Pinterest has announced the launch of the Pinterest Inclusion Fund in Australia, a programme aimed at supporting small businesses and independent publishers from historically underrepresented communities. The initiative includes a four-week incubator programme designed to coach participants on optimising their organic content on Pinterest and making the most of the platform's tools to drive value for their businesses.

The programme will offer participants virtual educational sessions covering topics such as platform best practices, knowledge sharing from Pinterest, cash grants for content production and optimisation, and ad credits to help propel their content on Pinterest. The Pinterest Inclusion Fund is open to small merchant businesses and independent lifestyle publishers that are owned and operated by, or produce content and products for, BIPOC, disability, plus-size and LGBTQIA+ communities.

The fund builds on the success of the global programme, now being introduced in Australia for the first time, which has delivered three inspiring years of teaching creators and content producers how to grow, connect and succeed on Pinterest. Applications for the Pinterest Inclusion Fund are open until 16th August.

Constance Knight, Head of Content Partnerships at Pinterest, said, "'We know there is a need for simple, scalable solutions to support the growth of underrepresented content producers, such as small business merchants who are often under-resourced. This programme is designed to assist content producers in learning how to optimise their inspirational organic content on Pinterest and ultimately help unlock more opportunity for their business.'"