The Future of Disaster Response Is Hiding in Plain Sight

I spent 25 years in humanitarian aid and saw firsthand the incredible impact nonprofits can have. But I quickly learned that even at its best, the sector still struggles to harness the private sector’s resources, technology, and logistical capacity in moments of need. So I asked myself: why can’t we provide aid with the speed of an Amazon delivery or the customization of a DoorDash order? 

Two years ago, I joined Airbnb.org to do just that. Airbnb.org is an independent nonprofit providing free, emergency housing in times of crisis. We have a unique advantage: we leverage the Airbnb platform and community, and the company covers all of our operating costs, so 100% of every public donation goes directly toward funding stays for people in crisis. We don’t need to stand up new infrastructure when disaster strikes; we activate an existing global network of homes people already trust, combining the scale of a technology platform with the focus of a nonprofit.

When wildfires devastated Los Angeles in January 2025, we caught a glimpse of what the future looks like. Within hours of the evacuations, Airbnb.org mobilized a vast network of homes and ultimately provided free emergency housing to nearly 24,000 people.

That mattered because disasters affect every survivor differently. Every family has its own needs, and the diversity of options on Airbnb’s platform allowed people to choose what worked best for them. Some needed to stay close to jobs or schools, others needed pet-friendly homes, and some required spaces that could accommodate multi-generational families or wheelchairs.

Over the past year, we’ve used this same model to support survivors across more than 80 disasters in 16 countries.

What the Los Angeles response made clear is that powerful humanitarian tools are hiding in plain sight, embedded in systems people already know and trust. Experiences like this suggest disaster response can be redesigned to be faster, more flexible, and more responsive to individual needs. Imagine what is possible if more companies applied their core capabilities in moments of crisis.

I believe the strengths powering Airbnb.org’s growth exist in many other technology companies as well. Three stand out:

1. Values First

Airbnb was built on belonging, trust, and the idea that opening your home is an act of care. Long before Airbnb.org was founded in 2020, hosts came up with the idea to shelter strangers after hurricanes and wildfires. We didn’t create that instinct. We built the infrastructure to scale it.

In my work with Airbnb and across the technology sector, I’ve seen a real sense of responsibility to step up in moments of need, and a genuine desire for work to matter beyond financial returns.

As new companies and technologies emerge, there will be more opportunities to put innovation in service of the public good. Leaders who align innovation with purpose will create more than social impact. They will build trust with customers, communities, and employees, and strengthen their companies for the long term.

2. Unparalleled Resources 

During the Los Angeles wildfires, founders, philanthropists, venture capitalists, and early employees of technology companies gave generously and quickly, helping us scale our response faster than ever before. Because Airbnb covers all of Airbnb.org’s operating expenses, 100% of every dollar donated goes directly toward housing people in crisis.

But the resources Airbnb provides extend well beyond funding. We leverage pro bono expertise from Airbnb’s legal, design, and regional teams, and use its communications channels to reach millions of hosts and guests. This helps people understand where to turn for help, or how to offer it. The platform is the infrastructure; philanthropy activates it.

Silicon Valley has generated extraordinary wealth, and advances in AI will only accelerate that trend. For those working at the intersection of philanthropy and innovation, the central challenge is how to apply these financial, human, and organizational resources in humanitarian contexts, not just as one-time donations, but as sustained structural capacity.

3. Thinking Big 

Perhaps the most under-recognized contribution the technology sector can make is its appetite for ambitious, systems-level thinking. The nonprofit world is extraordinarily good at identifying needs, while the technology world is extraordinarily good at building scalable solutions. When those capabilities are combined intentionally, the results can be transformative.

I envision a world where anyone who needs free emergency housing — a family displaced by disaster, a parent traveling with a critically ill child, a person fleeing an abusive relationship — can access one of millions of available listings, matched to their needs within hours. That’s not a distant aspiration, it is an operational challenge we’re actively solving. The same ambition that built some of the most transformative companies can be directed toward the world’s most urgent problems.

As disasters intensify and global displacement reaches historic levels, the social sector cannot meet the moment with the tools and models of the past. We need approaches that are faster, more flexible, and more responsive to individual needs. Many of these approaches don’t require new money or new technology. They require a new way of leveraging the assets already embedded in existing systems.

Airbnb.org is one example of what that looks like. But the underlying model — values-driven, well-resourced, ambitious in scope — is replicable. For philanthropists, nonprofit leaders, and social innovators, the opportunity is to identify where those conditions exist in other industries and build the partnerships to put them to work.

The humanitarian capacity is already out there. The work now is to recognize it and put it to use.

To learn more about Airbnb.org’s emergency housing work, visit airbnb.org.