Pinterest creators fund – How to Apply and tips for success

Are you a business owner who is looking for some help getting your Pinterest account off the ground? If so, you may be interested in the new Pinterest creators fund. This program provides financial assistance to businesses that want to create original content for their Pinterest pages. In this blog post, we’ll tell you how to apply for the creators fund and offer some tips for success. Keep reading to learn more!

The Pinterest creators fund is part of the Pinterest creators program they have set aside a huge chunk of money to pay creators to create idea pins. Idea pins are Pinterest’s versions of Instagram stories.

Each month you are given a set of goals to try and achieve, and if you achieve those goals, you will earn money. Every month the goals are different, and each one has certain stipulations that you have to achieve for you to be able to earn the money.

Now that the basics are covered, let’s take a deep dive. 

How to Get on the Pinterest Creators Fund 2022

Currently, Pinterest is opening the Pinterest creators fund every three months. As of today, August 2nd, 2022, the applications are open, but they close tomorrow, so if you were reading this and you want to apply next time it’s open, it’s probably going to open at the beginning of the year, maybe December I feel like it’s been every three months or so just pay attention to that and keep looking to make sure when the applications are open if you sign up for my email list I do notify people I check every couple days to make sure it’s open especially when it gets closer to the quarter start. I read that somewhere, or maybe it was one of my contacts at Pinterest who said that I am not sure, but it seems to hold pretty true.

Before you apply for the program, you want to make sure that you’re part of the Pinterest Community, and you also want to make sure you are pinning idea pins currently. There are a few guidelines and requirements for this current application that’s open today, but it has changed every single time, so in the future, it may be different, or it may not be I am not sure, but if you happen to be reading this and want to try and apply click here.

Pinterest currently says this is a grant program, and members can receive grants, but all I have noticed is every month you have about five goals to try and achieve, and if you do them, you get paid out. In the beginning, the payouts were much higher than they are now, but they are still worth it, in my opinion.

I haven’t earned as much in any other creators’ program as I have on Pinterest. Below is a screenshot of the current August 2022 goals to achieve; so as you can see, you have to post one idea pain for a week, and then also the rest of them are pretty much you have to reach a certain number of saves.

The save goals are really hard to achieve unless you have something, in my opinion, go semi-mini viral. It just depends on the idea of the pain I feel like, in one month, it’s really hard to get these idea pins to take off that much, and I know a lot of people are playing the save for save game, and still not seeing the results.

Luckily they do have a goal now that can be made for 15 total pins, but still, that means you have to upload almost 30 or so idea pins in one month, which is a lot of content.

How to Apply for Pinterest Creator Reward Program or Creators Fund

When it is open, you will have to apply for the rewards program. It has been a Google form the last few times and each time the requirements are different. Keep in mind I have had clients make it in when they don’t meet all requirements, so it’s worth the shot to at least apply.

This is the exact snippet from Pinterest about how to apply for the Pinterest Creators Fund on their help page:

Creator Rewards is a program for creators to earn money for creating original Idea Pins in response to monthly reward goals created by Pinterest. Pinterest will pay creators directly for their most inspiring, quality content and organic engagement.

To be eligible for the Creator Rewards program, you’ll need to have a Pinterest business account and meet the following criteria:

• Use the Pinterest app on your mobile phone
• Be 18 years or over
• Be a legal resident of, and located in, the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
• Have at least 250 followers
• Have created at least three Idea Pins in the last 30 days
• Have 150 saves of your published Pins in the last 30 days
• Create original content

You can apply for Creator Rewards through the Pinterest app. If you’re eligible, you’ll be able to tap Get started. If you do not meet the eligibility criteria yet, you will not have the ability to apply.

• Web 
• Android 
• iOS

Creator Rewards is currently only available on mobile devices on the Pinterest app, versions 9.33 or higher. Update your Pinterest app to the latest version to use Creator Rewards.

The Pinterest Creator Funds Application

So above is an overall requirement, and these are the listed requirements below for this round of applications. It has been different every other time.

This is the exact snippet from the current ( august 2022) Pinterest Creators Fund application:

The Creator Fund program’s mission is to reduce the barrier to success on Pinterest for those creators from historically marginalized communities who’ve been disproportionately underrepresented. Our goal is to foster creator talent through financial and educational support.

