Bumble bridges support for LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter with in-app campaign

As Americans began rallying for racial equality and justice for the death of George Floyd at the beginning of June, several brands postponed their original Pride plans or announced that they would incorporate Black Lives Matter support into their Pride initiatives. Bumble is one of the first brands to announce its new merged Pride, Black Lives Matter initiative. On Monday, the female-focused dating app announced a new in-app campaign that asks users to nominate LGBTQ+ organizations that support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) the company can support with donations. Bumble is looking to donate $5,000 each to select organizations that provide services for at-risk committees, such as bail and mutual aid funds. The campaign gives Bumble's 5 million U.S. users the opportunity to take action through June 30. In-app prompts on all three of the company’s apps—Bumble Date, Bumble BFF and Bumble Buzz—guide users to nominate an organization of their choice, or ask for donations if they happen to lead a community group that caters to LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. The brand has also introduced a call to action on its website. “Pride and racial justice aren’t mutually exclusive,” said Kyra Seay, special projects manager at Bumble, in a statement. “As ongoing supporters of Pride month, we have to acknowledge the BIPOC who founded this movement and those who continue to fight for their rights today. Trans people of color have been on the frontlines of fighting for fundamental human rights for decades—such as leading the Stonewall Riots, which are widely credited with starting the gay liberation movement. Today, it’s more important than ever to honor that history and work to support LGBTQ+ BIPOC.” Bumble was one of the first brands to speak out about racial injustice and to release details of how it would go about making changes. On May 29, the company announced in an Instagram post: “We have work to do. We are listening.” The post declared it would make donations to the AAPI Civic Fund and the NAACP, and look into how it can make “policy and product improvements to address racism and unconscious bias,” among other steps. It later announced it would donate $1 million across the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Women’s Health Imperative, the Austin Justice Coalition and community bail funds across the U.S. View this post on Instagram We’ve had a lot of tough conversations within our company about how to respond to the injustices of the past week, and the systemic racism that confronts our country and our Bumble community. Bumble has always had a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism, hatred, and bigotry of any kind — both as a business and on our platforms, including within our app. Our priority is to do the work. As a company, and as a community, we’ve made some immediate decisions to prioritize the wellbeing of our employees, many of whom are hurting. 👉We’re expanding our mental health guidance for Bumble employees to ensure they have the space and support to process traumatic news events. 👉We’re taking a close look internally at how we can consistently facilitate open conversations about racism and violence, not just during a news cycle. 👉We’re making donations to the AAPI Civic Fund and the NAACP, non-profits led by, respectively, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Black Americans. We will continue to evaluate all of our non-profit donations and partnerships through a lens of intersectionality. 👉We’re looking at how we can make product and policy improvements to address racism and unconscious bias, led by our internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion solution squads. 👉We’ll continue our work with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to root out hate speech within our app, employing artificial intelligence to identify hate symbols and using the ADL’s research and terminology as our standard. 👉If you experience any form of racism on Bumble, please use our Block and Report feature so we can investigate each case appropriately. Your safety is paramount, especially during this time of heightened fear and targeted harassment. You can also reach out to our team for support at any time (bumble.com/safety). We know we have work to do. We are listening. This isn’t a one-off post. More to come. Black Lives Matter. A post shared by Bumble (@bumble) on May 29, 2020 at 5:02pm PDT Bumble also participated in #ShareTheMicNow campaign last week on Instagram, which aimed to amplify voices of black women through platforms with large social followings. Bumble, which has 535,000 followers on Instagram, gave its platform over to Macketta Johns, a member of the app’s social team. View this post on Instagram - Centering Black voices, including those amplified by #ShareTheMicNow, is so important. In support, we will be sharing BIPOC perspectives across our own social platforms. - Today, meet Macketta (@thesassynortherner), a member of Team Social here @bumble. Pause, and listen to what she has to say about microaggressions. - For more on how we’re taking action and holding ourselves accountable in addressing systemic racism, head to our Instagram story highlight “Black Lives Matter.” 👆 A post shared by Bumble (@bumble) on Jun 10, 2020 at 1:05pm PDT Bumble's new initiative is just one example of how brands are assessing how they can do their part this month, even with previously scheduled Pride plans. Hard seltzer brand Truly has revamped a digital billboard initially for its Pride campaign to read: Black Lives Matter; and nonprofit GLAAD is recommending that its brand partners rework their Pride campaigns to center on black LGBTQ+ individuals. “At Bumble, our job is to ensure that our community—no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity—can love freely and safely,” the brand wrote in a Monday blog post, which also shares resources around how BIPOC has led the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. “But in order to do that, Black members of our community must first be able to live freely and safely.”

Bumble bridges support for LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter with in-app campaign

Featured Stories