shift in values, but more so a reflection of the broader economic strain many small businesses are facing,” McMahon said. “These local partners remain incredibly supportive, even when they can’t contribute at the same level financially.”
Uncertainty grows around Chicago Pride Fest and Parade
While several Pride events across Illinois have already felt the effects of shifting corporate priorities and tighter budgets, whether Pride Fest and the Pride Parade will face similar setbacks is unclear.
Chicago Pride Fest, organized by the Northalsted Business Alliance, has been sponsored by Bud Light. But the brand’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, has come under fire for ending its 30-year partnership with St. Louis PrideFest and for its response to the anti-trans backlash surrounding its brief campaign with influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bud Light is not currently listed as a sponsor on the 2025 Chicago Pride Fest website. Its absence is especially notable given its central role in past years and recent controversies surrounding its LGBTQ+ support.
Neither the Northalsted Business Alliance nor Anheuser-Busch responded to Windy City Times’ inquiries about the status of their partnership.
If Bud Light is no longer involved, its absence could affect Pride Fest and the larger Market Days festival, both of which rely on steady corporate sponsorship. If the brand remains a sponsor, its involvement could reignite debate over whether LGBTQ+ spaces should continue aligning with a company criticized for retreating from visible queer and trans advocacy.
In 2023, several Chicago LGBTQ+ bars—including Sidetrack and 2Bears Tavern Group establishments—stopped selling Anheuser-Busch products in protest of the company’s failure to defend Mulvaney during a wave of transphobic attacks.
Longtime activist Gary Chichester, who marched in Chicago’s first Pride Parade in 1970, told Windy City Times the controversy reflects a deeper problem with corporate reliance.
“I think we’re putting ourselves into our own problems, because we rely so much on these corporations, but none of them are as friendly as one would hope,” Chichester said. “They’re in it for the money.”
Chichester recalled efforts in the ‘80s to build relationships with Budweiser after early resistance.
“At the time, Budweiser would go to deliver beer to bars like Little Jim’s, and they wouldn’t even go inside,” Chichester said. “Then we did a whole thing with all the bars trying to promote Budweiser to get them in, and then before you know it, Miller and Bud would go back and forth in trying to win us over.”
He said the company’s recent pullback, especially in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election, has been deeply disappointing.
“It really shows how everything is coming down to money,” Chichester said.
Organizers of the Chicago Pride Parade have also not responded to questions about their 2025 sponsorships. Among the companies currently listed on PRIDEChicago’s website are CBOE, Fetch, the Northern Indiana Hard Rock Casino, Metra, Nordstrom, Smirnoff and Ulta.
Smirnoff’s parent company, Diageo, also made headlines this year after ending its sponsorship of San Francisco Pride.
“We are deeply grateful for the continued support of our community, partners and sponsors who stand with us in Pride—a powerful reflection of unity, visibility and joy,” PRIDEChicago organizers said in a statement. “Planning for the 54th annual Chicago Pride Parade is moving full speed ahead.”
‘We have each other, even if corporations don’t’
Many organizers said the future of Pride may depend more than ever on grassroots efforts and community investment.
As some major sponsors retreat from public-facing LGBTQ+ support, local leaders are calling for deeper collective ownership of Pride events—emphasizing interdependence, volunteering and local fundraising.
“For sustainability, we’re going to have some more brave and honest conversations and collaborate on how we move forward,” Kaza said. “We’re moving forward in a coalition-building framework, as opposed to a transactional framework with sponsors.”
For events like the Pride Jam, that support could come in the form of volunteering the day of the fest, supporting with logistical planning or making a donation, Kaza said. It’s also important that the community is showing up to these events to show support, she said.
“If we’re going to move forward with creating space for communities who are under attack, it has to be an act of interdependence and reciprocation,” Kaza said. “We need people who will show up with their time, resources, skills and connections.”
That sense of community support has already manifested in Buffalo Grove, where the Family Pride Parade is already several thousand dollars ahead in fundraising compared to this time last year, Pinta said.
“People want to show their support right now and understand how important it is that we have each other, even if corporations don’t,” Pinta said.