One of Pride Toronto's many fundraising events is the annual Toonie Drive, which takes place during the Pride Parade. This year, the 150-foot rainbow flag float will appear in both the Dyke March and Sunday's parade. Spectators are strongly urged to toss toonies onto the flag to show their support for the festival.

Every year, the Pride festival costs approximately $3 million. It is estimated that 1.5 million people attend Pride events each year, but less than 1% of them donate to the Toonie Drive - that's fewer than 10,000 people. This means that if every festival attendee donated only one toonie to the Toonie Drive, the festival would pay for itself.

Currently, Pride Toronto relies on sponsorship and grants from different corporations for funding. Increasing participation in the Toonie Drive would give Pride Toronto the opportunity to become more community-funded, lessening their reliance on the corporate sponsors. While Pride Toronto surely appreciates these sponsors, shifting the funding for the festival to the community itself would further solidify Pride Toronto as a tight-knit, community-driven organization whose mutual loving relationship with the community is something truly special.

Make the Toonie Drive an important part of your Pride celebration and help bring the community together in funding the festival that celebrates diversity, equality, and solidarity.

The fundraising committee will also be scattered around various parts of the downtown core during Pride Week: selling stickers at the Trans March; greeting the audience as they arrive for Cyndi Lauper's performance on Saturday night and selling glow sticks for the show; manning booths on the corner of Church and Wellesley (between TD and Trojan Men); and at various beer gardens.

Drop by any one of these stations to support Pride Toronto's fundraising committee - just look for the enthusiastic volunteers in purple shirts... and don't forget your toonies!

-Words by Natalie Gallo, Media Committee Journalist