Pride Gives $150,000 to Community in 2007

Did you know that when you support the San Diego Pride festival you are supporting numerous organizations that are vital to the health and well-being of the entire LGBT community?

San Diego Pride fosters pride in and respect for the LGBT communities in San Diego by producing the annual Pride parade and festival and through annual philanthropy within our community. We have a fundamental belief that funds raised during the Pride celebrations should benefit the community. Because of this year's successful Pride festival, the organization this year is distributing $150,000 to eighty organizations committed to civil rights, aging, health and human services, arts and culture and education in our community. Total giving by San Diego Pride since 1995 has exceeded $1.2 million.

San Diego Pride has established a five-prong approach for giving to the community, which includes grant funding, providing direct community support, support of other Prides, support of the LGBT Center, and forming partnerships with community organizations whose memberships desire a larger participatory role in Pride celebration events.

Donations range from $200 to support the Seniors Active in a Gay Environment (SAGE), $500 to the Alano Club, $1,000 to fund in part the family-friendly musical The Daddy Machine at The Diversionary Theatre and $41,000 to the LGBT Community Center. A complete list of beneficiaries is online at www.sdpride.org under "Community Giving" in the "About Us Section."

Formed in 1974, as a sponsored program of The Center for Social Services, we produced the first Lesbian and Gay Parade in San Diego to celebrate the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion on New York's Christopher Street. The 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in 1994 and today San Diego Pride continues to bring together the skills, talents and vision of our diverse community to produce the annual LGBT Pride events which attract 200,000 participants to Hillcrest for America's FinestPride parade and festival.

When next year's Pride Festival comes around, we encourage you to participate and help us support the many community organizations that are vital to the health and well-being of the entire LGBT community.