Airbnb will give its own nonprofit 10 cents from every stay, aiming for 1 million free nights of crisis housing a year
The per-stay gift began Oct. 28, and Airbnb says it will help bring its charity $500 million over five years. The money goes to the company's own nonprofit, which books free stays for people in crisis, not to an open grant program.
San Francisco. Airbnb began on Oct. 28 to set aside 10 cents of its revenue from every completed stay for its own charity, the nonprofit the company founded in 2020 to give people in crisis free, temporary housing. The company says the money will help bring the charity $500 million over five years and put it on a path to 1 million free nights a year.
The money does not go out as grants to other charities. It goes to Airbnb's own 501(c)(3), registered with the IRS as Airbnb Org Inc., a separate organization based in San Francisco whose operating costs Airbnb covers. The nonprofit pays hosts for the stays and gives the people it houses credits to book a home on Airbnb, while local nonprofits and government partners identify who needs a stay, the company said.
How the money is counted
Guests pay no more and hosts receive no less, Airbnb said, and neither has to opt in. Stays canceled before check-in and bookings of experiences or services do not count.
The nonprofit's own page on the arrangement adds detail the release leaves out. The $500 million combines the per-stay gifts with additional support from Airbnb and other donors, and the goal is to reach 1 million nights a year by 2030. Airbnb makes its contributions in cash and in kind through the year. No part of a guest's payment for a stay is tax deductible, and either organization may change or end the arrangement at any time.
Beyond disasters
Since 2020 the nonprofit has provided more than 1.6 million nights of free housing to more than 250,000 people in nearly 140 countries, according to the release. This year it has housed people after more than 200 disasters, against eight in 2023.
The new money will also widen its work. By the end of 2026 it plans to house families traveling for medical care in more than 20 countries; its partner in the United States is Children's Miracle Network, with others in Australia, Brazil, Canada and Spain. A new program will offer free stays to survivors of domestic violence and exploitation who have left unsafe situations, with Peace House in Utah among its partners. For veterans facing serious illness or intensive treatment, it is working with Fisher House Foundation, Dream Foundation and Operation Healing Forces.
The effort grew out of 2012, when an Airbnb host opened her home to people displaced by Hurricane Sandy and other hosts followed, the company said.
“Fourteen years ago, after Hurricane Sandy hit, one host opened her home to people who had nowhere else to go.”
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