U.S. Tech giant Facebook will be donating $200 million to support Black-owned businesses, black content creators and organizations that support the black community, the company announced in a blog post on Thursday.
Of the $200 million fund, $25 million will go to Black content creators, and $75 million in cash grants and ad credits will go to Black-owned businesses and nonprofits that serve the Black community, Facebook explained. The remaining $100 million (an annual commitment) will be spent with Black-owned suppliers. That’s part of Facebook’s larger goal to spend at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers next year and every year after.
“We’ve been speaking with Black business owners to understand how we can best support them, and in the short term, we’ve heard that financial support can go a long way, especially during a pandemic and economic downturn,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post.
Zuckerberg added Facebook is aiming to double its Black and Latinx employees by the end of 2023. Over the next five years, the social media company has pledged to have 30% more Black people in leadership roles.
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It comes as Black Lives Matter protests are continuing across the US and globally as people demonstrate against the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and against systemic racism.
To help fight systemic racism, Facebook is setting up a program called Elevate that’s aimed at providing free training in digital skills, “from setting up an online presence to creating marketing materials and more.”
The social media giant is also giving away 100,000 scholarships to Black students who are developing digital skills through the Facebook Blueprint program.
The black lives matter movements was sparked by George Floyd’s death and when it first started, Facebook was heavily criticize for donating $10 million various groups that fight against racial injustice, as well as its COVID-19 donations.
Other tech companies have also pledge their financial support to the black community, for instance, Apple the owners of iPhone pledged $100 million to foster racial equity.
Google said it will contribute $175 million and YouTube has committed $100 million.
