Pinterest pays creators who power its inclusive search features
Most creator funds are vague about why you're being paid. Pinterest's Inclusion Fund is not.
The platform has reopened applications for its sixth annual Inclusion Fund, specifically targeting creators whose content fuels Pinterest's inclusive features: skin tone ranges, hair pattern search and body type ranges. Applications opened on 21 July 2026 and close at 9pm ET on 3 August (2am BST on 4 August).
The pitch is straightforward: build the catalogue that makes Pinterest's differentiation possible, get paid for it, and access the users who engage most heavily with those features.
Why Pinterest is tying funding to search infrastructure
This year's fund runs across 10 countries: the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, Germany, France, India, Australia and New Zealand. Pinterest frames this as a global expansion, but four markets present in 2025 (Colombia, Argentina, Japan and Indonesia) no longer appear on the list, while New Zealand is the sole addition. Fewer markets, sharper focus.
The fund's scope has tightened around product utility. The incubator programme connects people on Pinterest to inspirational ideas from emerging creators in the beauty, fashion and lifestyle spaces, the same vertical alignment where Pinterest's inclusive search tools actually operate.
Pinterest reports that people who used inclusive features on the platform saved 75% more Pins than those who did not. Higher save rates mean more persistent engagement, which makes the content infrastructure feeding those features commercially valuable, not just reputationally appealing.
75% more Pins saved by users of inclusive features, Pinterest, July 2026
Since the fund launched in 2021, Pinterest says it has supported more than 500 creators. The programme has moved from its original pilot structure to a repeatable model where creators are effectively compensated for building the dataset the platform needs.
What the fund actually offers (and what it expects back)
Accepted participants receive educational resources, financial support and growth opportunities. The fund targets creators who are already active on other platforms and ready to establish their presence on Pinterest.
Creators receive personalised education, dedicated time with Pinterest and industry experts, and financial support to fuel content creation. Accepted applicants also get coaching from Pinterest staff on platform strategy and analytics, plus access to Pinterest's Create Community, which offers early looks at monthly trends, exclusive content challenges and creator insights.
Applicants must create fashion, beauty or lifestyle content that supports Pinterest's inclusive product tools. Per the application criteria, creators must be active on at least two other social media platforms and aged 18 or over.
Creators who demonstrate strong engagement and growth throughout the programme may be invited to join the Pinterest Create Community upon graduation.
"The program gave me both the education and a stronger understanding of Pinterest as a creator.", Ashanti Powell, 2025 Inclusion Fund participant
Importantly, submission of an application does not guarantee selection.
The platform bet: inclusive search is a growth lever, not a box tick
Pinterest has framed inclusive search features as infrastructure, not activism. Skin tone ranges use computer vision-powered object detection to let people refine beauty-related searches, with results updating to match the chosen range. Hair pattern search, introduced in 2021, allows users to refine searches for hair inspiration.
Body type ranges launched in the US and Canada in 2023, giving users the choice to self-select which body types are featured in search results for women's fashion and wedding ideas, before rolling out to additional international markets. Pinterest has reported that users who engaged with body type ranges had a 66% higher engagement rate per session than those who hadn't used the tool.
These tools require content. Lots of it, correctly tagged and representative. Creators whose work populates those categories are solving a product problem. The Inclusion Fund makes that labour visible.
What this means for social media professionals
Pinterest is explicitly paying for content that supports a product differentiator. That's a sharper model than most creator funds, which tend to blur brand positioning, representation goals and retention incentives into one line item.
For social strategists, it raises the question: what unique product features does your platform rely on that could justify direct creator compensation? If the answer is "none", you're funding goodwill, not infrastructure.
For creators working in beauty, fashion or lifestyle verticals with diverse representation already baked into their work, the fund offers one of the clearer ROI cases in platform support programmes. You're being paid for content that already exists in your workflow, provided it maps to Pinterest's technical requirements.
The geographic reshuffle, four markets out, one in, suggests the fund is being run with clearer performance data. Platforms rarely shrink programmes that are working everywhere. Expect future cohorts to follow measurable engagement lift, not symbolic reach.
Pinterest reports that participants in last year's programme increased their Pin saves by over 250%, and their outbound clicks 147 times, following completion. If you can demonstrate content that feeds the inclusive features and you're active elsewhere, the conversion case is there.
Applications close at 9pm ET on 3 August (2am BST, 4 August). The fund's sixth year suggests the model is durable, not experimental.
Applications close in two weeks and can be entered here. The fund's sixth year suggests the model is durable, not experimental.