Sponsorship Policy 2024
We do not accept sponsorship from:
Oil and Gas companies
Arms companies
As part of our annual festival, National Student Pride runs an LGBTQ+ focussed careers fair, a forum which connects LGBTQ+ students/recent graduates with employers who value diversity and inclusion, and care about recruiting LGBTQ+ talent.
While our daytime event is free for students, our exhibition partners pay to be there, which provides us with the entire budget to run our event and keep the daytime festival free for all attendees and maximise accessibility.
National Student Pride is a charity, which means we do not retain any profit, and only seek to make sufficient income to be able to continue in our mission to improve the LGBTQ+ student experience.
Nevertheless, we only work with organisations that do right by the LGBTQ+ community. We have a duty to do what is best for LGBTQ+ students, and this is our ultimate priority as a Pride organisation.
We apply the following criteria to screen an organisation before we accept sponsorship:
(i) Authenticity: we only enter partnerships with organisations that want to connect with young LGBTQ+ talent because they recognise the positive force of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace as well as the unique contributions that young LGBTQ+ people can make.
(ii) Impact: we only enter partnerships with organisations whose operations we believe do not have a net-negative impact on the future of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, since 2015, we have refused partnerships with oil and gas companies as a matter of principle as we believe climate change disproportionately affects LGBTQ+ people.
Note: these criteria extend to the organisation with which we enter into a partnership, and not to their clients (e.g. a law firm’s clients) or their investments (e.g. a bank providing a loan to a third-party company), as these are separate entities. We cannot take a stance on these third parties, as they are innumerable and often held confidentially.
18th February 2024: Update on Airbus Commercial Division’s Sponsorship
Following an interim review of our sponsorship policy, we have agreed to return Airbus Commercial’s sponsorship fee, and they will no longer participate in National Student Pride.
Queers for Palestine has a right to protest.
As an LGBTQ+ movement that was created from a protest, we will always listen to groups within the community.
We are sorry, we are making changes.
Airbus Commercial was a Bronze sponsor of our event next weekend. We have listened to concerns and understand now that an association with a part of Airbus is an association with all of Airbus. It is our mistake that we did not understand this sooner.
National Student Pride is a not-for-profit event organised by LGBTQ+ students and recent grads. Our sponsors pay to be at the event so we can keep our daytime festival free and accessible for all.
We exist to improve the LGBTQ+ student experience, and we do this in a variety of ways: by offering a safe space Pride event, by spotlighting outstanding LGBTQ+ individuals with the National Student Pride Awards, by providing a platform for young LGBTQ+ musicians and academics, among many other events and work.
We contacted Queers For Palestine on Saturday and look forward to an open dialogue. We will also conduct a full review of our sponsorship policy going forward.
In the meantime, we look forward to welcoming you all to National Student Pride 2024 next weekend.
About Airbus’s Commercial Division:
Airbus is an aerospace company with mutually exclusive business divisions, and our sponsorship comes solely and completely from the Commercial division. The Commercial division designs and manufactures passenger aircraft for airlines such as British Airways and Easyjet.