Creator Funds: A Complete Guide

Stepping into the world of social media, you’ve likely come across the term creator fund before. But what exactly is a creator fund, and how does one work?

In this complete guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about creator funds. Keep reading to learn all about the eligibility criteria for different funds, how you go about joining them and, most importantly, how you can start using them to earn money from the content you create!

Jump to…

• The YouTube creator funds
• The TikTok creator fund
• The Snapchat creator fund
• The Pinterest creator fund
• The Twitch creator funds
• The Facebook and Instagram creator funds

What are creator funds?

Creator funds are a way for social media companies to reward and compensate content creators for the content they produce on their accounts. Without content creators, social media would not function nearly as well since the whole business relies on new videos and images to keep users engaged.

In the early years of content creation, being unable to make money from within content-sharing platforms meant that creators often turned to outside sources for funding to help finance their work. But this search for sponsors can be incredibly difficult and time-consuming, especially if networking isn’t something that comes naturally to you! Ultimately, then, the struggle to secure investment from third parties became a real blocker in the creative processes of many content creators.

Social media platforms noticed this and realized they could offer their creators money for their efforts.

Creator funds help users monetize the content they post on social media. This allows creators to spend more time growing their platform, gaining more followers and establishing an online presence.

If the content performs well, you can even make a living from the videos and images you post and produce. After all, original content keeps people engaged online, so it’s a smart investment from social media platforms to support the creators that keep their users engaged. What would social media platforms be without their creators… practically nothing, right!

Platforms that pay creators

YouTube

Kicking things off with one of the most well-known and widely-used creator funds – the YouTube Partner Programme.

To be approved for YouTube’s Partner Programme, there are certain eligibility criteria that you must meet. These include clocking up a minimum of 3000 public watch hours in the last 12 months and gaining at least 500 subscribers.

Recently, with the rise of TikTok, the YouTube Shorts Fund was introduced to allow users to earn some money for posting short 60-second videos. To be eligible for this newer fund, Youtube content creators must have over 1,000 subscribers and 10 million views from short videos over a 90-day period.

Entrants must be at least 13 years of age, follow all of the YouTube community guidelines, and create original content. Simply by posting short-form videos, users can earn between $100 to $10,000 every month.

TikTok

From humble beginnings back in 2016, initially being launched to users in China under the name ‘Douyin’, TikTok quickly skyrocketed to international acclaim. By the end of 2022, the app had been downloaded over 3.5 billion times by people worldwide and had over 1 billion monthly active users. 

Introducing the TikTok Creator Fund was instrumental in galvanizing this growth by making it easier and more attractive for creators to use the platform to expand their audience bases and generate income. 

The reciprocal benefits come from TikTok being able to attract larger numbers of users by providing them with high-quality content that they can’t help but consume in mass. The logic? Support the creators, and they will, in turn, support you.

Although you shouldn’t expect to become a millionaire right away, you can earn between 2 and 4 cents for every 1,000 views you receive. For every one million views you could earn between $20 and $40. Although this might not seem a lot, if your account becomes popular with tens of millions of views per post, the TikTok Creator Fund can be a nice supplementary income.

To be eligible you must…

• Be over the age of 18
• Post original content
• Your content follows TikTok’s community guidelines
• You must have a Pro account with at least 10,000 followers
• Your videos must have gained a minimum of 100,000 views in the 30 days before your application

Snapchat

The Snapchat Spotlight Fund was created to reward users for producing high-quality content in response to specific challenges. Challenges are set on the trending page with dates and prizes explained.

Although the challenge may seem fun, you only win money if your snap performs the best. This type of creator fund allows you to earn a bonus for 24 hours after creating your submission.

However, this isn’t the only creator fund Snapchat has.

The Snapchat Sounds Creator Fund helps promote an artist’s music (similar to TikTok’s method of creating viral sounds). The scheme is designed to help up-and-coming artists gain recognition on the platform while receiving some rewards for their efforts. Top performing artists can earn anything from $5,000 a month to $100,000. 

In a statement made from Snapchat’s Global Head of Music Partnerships, Ted Suh said, “we want to support the independent and emerging artists that are driving creation on Snapchat. By providing meaningful funding and creative support, our goal is for artists to feel empowered to continue creating and pursue a career in music.” 

Not only will the extra money help fund software and equipment but Snapchat will be able to bring exposure to the artists work. 

For both of Snapchat’s creator funds, you must be at least 16 to participate and adhere to the community guidelines.

