Creating a world rooted in belonging

Airbnb.org’s mission is to unlock the power of sharing space, resources, and support in times of need. But not everyone has equal access to these resources. That’s why we’ve made commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility central to our day to day work.

Our core DEIA commitments

In April 2021, Airbnb.org announced three primary commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These commitments shape our relationships with guests and Hosts; our collaborations with nonprofit organizations and government agencies; and our own Airbnb.org team.

As an organization, we pledged to:

1. Center our program and work on individuals from marginalized communities who have historically experienced limited access to resources as a result of social, cultural, economic, and political oppression.
2. Work to ensure that any guest who comes through Airbnb.org experiences the same quality of services and stays.
3. Build a diverse and inclusive team, which includes, as a starting point, that by the end of 2025 at least 33 percent of our US workers will be underrepresented minorities.

In 2022, we lifted up the need to include accessibility as a distinct part of our pledge; we’ll update our pledge to this end in 2023.

Here’s how we’re putting our pledge into action

To meet our current DEIA commitments, we’re:

• Working with community-based organizations and nonprofits that share our commitment to equity. When crises occur, our teams seek to work with local organizations serving marginalized communities. We recently collaborated with organizations like:
  • Each One Teach One, which supports people with disabilities and non-Ukrainian citizens displaced by the conflict in Ukraine
  • Black Women for Black Lives, which connected 2,000 African students in Ukraine with free stays outside of the country
  • ORAM, a subsidiary of Alight, which helped LGBTQ+ people fleeing Ukraine find housing and social support in Berlin and other European cities
• Partnering with leading diversity and equity experts to help us assess and improve our work on these commitments. A foundational partner has been We All Count, an organization that promotes an equity-focused approach to research. In 2022, they helped Airbnb.org conduct a pilot study to better understand the experiences faced by people who have found temporary housing in times of crisis through Airbnb.org. With this input, we’re designing our approach to track our progress and ensure we’re meeting our commitment.
• Embedding equity-centered design methods into our work. Our trauma informed storytelling and equity-centered design principles guide us in co-creating stories about the work we do with our guests, Hosts, and partners. We partner in creative decision-making, honoring people’s language choices and the way they choose to be visually represented.
• Making sure our commitment to equity extends to staff. Our goal, by the end of 2025, is for at least 33 percent of our US workers to be underrepresented minorities. We define underrepresented minorities in the US as those who self-identify with one or more of the following races/ethnicities: American Indian or Alaska Native; Black or African-American; Hispanic or Latinx; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

  When we originally made this commitment, underrepresented minorities accounted for 19 percent of our full-time staff. As of September 30, 2022, underrepresented minorities are 28 percent of Airbnb.org’s full-time staff. We know it requires constant work to engage, retain, and uplift diverse talent in order to continue benefiting from diverse perspectives, and we will continue to prioritize equity in hiring and retention.

We are committed to imagining new ways to center equity in our work, make an impact in communities that have experienced a crisis, and help create a world rooted in belonging and healing.