After Target Dropped DEI, Minnesota’s Largest Pride Fest Dropped Target As Sponsor – And Raised 2x More Money

Here’s a success story – following Target’s announcement last week that it was caving to conservative anti-LGBTQ pressures and dropping its DEI initiatives, Twin City Pride (TCP) dropped the department store as a sponsor. And very quickly ended up with more than twice the funding they started with.

After Target made the decision to drop diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Minnesota’s largest Pride festival decided to drop them as a sponsor. Now, Twin Cities Pride has more funding than they started with.

[image or embed] — The Advocate (@advocate.com) January 29, 2025 at 11:04 AM

Target reportedly called TCP executive director  Andi Otto in advance of its announcement insisting “they were still very much committed to being at Pride and very much committed to sponsoring and continuing to support our year-round programming.” The company added that it was not rescinding its $50,000 pledge. But Target’s announcement didn’t sit well with TCP’s board seeing the move as a “betrayal,” and they made the decision to remove the MInnesota-based company as a sponsor even though the retailer had been involved in Pride festivals for two decades. More from The Advocate:

While Otto did not believe it would be too challenging to find a replacement for Target, he “did not expect to be paid forward by the community.”

TCP made the money back in less than 24 hours, raising nearly $78,000 just from individual donors as of Wednesday morning.

Other organizations offering grants or sponsorships have brought that total to well over $100,000 — more than twice what Target promised.

Target is just the latest to cave to anti-LGBTQ pressures to end DEI initiatives. Other companies like McDonalds and Meta have similarly dropped their inclusivity programs amid the shifting political landscape.

In less than 24 hours, Twin Cities Pride raised more than $50,000 to fill a gap in fundraising after booting Target from the list of festival sponsors. [image or embed]

— Minnesota Star Tribune (@startribune.com) January 28, 2025 at 10:13 AM

Most have said Target’s retreat on DEI is a step backward, was demoralizing to staff and suppliers, and that it shows corporations are more interested in making sure they are in Trump’s good graces than standing up for what’s right. [image or embed]

— Minnesota Star Tribune (@startribune.com) January 28, 2025 at 12:31 PM

(lead image via Flickr – CC license)