Pinterest

The Pinterest Creator Fund Program announced its new expansion in 2022 which introduced a fund cycle every quarter. This allows creators more access to resources, with each cycle focusing on a specific content area. Whether your Pinterest account centers around fashion and beauty, interior design, food or travel, you’ll receive dedicated funding. 

Users can also gain insights and Pinterest training from the experts who can coach them on growing their account.

Workshops will last for five weeks, allowing you time to digest all the advice and resources on offer. It’s possible users can be given brand partnerships, a $25,000 grant, ad credits and stipends on equipment for those participating in the creator fund. 

In order to apply to the fund, content creators must:

• Be from an underrepresented community such as the LGBTQ+, ethnic minorities and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds
• Have an active Pinterest account 
• Over 18 years old 
• Have over 1,000 followers
• You don’t benefit from other programs the platform offers
• You create content in the area of focus for the current funding cycle

Be prepared to commit to the required hours for the training and workshop sessions

Twitch

Through Twitch Affiliates and Twitch Partner programs, you can monetize your live streams. 

Whether you like streaming video game playthroughs or discussions with friends, these programs can offer Twitch streamers life-changing amounts of money to make content on the platform. Becoming one of these members, however, is no easy feat. 

In order to be eligible, you must have:

• A total of 500 minutes of broadcasting in the last 30 days.
• 3 concurrent viewers or more over the last 30 days.
• At least 50 Followers.

Once you’re on the Twitch Affiliate program, you’ll be able to make money from subscribers, ads and bits.

Facebook and Instagram (Meta)

Since Instagram became part of Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s creator funds have become intertwined. 

CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, invested over $1 billion into Facebook and Instagram’s creator fund in 2021 which allowed creators to monetize their content. 

If users are able to complete certain milestones, they’ll receive a bonus from the fund. You can receive these bonuses through how well your content performs and whether you can reach earning targets for in-app gifts, fan subscriptions and virtual events. 

Instagram also offers its own, separate creator bonus program which is invite-only. Creators must have more followers and engagement than the Facebook program to be eligible. If you get onto the program you can expect to receive bonuses from IGTV, badges and reels.

Are creator funds worth it?

Creator funds are what you make of them. If you intend on becoming a full-time content creator, then landing yourself one of these schemes can certainly help fund your projects. But in order to do so, you need to create high-quality content that resonates with your audience.  

It’s also important to capture people’s attention. Engagement is key to success on social media and if you can keep people invested in your content with relevant music and trends, you can increase the chances of holding down an audience.

That being said, you may not see yourself earning the big bucks for quite some time, so it’s important to have a stable income first before you decide to dedicate your time to creating content. Making sponsored content and working with brand deals can help in the meantime, however.

To help you grow your channel/audience and get you closer to monetizing, while ensuring you avoid any copyright infringement, you should check out Lickd. The world’s first mainstream music licensing platform for creators, offering creators a way to finally use music from huge artists without breaking copyright laws and suffering from copyright claims. Check out songs from Lizzo, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, David Guetta and tons more that you can use in your videos from as little as $8, plus unlimited stock music with a low monthly subscription- so you’re covered for all your music needs.

FAQs

How much do creator funds pay content creators?

Each creator fund is different for each platform. At the root, the amount of pay will be determined by how many views, followers and likes you receive on a post. 

As mentioned, keeping engagement up is important and can be done through using popular music (you can rely on Lickd here!) and trends that are currently circulating. With enough persistence, you can see yourself earning anywhere between a few $100 to millions.

Do creator accounts get more followers?

Although you’ll need a certain amount of followers before you can qualify for the creator funds, once you have an account, you can expect your follower count to grow. This will only happen, however, if you continue to post regularly.

What’s happening to Meta’s Reels Play bonus program?

Meta have announced that they will be ending their Reels Play bonus program which rewards creators for reaching a certain number of views. 

A spokesperson at Meta, Paige Cohen has stated that, “[Meta] are evolving the test of [there] Reels Play bonus on Instagram and Facebook as [they] focus on investing in a suite of monetization solutions to help creators earn steady streams of income. We will look into ways to run the program in a more targeted form, for example in potential new markets.”

The program was initially introduced to compete with TikTok but has struggled to see any consistent growth, resulting in smaller amounts of money being given to creators.

Learn more about Creator Funds with Lickd

The digital world is a very lucrative place if you play your cards right. From sponsorship, brand deals and affiliate programmes, there are plenty of ways to earn money from your content. 

Lickd’s music licensing for videos allows you to use popular mainstream music within your content without being demonetized or penalized. From George Ezra to Eliza Rose, sign up for a 14-day free trial and check out our bank of viral hits from huge artists to use in your videos.

Check out more of our blog articles about how you can take your content creation to the next level.