Last week, home sharing company Airbnb’s CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky took to Twitter when President Donald Trump announced the immigration ban in an executive order.
Open doors brings all of US together. Closing doors further divides US. Let’s all find ways to connect people, not separate them.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 28, 2017
Not allowing countries or refugees into America is not right, and we must stand with those who are affected.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 29, 2017
This led to Chesky taking action and standing behind his words. On January 28th, he announced that Airbnb would be providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US.
Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US. Stayed tuned for more, contact me if urgent need for housing
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 29, 2017
The company’s work to help those affected by the ban continued when the founders of Air bnb announced Airbnb’s 5-year goal is to provide free short-term housing to 100,000 people in need. To help achieve this goal, Airbnb partnered with CrowdRise to donate to organizations that are directly providing support today. They also promised to match donations up to a total of $300,000 USD, $100,000 USD to each organization, the National Immigration Law Center, the International Refugee Assistance Project, and the International Rescue Committee.
Airbnb is donating to @theIRC @RefugeeAssist & @NILC_org to support refugees & those affected by the ban. Join us: https://t.co/g3PMSkDPug
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) February 2, 2017
The same morning, the company bought a 30 second Super Bowl spot to address the same topic. By Thursday night, they made a film with Airbnb employees as the stars, Chesky tweeted.
Thursday morning we bought a 30 second Super Bowl spot. Thursday night we made the film – people in it were Airbnb employees.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) February 6, 2017
The commercial was emotional, powerful and had a message everyone needed to here. “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept” came across diverse faces. “#WeAccept,” the company’s campaign hashtag concluded the ad.
The company’s founders also released a letter titled “We Accept” in which, the founders wrote,“We believe in the simple idea that no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love, or who you worship, you deserve to belong. We know this is an idealistic notion that faces huge obstacles because of something that also seems simple, but isn’t – that not everyone is accepted.”
The letter also committed to the company’s passion for this mission. “Today we’re setting a goal to provide short-term housing over the next five years for 100,000 people in need,” the letter stated. “We’ll start with refugees, disaster survivors, and relief workers, though we want to accommodate many more types of displaced people over time.”
The letter also explained that Airbnb will contribute $4 million over the course of four years to the International Rescue Committee “to support the most critical needs of displaced populations globally.”
Chesky also tweeted:
Here is a scribble I made for the end card for our ad pic.twitter.com/TZhQqGrzy1
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) February 6, 2017
We used footage from 2016 for our #weaccept ad. Developed the concept & edited last week. Here's us in the editing studio Thurs night pic.twitter.com/wXNOH1AIUU
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) February 6, 2017
