Our Diversity & Inclusion Pledge

In 2020, we created and shared a concrete plan to make our team and our site more inclusive and to elevate a diversity of voices. Our goal is to evolve into a site that truly helps every pet owner find the health and care information they are looking for.

While we are committed to the initiatives outlined below, we acknowledge that change requires time and patience, and that we might make mistakes along the way. To hold ourselves accountable, we will share our progress and updates regularly. If you have any questions about our plan, suggestions for how we can improve it, or referrals for contributors to hire or creators to feature, please email us: contact@thesprucepets.com. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

1. Diversify our staff. As of April 2021, 25% of The Spruce Pets editorial staff identifies as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). We have ensured that BIPOC candidates are considered for each open role we’ve posted since July, 2020. We interview at least one BIPOC candidate for every open role.
2. Diversify contributor network. At the Spruce Pets, the majority of our content is written by veterinarians and contributing writers who are experts in the topic areas that they cover, and photographed by a network of in-house and freelance photographers. Our parent company, Dotdash, is working on formally auditing the diversity of our contributors, and our goal continues to be ensuring at least 25% of regular Spruce Pets contributors identify as members of the BIPOC community. We consistently look to BIPOC-centric sites to source our photographers. When contracting with vendors for original photography and video shoots, we will continue to make a concerted effort to work with BIPOC owned businesses.
3. Diversify review boards. Part of our editorial process is to have certain articles—those that make medical claims or may affect the health, safety or finances of our readers—reviewed by industry professionals. (Learn more about our veterinary review board). We pledge to continue sourcing our new review board members from BIPOC-centric sites.
4. Normalize highlighting BIPOC voices across social media. We are committed to diversifying the network of creators we work with on social media, particularly on Instagram, the platform on which we’re most active. Our original goal stated that we’d strive to feature a minimum of 25% of creators who identify as BIPOC, with the intent of increasing BIPOC representation over time. As of April, 2021, at least 33% of content posted to The Spruce's Instagram account reflects BIPOC voices.

Thank you to our readers for inspiring us to do more, and to do better.

Melanie Berliet, General Manager

Emily Manchester, Editorial & Strategy Director

The Spruce Pets Team

Giving Back

IAC, which owns The Spruce Pets, has long supported organizations fighting structural inequity and racial injustice, including The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Equal Justice Initiative, Reclaim the Block, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, ACLU, and The Bail Project. Additionally, just last year, IAC launched IAC Fellows, an immersive education program designed to empower high-achieving students from underserved and under-resourced communities.