By Jason Trimiew, Head of Supplier Diversity

In October 2016, Facebook launched its supplier diversity program to help diverse-owned companies do business with Facebook and use our platform to grow their business by connecting with the people and communities they serve. From the produce served in our cafes, to how our data centers are built, to the design and production of our global events, we know that having a more competitive and inclusive supply chain will help us deliver better services for our community. As our Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in announcing the initiative, “We know we’ll be more innovative and better serve our diverse partners by doing business with a diverse range of suppliers.”

Today, we are sharing that in 2017 we spent $204.9 million with US companies privately certified as majority-owned, operated and controlled by racial and ethnic minorities, women, veterans, LGBTQ people, and differently-abled entrepreneurs. We spent an additional $28.7 million with companies similarly certified with public programs at the local, state and federal level, like The California Public Utilities Commission. You can view more of this data on our Suppliers site where you can also register to be considered for doing business with Facebook as a diverse-owned company.

Diverse-owned companies bring experiences that inform how we develop our services, like how a minority and women-owned California-based digital agency helps Facebook employees understand how small and medium businesses use our products. They provide valuable customer insights, like the Ohio-based LGBT-owned experiential design firm that produced Facebook’s float for Seattle Pride. They operate with speed and scale like the Colorado-based women-owned firm which designs and builds cabling systems for our data centers.

There is much more we want to do to help diverse-owned companies compete for and win business with Facebook. Beyond procurement, our vision is for our products and services to transform the way these businesses connect to customers and each other. This week, as we celebrate National Minority Enterprise Development Week in partnership with the Minority Business Development Agency and participate in events being organized in Austin, Texas by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, we are encouraged about the unique role that Facebook can play in creating greater economic opportunity for diverse-owned firms and the communities that they serve.

For more information about Facebook Supplier Diversity, visit facebook.com/fbsupplierdiversity.