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Manchester Pride announced it has raised £149k for charitable causes in 2016, which it is adding to the £25,000 in unclaimed grants from last year for a total pot of £174,000.
The charity fundraises throughout the year via a number of events, culminating in a month-long Manchester Pride Fringe festival and The Big Weekend in Manchester’s iconic LGBT Village.
The Manchester Pride Spring Benefit in May, Dress Down Day in August and The Big Weekend over August Bank Holiday weekend provide most of the funds for the festival and its programme of charitable giving.
The main stage at The Big Weekend in 2016 included big acts like Katy B, Will Young and Fleur East.
Those awarded grants in 2016 included Rainbow Noir and the Oldham Rainbow Association.
Superbia, Pride’s year-round progamme of arts events, supported over 100 events. Superbia grants were awarded to organisations including the Queer Media Festival at HOME, Black Gold Arts Festival and the LGBT Foundation’s Women’s Programme.
Chief Executive for Manchester Pride Mark Fletcher said, ‘I’m really happy to be able to announce that we have raised just under £150k in 2016. 2015 was a big year to follow and to have further grown our fundraising total is huge testament to everybody who supports the charity.
‘The Big Weekend was attended by tens of thousands of people celebrating LGBT life and the Manchester Pride Parade lead by our city’s first openly gay Lord Mayor was something Manchester can be hugely proud of. I’m overwhelmed by the support of our sponsors, the businesses of the Gay Village, the city, visitors to The Big Weekend and my brilliant team.
‘Even more importantly we’ve been able to support some really important groups and inject vital funds into LGBT causes with the money we raised in 2015. Our Impact Report which will be released in early 2017 will show the wide reach of the work which Manchester Pride undertakes.’
In 2015 Manchester Pride raised £137k for donation to charitable causes with £9k in unclaimed grants from 2014 being returned to the pot and made available again for LGBT groups and organisations to apply for, taking the overall total to £146k.
The Manchester Pride Festival is an award-winning four-day event celebrating LGBT life. The event takes place in August, with The Big Weekend running from Friday 25 to Monday 28 August and the Parade on Saturday 26 August.
Tickets for The Big Weekend will be on sale from late January.
The Manchester Pride Spring Benefit 2017 will be held at The Midland Hotel on Thursday 18th May. To register your interest please visit springbenefit.manchesterpride.comm.
To find out more about the Manchester Pride you can follow the charity on Twitter @manchesterpride or visit the website at manchesterpride.com.
Image credit: Manchester Pride