Who can Apply:

The Creator Fund is focused on the growth and success of underrepresented creators: of color, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. For this cycle, we’ll be focusing on Health & Wellness creators.

Creator Fund Application Requirements:

– Identifies as being part of an underrepresented community

– US-based (with a Pinterest account)

– 18+ years old

– Has more than 1K but under 10K followers on Pinterest

– Is looking to grow content creation skills on Pinterest

– Has yet to monetize content

– Creates Health & Wellness content

– Can commit to office hours & program sessions

How to participate in the Pinterest Creators Fund Program Goals

The Pinterest Creators Fund or also called the Pinterest Rewards Program is a program you can join to earn money. It is not the same thing as the Pinterest Creator Community. It is on the app only under the creators portal tab. On the creators portal tab, there is a section titled EARN. If you have access to this, you are in the creator fund or rewards program.

“Pinterest will post new reward goals on a frequent basis, and new reward goals will typically be released at the start of each month. Creators can participate in a reward goal by creating and submitting an Idea Pin in response to the prompt. Each reward goal will have a description, payout amounts, and requirements. You can only submit an Idea Pin to one reward goal at a time.

Make sure your content meets the reward goal requirements and Community guidelines to be eligible for payout within the reward goal time frame. Review best practices to create a successful Idea Pin and the Creator Rewards Terms of Service for more payout information.

• Web 
• Android 
• iOS

Creator Rewards is currently only available on mobile devices on the Pinterest app, versions 9.33 or higher. Update your Pinterest app to the latest version to use Creator Rewards.

Progress updates for your Pin will appear after 48 hours, after meeting the engagement requirements for a reward goal. You can view the reward goals you’ve opted into under the In progress tab. You can find your completed reward goals, progress and earnings under the Done tab.” – Pinterest.

What Type of Idea Pins Work for the Pinterest Creators Fund

Each goal is different, but there are a few things that are required or against the rules for creating idea pens that can be accepted for each goal. 

Goal Submission and Review Process

Each month there are multiple goals you can submit your idea pins to. These change every month and so do the requirements. Below is the information they share on submitting idea pins for the goals.

“Once you’ve submitted your Idea Pin toward a reward goal, you’ll see a status of either ‘In review’, ‘Accepted’ or ‘Not accepted’ next to your Pin.

• In review means your Pin(s) have been submitted to a challenge. Pin(s) submitted may or may not be approved for payment. Pin(s) may remain in ‘In review’ for the full duration of the reward goal. For example, if a challenge required ‘One Idea Pin per week’ in a given month, all Pins would remain ‘In review’ until all were reviewed.
• Accepted means your Pin(s) have passed all checks and are no longer in review. Your Pin has been approved for payment. 
• Not accepted means your Pin(s) did not meet the required challenge criteria and will not be approved for payment. “ – Pinterest

Pinterest creators fund eligibility

There are a lot of rules for creating idea pins that are eligible for the goals. Here is the entire snippet from Pinterest on the Pinterest Creators fund eligibility requirements:

Reward Goals will be posted in the Earn tab. Eligible User Content must be (i) wholly original; (ii) must not have been previously published on Pinterest or submitted for any other program/promotion; (iii) comply with our Best Practices; (iv) meet all reward goal criteria; (v) if you endorse Pinterest, clearly and conspicuously disclose your participation in the Creator Rewards goal; (vi) comply with our Community Guidelines; (vii) must not include a watermark from a third party platform, and (viii) otherwise comply with these Terms.  You must have all necessary third party rights, including copyrights (e.g., in music/lyrics), trademarks, and rights of publicity, in order to grant Pinterest the rights described herein. The submitted User Content cannot include paid, sponsored, or promoted content, and cannot be manually boosted.  In addition, your User Content cannot be associated with any invalid traffic (such as incentivized or artificial views) or spam-like activities, which will be determined by Pinterest’s sole discretion. For goals that include engagement criteria, your engagement with your own User Content will not be eligible to meet the criteria, nor will multiple engagements by a single user (e.g., your Take of your own Idea Pin will not be considered a valid engagement; if a user posts multiple Takes in response to your Idea Pin, only one will be considered a valid engagement). Pinterest reserves the right to refuse or limit submissions. Pinterest’s decisions are final in all matters relating to Creator Rewards.

