Kuala Lumpur, 17 June 2021 — Airbnb believes in sharing the company’s success with its stakeholders, including the communities its Hosts call home. This was why the Airbnb Community Fund was created, as part of Airbnb’s commitment to distribute USD$100 million over 10 years to organizations that are strengthening communities around the world, including USD$10 million distributed throughout 2021.
Today, Airbnb is excited to share the inaugural grant recipients of the Airbnb Community Fund, which include over 150 organizations from more than 40 countries and six continents. These organizations are working to meet unprecedented needs brought about by the pandemic, and focusing on this year’s themes: COVID-19 relief, economic empowerment, and education. The first three Malaysian beneficiaries include Teach for Malaysia, St Nicholas’ Home Penang, and Liberty to Learn Berhad.
Teach For Malaysia (TFM) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation founded in 2010 with the aim of helping children in Malaysia attain an excellent education. Divyang Hong, a Partnership Development Senior Associate at Teach For Malaysia, shared how the grant will enable them to continue supporting this cause.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has widened the learning gap amongst students in B40 communities, especially students who have not been able to access education during school closures. The recovery of education systems from the effects of the pandemic will be vital to the future of our society. TFM hopes to work with students, families, teachers, and the education ecosystem to develop appropriate strategies to address inequities in students’ access to educational provision and learning, during and after the pandemic. We aim to achieve this by executing our “Education Recovery Strategy” which consists of 3 main thrusts: recommit, recover and reimagine by 2023.”
To determine how to direct these grants, Airbnb turned to its Host community Airbnb’s Host Advisory Board, a group of exceptional Hosts who act as the voice of the Host community to Airbnb leaders, selected the grant focus areas and worked with Airbnb’s program partner, GlobalGiving, to compile a list of global organizations working to meet these needs. Members of Host Clubs around the world then voted on organizations they believed have the greatest impact in their regions. Other recipients worldwide include the Mann Deshi Foundation in India, the Affordable Homeownership Foundation in the United States, Urban Refugees in France, and the India COVID-19 Relief Fund.
In addition to this process, Airbnb will award grants to additional organizations that the company believes play an important role in communities around the world. To learn more about the Community Fund and the grant recipients, please visit the Airbnb Community Fund page.
