Every year the Pride Parade and Festival is made possible by and through individuals direct donations. Fresno Rainbow Pride depends on community members’ support. Donations of $5 and $10 go a long way when they are all is added up. And larger donations are always appreciated.

Donations may also be given through Paypal - click below!

Community Link is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and your donations are tax deductible.

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Dear future TEAM PRIDE member!                                            

If you haven't seen the “Jack in the Box” television commercial where he falls down the stairs as he is filming his own commercial, gets up and says “I can't wait for this recession to be over!” Well we can't either! We need you to jion the team. We are asking all possible Team PRIDE members to make a $21 donation, being that it is our 21st birthday and well, we are now “Legally Proud.” PLUS we are struggling raising enough money to keep pride on track. You can make all the diffence and help keep Pride bright and alive.
 
I would have liked to have told you about all the really great plans we have for the 21st Fresno Pride Parade and skipped all the pleas for your financial help. Well, since the recession hasn't yet come to an end in the Valley, we like everyone else are still feeling the pain.
  
Before I get into what our needs are I would like to start with some positive stuff.
  
First off the Pride Parade is no longer a 10 minute procession. 10 minutes was the actual amount of time it took for the first parade participants to literally jog down Olive Avenue in 1991. Gone also are the hateful Klan members that showed up for the first three years of the pride parades to protest.

The Pride Celebration has grown into the largest one-day Gay event in the San Joaquin Valley. The parade has increased in size, variety and in quality. The parade is now an hour and a half of enjoyable fun and amazement. With up to 75 entries, from marchers to motorcycles to floats all transversing the parade route in a flood of rainbow colors. Other than Fresno City's Veteran's Day and Children's Christmas Parades, the Pride Parade is the third largest in the city, but by far the most festive and fun.

The Pride Festival in 1991 was small, but extremely successful for the nineties, the attendance was in the hundreds. In 2010 it drew a crowd close to 3,000. 2011 will likely see 3,000 plus people attending the festival with close to 100 booths serving up food, merchandise, information, and fun.

Some of the features we are proud to announce is Unison, our Dance Pavilion for the younger of heart, body, and soul. The Entrainment Pavilion will feature musical sensation Dario, who will thrill the crowd along with many other GLBT acts. Kids like Us will be hosting the children's area featuring all kinds of fun for the kiddies. Plus there will be an adult area for a different kind of fun. The Pride festival will have something for everyone.

As we have grown and improved the quality of Fresno's Pride event, we have also grown the visibility of our community. Here are a couple examples of this increased awareness of our local GLBT community.

VIA, AAA's travel magazine, for the first time considered including us in their May/June Issue. While we didn't make it in VIA this year, we probably will next year. Just being approached was a huge milestone.

We have also caught the attention of several big GLBT organizations. The Human Rights Campaign was the first vender application we received this year. Plus The AIDS Life Cycle, who is hosting their annual ride the same weekend as Pride, has decided to place an advertisement in the Pride Program.

Bigger still is that we have been in negotiations with the Speaker of the California Assembly, John Perez, to be an honorary Grand Marshal and key note speaker. This may or may not happen depending on what the status is with the California budget. But the GLBT Legislative Caucus has indicated that they are interested in coming down. Plus they are putting pressure on our local elected officials in the State Senate and Assembly to be participants in this year's Pride Celebration. A FIRST should this happen.

I have been telling you of all the exciting possibilities that could be this year, that might happen, and that we are extremely thrilled about. Now some of these may not happen, plans can go south and we will be disappointed if they don't materialize, but the fact that we are firmly on folks' radar is amazing.

I am tired of singing the fundraising blues, but it is a tune I must turn to next.

We need to raise $15,000 by Saturday, June 4th. A much larger sum then last year. The Pride event costs roughly $35,000 to put on. We are mostly there but not quite where we need to be.  You can help by becoming a member of TEAM PRIDE.

I have to tell you Fresno Rainbow Pride is very frugal, we are considered to be tight wads, or out right cheap skates. We make Team Pride's money stretch. Fresno Rainbow Pride is always hunting for a deal on services and equipment. But the costs for insurance, city and county permits, state licensing fees, fencing, staging, canopies, electrical generators, security guards, volunteer supplies, sound systems, entertainers, port-a-potties, hand washing stations, street barricades, the hanging of the pride street banners and other promotional/publicity materials and the printing of the Pride Program continue to cost more and more.

We skimp where we can, but most of the budget is a must “Have” to put on the event. We are obligated to maintain certain levels of services or items by the city, county, state, such as insurance, security, barricades, etc and by our contractual agreements with our sponsors, such as the pride program, advertising, t-shirts, etc.

We have always given our sponsors their money's worth. We have not received any complaints or attitude that Fresno Rainbow Pride is not a quality product. But the sad fact is that business has been bad for the past 3 years and our sponsors do not have the discretionary funds they once had several years ago. We have seen major cut backs in funding and have been asked by several sponsors to be patient, but that the their sponsorships will not be available until closer to the event.

Nationally, cross the board charitable donations are down 28% whether you are a GLBT organization, or church, hospital, or other main stream worthy cause. We really need your help. This is our time of need. Will you be our hero with a donation to keep pride alive?

Every donation counts, including your donations of time. If you can not help us financially maybe you could volunteer your time by joining the Pride Team at our weekly meetings or if meetings are not your thing, be a volunteer the day of the event.

We are also asking that you support our fundraising efforts at the clubs, we already have fundraisers planned at the North Tower Circle and Swiggs Sports Bar. Tacos Marquitos is doing two days of Dining with Pride and the Fresno GLBT Youth Alliance will be doing a car wash for Pride on Sunday, May 8th. Check out our website www.FresnoRainbowPride.com for the latest information on all of our upcoming fundraisers.

Finally, another great way of supporting the 2011 Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade and Festival is to spread the word. Share, forward, copy, or fax this letter to your family and friends. And don't forget to attend our 21st anniversary of pride on Saturday, June 4, 2011.

Please make your donation payable to Community Link.
Send your check to: Community Link's Fresno Rainbow Pride, P.O. Box 4959, Fresno, Ca. 93744
Or you may make a PayPal donation directly on our website at www.fresnorainbowpride.com


Thank you,

Jeffery Robinson
Fresno Rainbow Pride Coordinator