How the Lexington Pride Festival gained more sponsors for 2026
The Lexington Pride Festival, organized annually by the Lexington Pride Center as its largest annual fundraiser, had 33 organizations as financial sponsors of the event in 2025.
For 2026, that number went up to 50 organizations.
Together, that support brought a 30% increase in money raised through sponsorships compared to last year, the Pride Center’s board president, Jason Schubert, told the Herald-Leader.
That added investment comes despite the fact that President Donald Trump’s administration and the state legislature have made moves in recent years aimed at ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and limiting access to gender-affirming care.
Bills adopted by the legislature led to the University of Kentucky and Lexington Public Library not sponsoring or tabling at the festival in 2025. Neither the library nor UK — excluding UK Target 4, an HIV testing service funded by the federal government and not UK itself — will be present at the 2026 festival.
Even so, the Pride Festival has continued to draw large support from its roughly 20,000 attendees and growing donors.
“Lexington has had a long history of being very accepting of the queer community and being celebratory of the queer community — different from some other areas in the South, in Kentucky and in the country,” Schubert said.
“I think it really hits home that Lexington is a special place. We’re a big city, but we’re still very small, and we’re still very close, and we still support each other.”
But the increase in sponsorships didn’t come without work. Schubert said event organizers made a more concerted effort this year to raise funds to put on the event.
Board membership transitions at the Pride Center in 2025 meant there were fewer people to help make calls to potential supporters. With a more settled board this year, the organizing team was able to start fundraising much earlier than they did in 2025.
More people allowed energy for an approach that involved a lot of targeted outreach, especially to local community organizations.
The Red Level sponsorship tier, the $200 level reserved exclusively for nonprofits, is made up of 11 organizations based in Lexington and Central Kentucky. In 2025, that tier had just three organizations.
One explanation for the rise is Pride Festival organizers’ specific outreach out to nonprofits who are members of the Lexington Nonprofit Coalition, a group that advocates for nonprofits at the state and local level.
“We reached out to that group of about 40 (nonprofits), and five of them responded ‘yes,’” Schubert said.
The increased local support for the festival in 2026 is not quite mirrored at the corporate level. Several large companies who supported the organization in 2025 either scaled back their level of support or withdrew altogether.
Schubert said Toyota, which supported the festival in 2024, has opted out of sponsoring any community festivals. Red Mile, which sponsored the festival last year at the $5,000 to $9,999 Blue Level, dropped down to the $2,500 to $4,999 Green Level this year.
But AVOL, which was just a vendor at the festival last year, is a Blue Level sponsor this year. Extreme Mobility, a local store specializing in wheelchairs and accessibility equipment, jumped from the Green to Blue Level for 2026.
“It’s been very interesting to see these large, for-profit companies pulling back their sponsorships, while our community is pooling their resources to come together to support the Pride Festival,” Schubert said.
He said there has not been one through-line explaining why corporations are scaling back their support.
While he doesn’t think it is an issue directly related to the festival, Schubert did highlight that large companies are often approached to support big festivals in Lexington throughout any given year.
“We’re in competition with things like UK and Keeneland and all these other large events that happen throughout the year take up philanthropic dollars from different organizations. I don’t think that’s a problem. I think it’s just where we are. But it also encourages us to be more creative.”
The creativity in seeking varied support at different levels is a strength for the festival, he said.
“We’re not reliant on one sponsor to write us a really large check to cover the cost of the festival. We have to be creative, we have to be flexible, we have to work our networks to find those dollars, so that we can make sure that we’re bringing the festival to life in an appropriate way for our city.”
Putting on the festival serves a broader mission than just one day of celebration. All the money from the festival goes to support the ongoing efforts of the Pride Center, which provides support services for LGTBQ+ people including small group gatherings, a food pantry and fiscal sponsorships for new LGBTQ+ organizations.
“Our 50th anniversary is in 2027, so we have a long history in Lexington, in central Kentucky, and in the broader state,” Schubert said.
The Lexington Pride Center is located 389 Waller Avenue, Suite 100. You can learn more at the organization’s website.