In short, to be eligible:

• It must be original
• No other watermarks or even coding from downloading from another app ( if you download from another app they will code it, and Pinterest can tell)
• You must have permission or rights for the sound or music ( this is where I think a lot of people go wrong)
• Cannot tag any affiliate links or products
• Cannot promote the idea (as of this month, idea pins are now able to be promoted)

If you read through their guidelines, they basically say they can deny any idea pin for pretty much any reason. Your best bet is to spend the time creating quality videos and not worry about whether or not they will be accepted for the tiniest reasons. Just keep these main ones in mind and create good content.

Cons of the Pinterest Rewards Program

There are a few cons to this program, especially now that the payouts are not as good.

• Creating enough idea pins for all of the rewards is time-consuming
• They all need to be videos
• You cannot make money off of them with affiliate links
• Only the first 7k participation limit (more details below on this)
• Only four weeks to get the idea pin circulating
• These pins will be around forever and won’t have affiliate links on them, so that will hurt you down the road.
• They cannot easily follow you or go to your website from the idea pin (like TikTok has the plus button to follow)
• Pinterest is showing related and shoppable pins next to each idea pin which takes away from your video and brand

Here is a screenshot of that from an idea pin of mine on my desktop.

One of the cons I mentioned above is the 7k participant limit. Which are their exact words. Not eligible or accepted pins. They mean the first 7k to participate in the goal.

So that means, in my mind, that you cannot wait until the last day of the month to submit your goals, or you might be over the limit.

I have clients and friends who do that so they can earn the most amount depending on the goal, but then their pins aren’t accepted after all. I believe it’s because of this limit. So I suggest weighing your options and deciding when to add your idea pin to the goal and be careful you don’t wait too long.

Pros of The Pinterest Rewards Program

• It’s new, and they are pushing them, so users see an intake in engagement and impressions. Don’t forget to get a click you first need an impression!
• The stories never disappear.
• You can tag topics to help your SEO
• Younger users are used to this type of video and will engage in it more over time.
• It’s a great way to showcase your brand and face so people can recognize more of you and your branding
• You can add idea pins on a desktop which I prefer myself it’s way quicker for me to type out text and information
• This program is making me actually add idea pins more regularly and forces me to be manually on the app and engage with my audience, which I don’t do enough of since I am always just using Tailwind.

Tips to Earn More Idew Pin Saves

Now that you are familiar with the program and hopefully are in the program, you will need to get more saves to meet the requirements and earn the goal payouts. Here are a few tips on how to get more saves on your idea pins.

• Create good content (easier said than done, I know)
• Ask for saves. Ask in the text on the screen or in the title section
• Use good SEO, so the idea pin is found more in search results. The more eyes on it, the more likely to get those saves.
• Add the idea pins to Tailwind Communities
• Ask your followers or email subscribers to save them
• Save and engage on other people’s idea pins. they will see the notifications and your handle and might save in return

Pinterest Creators Fund UK

The program is available in the UK and Brazil. I do not have a lot of information on their program but check out the article to read more about it!

Pinterest Creators Fund Reddit

So there have been a ton of people who have earned tens of thousands, yes, tens of thousands of dollars on this program. That was in the beginning, though. There are also people who thought they were going to get paid a lot of money, but their idea pins were not accepted, so there are some interesting Reddit threads on the subject.

Pinterest Creators Fund Expansion

There has been various news articles and announcements on Pinterest Creators Fund expansion and talk about the program getting more money to extend the program and offer more funds. This article about the Pinterest Creators fund expansion is a good read.

I do notice in a lot of these articles they say things like this:

In addition to the cash grants, ad credits and an equipment stipend, the Creator Fund recipients will be presented with opportunities for brand partnerships and access to creator-focused conferences, and will get a first look at new Pinterest products, the company says.

Business of homehttps://businessofhome.com/articles/pinterest-announces-1-2-million-for-underrepresented-creators

Stating that the program offers grants and ad credits. I have not seen that, and I have been in it from the beginning. If they do offer that then they must reach out to people on their own and I do not have any clients that have heard anything about that as well.

How to Make Money on Pinterest

That’s it for our guide on how to apply for the Pinterest Creators Fund. We hope you found it helpful! Now, go forth and start creating amazing pins that will make money for your business. Need some inspiration? Be sure to follow us on Pinterest for tons of great ideas. And don’t forget to pin this post so you can come back to it later.

If you liked this blog post and want to learn more, check out my recent blog post for more Pinterest information.

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