The Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR) is a coalition of corporations that each spend more than $1 billion annually with certified diverse suppliers at the Tier 1 level. It was founded in 2001 to recognize and promote best practices in corporate supplier diversity. Membership is voluntary and requires annual verification of spend data.
For diverse suppliers, the BDR membership list is one of the most useful targeting tools available. Every BDR member corporation is, by definition, spending at scale with diverse businesses. They have active supplier diversity programs, dedicated supplier diversity staff, and established processes for onboarding and developing certified suppliers.
How BDR membership works
To join the Billion Dollar Roundtable, a corporation must demonstrate that it spent at least $1 billion with certified diverse Tier 1 suppliers in a single fiscal year. The spend must be with businesses certified by recognized bodies: NMSDC, WBENC, NGLCC, Disability:IN, NaVOBA, or comparable credentialing organizations. Self-certification and unverified diverse-owned spend do not count toward the threshold.
The BDR verifies spend data annually. Members must re-qualify each year. A corporation that falls below the $1 billion threshold in a given year can lose its membership.
As of 2024, BDR membership includes roughly 30 corporations. The full membership list is published on the BDR's website at billiondollarroundtable.org. Members include:
- Toyota
- AT&T
- Ford Motor Company
- IBM
- Johnson & Johnson
- Walmart
- Bank of America
- Chevron
- Dell Technologies
- General Motors
The list changes annually as new corporations qualify and existing members report updated spend figures.
What BDR membership signals
When a corporation holds BDR membership, it signals several things about that buyer:
Active supplier diversity infrastructure: BDR members have dedicated supplier diversity departments, usually led by a Director or VP of Supplier Diversity. They have supplier portals, onboarding processes, and systems for tracking diverse spend. This is not a corporation where supplier diversity is a PR exercise.
Scale of opportunity: $1 billion in annual diverse spend means significant contract volume across a wide range of categories — professional services, IT, marketing, logistics, manufacturing, facilities, and more.
Established relationships with certifying bodies: BDR members work directly with NMSDC regional councils and WBENC regional partners. They attend matchmaking events, participate in mentor-protege programs, and sponsor the certifying bodies financially. The BDR members are the buyers that NMSDC and WBENC built their networks to serve.
Executive commitment: Sustaining $1 billion in diverse spend requires CEO-level support and cross-functional coordination. Procurement teams, finance, legal, and operations all have to be aligned. That's a meaningfully different environment from a company where supplier diversity is managed by one person with no budget authority.
How to get into the pipeline
Getting into a BDR member's supplier pipeline is a process, not an event. It typically takes 12 to 24 months from first contact to first purchase order.
Start with certification: BDR members count only certified spend. You need an NMSDC MBE, WBENC WBE, NGLCC LGBTBE, Disability:IN DOBE, or comparable certification before you'll be taken seriously by their supplier diversity teams.
Use the certifying body networks: NMSDC regional affiliate councils and WBENC regional partners maintain relationships with BDR member corporations in their geography. Many regional councils host matchmaking events where certified diverse suppliers meet procurement officers from member corporations. These are the most direct path to an introduction. NMSDC's annual conference (National Minority Supplier Development Conference) brings together the full national membership.
Use the supplier portals: Most BDR members maintain online supplier registration portals. These are searchable by procurement teams when they have active sourcing needs. Being registered does not guarantee contact, but not being registered guarantees you won't be found. The BDR's member list includes links to member websites where supplier portals can be located.
Target specific categories: Supplier diversity teams don't control all procurement. They advocate and facilitate, but actual buying decisions are made by category managers and business unit leaders. Once you've established a relationship with the supplier diversity team, ask them to make an introduction to the category manager who buys what you sell. This is where deals happen.
Develop a track record with smaller corporate buyers first: If you've never had a Fortune 500 client, a BDR member corporation is a long shot for a first corporate account. Build a reference base with mid-market or regional corporate buyers. When you approach the BDR member, you have a story to tell.
Tier 2 as an entry point
For businesses that aren't yet ready to sell directly to a BDR member, Tier 2 is a viable path. BDR members are increasingly asking their Tier 1 suppliers — often large non-diverse companies — to report diverse subcontracting spend. Those Tier 1 suppliers need certified diverse firms to work with.
A company that supplies IT services to Toyota doesn't have to sell directly to Toyota to count toward Toyota's BDR spend figures. If Toyota's Tier 1 IT supplier subcontracts to your certified MBE firm, that spend rolls up into Toyota's supplier diversity metrics.
The BDR has published formal guidance on Tier 2 best practices, including recommended reporting protocols and verification standards. Corporations that take Tier 2 seriously — and many BDR members do — actively encourage their Tier 1 suppliers to source from certified diverse firms.
To pursue Tier 2 with BDR members: - Identify the major Tier 1 suppliers of the BDR member corporations you're targeting - Contact those Tier 1 companies' supplier diversity or procurement teams directly - Propose subcontracting arrangements that help them build their own diverse spend portfolio
The BDR and Tier 2 reporting
The BDR publishes a periodic "Best Practices" report (available at billiondollarroundtable.org) that details how member corporations approach supplier diversity program design, Tier 2 data collection, and category management. The report is useful for understanding how these programs are structured and what they're measuring.
One consistent theme in recent BDR reports: the shift from voluntary diverse spend goals to contractually required Tier 2 reporting in supplier agreements. An increasing number of BDR members require their Tier 1 suppliers to report annual diverse subcontractor spend as a condition of the supplier agreement, rather than just requesting it.
BDR vs the companies that just aspire to membership
The BDR threshold — $1 billion — means that many Fortune 500 companies are not members. A corporation might have an active supplier diversity program and spend $200 million annually with diverse suppliers without qualifying for BDR membership.
This doesn't mean non-BDR corporations are less committed. It means they're smaller or have different procurement structures. For diverse suppliers, the practical implication is: don't limit your target list to BDR members. The BDR list is a good starting point, but the universe of corporations with meaningful supplier diversity programs is much larger.
NMSDC's member corporation list — which includes the full set of corporations participating in the NMSDC network, not just the BDR subset — has several hundred member companies. WBENC's corporate member list has similar breadth. Both are available to certified diverse suppliers through their respective portals.
Next steps
- Get certified through NMSDC, WBENC, NGLCC, Disability:IN, or NaVOBA before attempting to engage BDR member corporations. Uncertified spend doesn't count toward their goals.
- Review the current BDR membership list at billiondollarroundtable.org and identify which members are in your industry or buy in your product/service category.
- Join your NMSDC regional affiliate council or WBENC regional partner organization and attend matchmaking events. BDR member corporations are the primary buyers at these events.
- Register in BDR member supplier portals. Most large corporations maintain online portals. Search "[Company name] supplier diversity portal" to find the right registration page.
- Develop your capability statement with specific references to certifications, NAICS codes, past performance with comparable buyers, and capacity. A generic one-pager won't move the conversation forward.
- Consider Tier 2 as a first step if you're earlier stage. Target the Tier 1 suppliers of BDR members in your category rather than the BDR member directly.
