Chicago's 42-year-old LGBTQ+ running event, ProudToRun, is so far set to return June 2024 following the cancellation of last year's race.
The city's original Pride Week running event took a hiatus last year due to a lack of manpower and financial difficulties. However, the small team of volunteers have pulled together to make this summer's race a reality on June 30—and are in need of help from the community to keep it going in years to come.
The pandemic sidelined the race for two years with a scaled-back race returning in summer 2022. However, race director Patti Flynn believes the right call may have been to postpone that one, as well, instead of hosting 2022 and then postponing 2023.
"We tried really hard to do what we could to produce money to give to our beneficiaries, but it was a really tight year," she said of 2022. "In fact, I don't think we actually made anything. We dug into some reserves to give to our beneficiaries. The pandemic left us in a critical financial position anyways … Financially, it was probably detrimental for us to have had the [2022] race."
Flynn has seen the ups and downs of the program's recent history up close, having joined the board in Dec. 2019 in the year of one of its most successful races. With COVID-19 shutting down the world just a few months later, she said the original board saw much turnover. Now, she is one of the few who remains from that time.
Flynn said ProudToRun—which is a 501(c)(3), volunteer-run organization—has gotten flack for canceling the event in 2023, but they just didn't have the resources or people to make it happen. The board has also downsized in recent years, leaving them with six members.
Behind the scenes, there are a lot of costs that go into producing the race that people may not know about, Flynn said. From gaining park permits to paying for people's time and effort, they all require funds that the organization didn't have in 2023.
To address the lack of funds, the organization started a charity team in the Chicago Marathon with 10 runners. Each raises anywhere between $1,500-$2,000 to help build "a little extra cushion for the off-season," which will help fund the next year's race and potentially start smaller grants to LGBTQ+ nonprofits.
The fundraising budget comes from race registration and the charity team. With the money, Flynn said the organization wants to give back to Chicago's queer community, recently with a focus on BIPOC and trans-focused groups.
She added that it's been difficult to get things back off the ground this year—she wants to make sure the organization gets to a stable enough place where they wouldn't need to take another hiatus. With everyone on the board also having outside work, it's been hard to coordinate and manage items ahead of the upcoming race. This year, the race is also on a Sunday instead of Saturday, changing up the usual schedule.
Flynn also hopes runners and supporters of ProudToRun would be willing to contribute their own time and talents to help race planning and management run more smoothly in the future. She would also love to see corporate sponsorship from companies who support the LGBTQ+ community.
"I wish all those people [who say] 'Why aren't you doing this?' or 'Why aren't you doing that?' would help out," she said. "I would love to hear back from people who have a vested interest in keeping this race going."
