Airbnb has raised more than $36.7 million to support Ukrainians in need since Russian forces invaded the country roughly two weeks ago.
The funds – from donors, Airbnb employees, hosts and users – flowed in after the short-term housing company announced its goal of offering free temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine.
Since Airbnb announced its initiative on Feb 28., more than $17 million was donated to Airbnb's nonprofit affiliate, Airbnb.org, by Airbnb and its founders. Airbnb.org, which facilitates temporary stays for people in moments of crisis, also received an additional $4.5 million from over 50,000 individual donors worldwide and more than $625,000 from Airbnb employees.
Through Airbnb.org, people can either sign up to host a refugee or donate to help the company reach its goal.
To date, more than 21,500 new hosts signed up to offer their homes to house refugees, including 14,000 across Europe and an additional 4,000 in the United States.
Numerous Airbnb users have also been booking stays in Ukraine in order to funnel money directly to hosts, though they have no plans of staying at the rental.
Since the war erupted, Airbnb has temporarily waived all guest and host fees on all bookings in Ukraine. This means that Airbnb is not profiting from any stays in the country. Instead, all the money spent on bookings in the country will be passed on to the hosts.
More than 434,000 nights have already been booked in Ukraine, generating $15 million in donations for Ukraine Airbnb hosts.SOURCE: Fox BusinessIMAGE SOURCE: Pixabay
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