The Real Cost of the UK's Biggest Gay Pride Event
Friday 6th June 2008
Recently the UK’s largest Pride announced the true cost of the event.
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Pride London, a registered charity, has in the past required an entry fee, but is now free to attend. However, keeping the event free has meant a rather high cost for organizers.
£392,000 to be exact. That’s how much Pride 2007 cost to put on. Much like its size, Pride London’s budget is much bigger than other events.
Finance director Laurie Powell said: “It costs the charity an enormous amount of money every year to put on our event and not one penny is wasted.”
Pride London’s budget comes from many different places. Around 66% comes from sponsorships, with the rest from grants from official bodies, individual giving and donations.
Powell said: “We are almost entirely run by volunteers with a small amount of specialist consultant help. We rely on our sponsors and donors for the majority of our income and it is never easy persuading these big firms to part with cash, no matter how good our event is. We can never have too many sponsors and I really do recommend it as a way of demonstrating commitment to LGBT issues.”
This year Pride London has launched an online donation scheme to help increase individual donations to the event.
However, if you don’t feel comfortable donating online don’t worry. There will still be the classic methods of giving to the event.
“There will still be our donations tins and buckets out before and during the event though so please give generously—if everyone attending the event gave just £1 it would make an enormous difference,” said Powell.
Pride London, a registered charity, has in the past required an entry fee, but is now free to attend. However, keeping the event free has meant a rather high cost for organizers.
£392,000 to be exact. That’s how much Pride 2007 cost to put on. Much like its size, Pride London’s budget is much bigger than other events.
Finance director Laurie Powell said: “It costs the charity an enormous amount of money every year to put on our event and not one penny is wasted.”
Pride London’s budget comes from many different places. Around 66% comes from sponsorships, with the rest from grants from official bodies, individual giving and donations.
Powell said: “We are almost entirely run by volunteers with a small amount of specialist consultant help. We rely on our sponsors and donors for the majority of our income and it is never easy persuading these big firms to part with cash, no matter how good our event is. We can never have too many sponsors and I really do recommend it as a way of demonstrating commitment to LGBT issues.”
This year Pride London has launched an online donation scheme to help increase individual donations to the event.
However, if you don’t feel comfortable donating online don’t worry. There will still be the classic methods of giving to the event.
“There will still be our donations tins and buckets out before and during the event though so please give generously—if everyone attending the event gave just £1 it would make an enormous difference,” said Powell.
