Airbnb has announced the recipients of grants totaling $10 million awarded through the Airbnb Community Fund.

Launched in 2020, the fund plans to invest, in partnership with Airbnb hosts and Global Giving, $100 million over ten years in nonprofits serving hosts' communities. Inaugural grants were awarded to a hundred and fifty local and national organizations in more than forty countries working in this year's focus areas: COVID-19 relief, economic empowerment, and education. To select the grantees, Airbnb's Host Advisory Board worked with Global Giving to review and compile a list of nonprofits, and members of Airbnb Host Clubs then voted for the organizations they believed had the greatest impact in their regions.

Recipients include the Affordable Homeownership Foundation (Fort Myers, Florida), which is working to increase access to secure, affordable housing for Americans with physical disabilities; Fundacion ProEmpleo Productivo (Mexico City, Mexico), which supports job creation, self-employment, and enterprise creation and development through training and consulting; HERA (Her Economic Rights and Autonomy) (Paris, France), which promotes women's entrepreneurship and employment with grants, training, and mentoring to prevent and counter all forms of slavery, violence, and exploitation; the Love Story Foundation (Port Elizabeth, South Africa), which distributes thirty thousand food parcels and prepared meals a month to children and families living in poverty and homeless individuals; and Vaga Lume Association (Saõ Paulo, Brazil), which promotes access to books and reading in rural communities in the Amazon by creating community libraries and training volunteers.

"This funding will allow three hundred entrepreneurs in Mexico to receive the training and support necessary to rescue, strengthen, or boost their microenterprises, given the current economic situation derived from the pandemic," said Fundacion ProEmpleo Productivo director Patricia Larios. "They may choose to focus on transforming their business models toward digital. Others could prefer to improve their sales and customer service strategies. And some may decide to finally launch that business idea that they long for and achieve self-employment. Regardless of which path they wish to take, we will accompany them and get ahead of this crisis."

"What will the additional funding mean for the Affordable Homeownership Foundation?" said Affordable Homeownership Foundation CEO Lois Healy. "We will be able to help more veterans, disabled individuals, and seniors in need, and the donation will allow us to expand our North Carolina efforts to house homeless veterans."

For a complete list of grant recipients, see the Global Giving website.