Next month will mark the second Pride Month under Trump’s second term. If you’re wondering what that means for celebration and event funding all over the country, the answer is: squarely not iconic. Similar to last year, this year’s Pride celebrations around the country remain severely undersupported. New York City Pride, which organizes the annual Pride March that ends at the sacred Stonewall site, is half a million dollars short of its fundraising goal as corporations continue to withdraw financial support. Key West, a historically gay hub in Florida, announced that it will stop receiving state funding for its Pride celebrations starting next year after Ron DeSantis signed a law preventing the state from funding “DEI” initiatives. Pittsburgh Pride is also hundreds of thousands of dollars short of its fundraising goal since former donors such as Walmart have refrained from partnering this year. San Francisco, D.C., Seattle, and dozens of other cities’ Pride events are facing similar issues. This is just the continuation of what we were already witnessing last year, when Trump first began his war against DEI initiatives and dozens of corporations from Deloitte to Bud Light pulled back from financially supporting Pride, rightfully prompting major side-eye from queer people who have long suspected their support was performative.So what can we do about it? For one, realize that as a community, we have an enormous amount of collective power. Although NYC Pride has seen a steady decline in sponsors since 2024, it’s actually seeing a lot of new partnerships — the difference is that now, much of that new money is coming from small and local queer-owned businesses. “Because we’ve seen a scale-back in the overall funding from larger corporate sponsors, like our sister Prides around the world, we’re relying more and more on the community itself to power and protect Pride for years to come,” Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for NYC Pride, tells me. Realizing that our rights are genuinely under threat under Trump, many queer people have stepped up in the ways they can, and although their donations aren’t a match compared to giants like Coca-Cola, they do ultimately make a huge difference. There’s still more we can do, though. “This year, we’re nowhere near our goal for individual donations, and the individual support ultimately powers our work all year long,” says Piedmont. Starting in January, I became a donor for NYC Pride, and donate $10 every month — which is less than what a cocktail costs at any of the many Pride parties I’ll probably be attending this June. That collective power we have as queer people reflects strongly in the economy — so choose where you spend as strategically as possible. New York City Pride also launched a peer-to-peer fundraiser to help cover costs for this year’s celebration. It’s just one example of how community fundraising is making the difference between having and not having a Pride celebration at all. Find out whether your local Pride takes donations, because chances are, they are relying on community support now more than ever. And if you don’t have the means to donate, spread the word, and let the people in your life know what’s happening. While it’s important to party this year even harder than we have in the past, right now it’s just as important to stay engaged, no matter how fatigued we might feel from Trump’s attacks on the community. Now is the time to start intentionally investing even the tiniest amount of money back in the community, because if there’s anything we should be realizing now, it is that Pride celebrations are not an inevitability. Clearly, they’re something we will need to actively defend.