How We Will Improve the Diversity and Inclusiveness of Investopedia and Our Content

We publish the work of so many writers, photographers, and illustrators, but too few are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC). We will change that. BIPOC communities continue to face challenges unique to them as they interact with the financial system, and we will do more to help address those challenges. This will be an ongoing process that we will continue to communicate and update here. Below are the initial actions we pledged to take, and you’ll see updates on progress beneath each:

1. Improve the diversity of perspectives at Investopedia by actively recruiting more BIPOC editorial contributors and staff.

We pledge to diversify the faces and voices at Investopedia, with a goal of reaching at least 40% BIPOC editorial contributors and staff, specifically targeting at least 15% Black contributors and staff. We will communicate our progress on a regular basis. Ultimately, we want to reflect all ethnicities, genders, generations, sexual preferences, and socioeconomic backgrounds to ensure we are elevating and empowering those with different points of view.

12/8 Update: We’ve continued to evolve our recruiting and sourcing tactics to improve the number of BIPOC candidates being considered for both freelance and staff opportunities.

2. Improve the inclusiveness of our content by reviewing and updating our most-read content.

We will dedicate time and resources to educate ourselves on areas of bias and blindspots in our coverage. We will use those learnings to audit and inform new and updated content for tone, voice, clarity, and to shine a light on the institutional racism within the financial and investment sectors. Collectively, our content reaches more than 19 million people in the U.S. every month. We pledge to review and update our top articles that will reach approximately 70% of the visitors to our site for a focus on inclusiveness by November 30, 2020.

12/8 Update: Ramping up our reviewing and updating efforts was slower than anticipated in Q2 and Q3 but we are moving at a much better pace and are on pace to hit 70% by end of year. Our anti-bias review board has been doing an exceptional job of identifying issues of bias and providing actionable feedback for us to improve the stories. 

3. Improve financial literacy within Black communities.

Statistics show that financial literacy is not equal across all races and ethnicities, which means we need to take a more targeted approach to enact change. In the coming weeks, we will launch a series of articles around specific financial challenges facing Black people to help them navigate those challenges. We’ll also be actively seeking organizations with the mission of improving financial literacy in Black communities that we can partner with to amplify their impact, with details that we’ll share here as we know more.

12/8 Partnership Updates:

4. Improve awareness of the importance of diversity in companies.

We will encourage other companies to focus on diversity and inclusion by holding them accountable, as we hold ourselves accountable. We will highlight where companies, particularly financial product and service companies, stand on anti-racism, diversity, and social responsibility through our existing reviews, profiles, and analysis so that our readers can make educated purchasing and investing decisions.

12/8 Update: We are continuing to add diversity and inclusiveness reporting to our major investing guides, as an example you can see the coverage of Apple in our Investing in Apple guide.

This work will continuously evolve, and there is no progress without accountability. This is the beginning of a permanent and necessary shift in how we serve the financial community. We promise to be transparent about our progress and to regularly update you on this page. We encourage our readers to share their thoughts and ideas for improvement by emailing us at inv_editorial@investopedia.com.