Airbnb has awarded over 150 organisations around the world with Airbnb Community Fund grants, as part of its community upliftment investment.
The hospitality booking site created the Airbnb Community Fund to distribute $100 million over 10 years to organisations and stakeholders that play an important role in the communities in which its hosts live, including $10 million to be distributed throughout 2021.
According to Airbnb, in SA, the community fund will donate more than $250 000 to organisations, including African Angels, Infinite Family, Love Story Foundation and Gift of the Givers.
These organisations are working to meet unprecedented needs brought about by the pandemic, and focus on this year’s themes: COVID-19 relief, economic empowerment and education.
A spokesperson from Gift of the Givers, a South African non-governmental organisation and disaster relief group, says: “We will allocate these additional funds from Airbnb to our Education Support Project. The funding towards this project will greatly impact learners, as each intervention assists in reducing the drop-out rate, which increases their chance of a successful future through education.”
Other organisations which received the grant funding include Love Story Foundation (Africa), Affordable Homeownership Foundation (US) Vaga Lume Association and Mission Bambini (Southern Asia).
To determine how to direct these grants, Airbnb says it turned to the Airbnb Host Advisory Board, a group of hosts that act as the voice of the host community to address Airbnb leaders.
The board selected the grant focus areas and worked with its programme partner, GlobalGiving, to compile a list of global organisations working to meet these needs. Members of Host Clubs around the world then voted on organisations they believed have the greatest impact in their regions.
“Airbnb has committed to serve our stakeholders and we want to give back to the places our hosts call home. In addition to this process, Airbnb will direct grant funds to additional organisations that we believe play an important role in communities around the world, and we look forward to sharing more later this year,” says Airbnb.
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