In April this year, image sharing social media platform Pinterest announced its inaugural Creator Fund. This was a $500,000 program intended to “elevate creators from underrepresented communities through financial and educational support.”
Available to Pinterest creators within the United States, the Pinterest Creator Fund program offered creators access to hand-on training and creative strategic consulting about how to succeed on Pinterest, in addition to generous financial grant of $25k in cash and ad credits. On average, Pinterest says that Fund creators garnered 2.9x more Idea Pin impressions, 72 percent more monthly viewers, and an extra 24,000 new followers versus how they were doing previously.
Don’t worry if you’re eligible to be involved, but somehow missed your chance, however. This week, Pinterest announced that it’s accepting applications for the second go-round of its Creator Fund, with applications open from now through June 30.
Creator Fund Round Two
The second Creator Fund will run for four weeks from August to September. A post on Pinterest‘s website notes that:
In this second cycle, we’re looking to discover 10 more creators and give them the support they need to learn new skills and grow their Pinterest audience.
If you’re a US creator looking to gain the skills needed to succeed on Pinterest and are part of the BIPOC, disabled or LGBTQ+ community, we want to hear from you!
Among the areas successful candidates will get training on are Pinterest’s aforementioned Idea Pins, the new feature (which is really a rebranded version of Story Pins, with added functionality) that was introduced earlier in May.
Idea Pins allow any Pinterest creators in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to create captivating video content. Think of it like a cross between Instagram Stories and TikTok videos—with a unique Pinterest spin, of course.
The Last Positive Corner of the Internet
Pinterest’s Creator Fund is part of the company’s Creator Code, launched in early 2021. The idea is that, at a time when the internet generally and social media specifically, can seem pretty awful, Pinterest will be “the last positive corner of the internet.”
Among other things, this means promoting inclusivity and diversity—with Pinterest pushing its commitment to make sure that at least half of the creators it works with are from traditionally underrepresented groups.
And, hey, if it manages to make itself more compelling as a home for the superstar influencers of tomorrow in the process, that’s no bad thing for it either, right?