Diversity & Inclusion Pledge The Balance is committed to answering all of your money questions, including the complex financial challenges facing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). In 2020, we set out to change how The Balance operates to ensure we’re effectively working toward equitable financial education for all. We started by taking the following actions: Our Anti-Bias Review Board (ABRB)—financial experts and professionals with a background in supporting diversity, inclusion, and racial justice initiatives—have reviewed content representing 76% of our traffic and identified places to better address systemic racism and its relationship to personal finances and the economy. We grew the number of BIPOC members of our editorial team (editors, writers, Financial Review Board members) from 5% to 20%. We took this action because we believe a team of people with different life experiences creates content that is more comprehensive, inclusive, and helpful to our readers. Amplify BIPOC perspectives and their place in the financial industry. We ran a 10-part series highlighting workers and small business owners affected by the pandemic, of which 30% came from BIPOC subjects. We have and will continue to publish collections of personal finance stories in 2021, with a priority of BIPOC voices. As a financial publisher, we are in a strong position to ensure all ethnicities, genders, generations, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds achieve financial literacy. We also understand that an important part of that mission includes showing how we got to where we are today and how bias and racism have played a part in our financial systems. In order to do that, we have re-committed ourselves to the following pledge. Content: We will specifically focus on improving our economics content. This content covers public policy, history, and the general state of the U.S. economy. We know this content is at the highest risk of misrepresenting the relationship between systemic racism and the economy, and it represents the one of the largest content areas we have on The Balance. We will work with the Anti-Bias Review Board to review the remaining 615 unreviewed articles (of 720 total) in our economics section and have every new piece of content reviewed by the ABRB before publication. People: While we’re focusing on the improvements of our articles, in order to truly have inclusive content, we need diverse voices creating, editing, and reviewing that content. We will continue to examine and improve our recruiting efforts so we are providing equal opportunities and sourcing diverse talent. Our goal is to increase BIPOC representation of our editorial team from 20% to 40%. Partnerships: We have not done enough work to leverage our influence and expertise in communities that need it most. We will align with organizations that work toward diversity, equity, and inclusion in the financial industry. In 2021, we pledge to partner with at least three organizations dedicated to improving financial literacy in BIPOC communities and amplifying diverse perspectives. We know there is no progress without accountability. We always promise to be transparent about our process. We will publicly provide a quarterly update on all these points and those we add to this page. Change is incumbent on us, and we encourage our readers to share their thoughts and ideas for improvement by emailing us at contact@thebalance.com.