Airbnb.org welcomes Christoph Gorder as its new executive director

Airbnb.org announced today that Christoph Gorder will lead the organization as its new executive director. 

Christoph joins Airbnb.org after more than a decade as the chief global water officer of charity: water, where he oversaw the organization’s expansion in 22 countries and helped provide clean water to over fifteen million people. Christoph also led technology innovations to increase transparency and the long-term impact of charity:water’s clean water programs. 

“Christoph brings decades of experience scaling social impact initiatives and campaigns for some of the most well-known organizations in the world,” said Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder and chair of the Airbnb.org board. “We are lucky to welcome him and look forward to working with him and the generous Airbnb Host community to expand Airbnb.org’s efforts to provide free, temporary housing to people who need it most.” 

For more than a decade, Airbnb and Airbnb.org have connected people in times of crisis to free, temporary stays with the support of Hosts and nonprofit organizations. The inspiration for Airbnb.org began in 2012 with a single Airbnb Host named Shell who opened up her home to people impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Since then, thousands of Hosts have followed her lead and opened their homes to people displaced by natural disasters and humanitarian crises. 

To help scale the work started under Airbnb and offer more people temporary housing, Airbnb.org was launched as an independent nonprofit in December 2020. In just three short years, Airbnb.org has provided free, emergency stays for more than 220,000 people, including refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, people impacted by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, and countless other crises.  

“I’ve spent the past two and a half decades working to address basic survival needs for people in crisis. I’m honored to continue this important work at Airbnb.org, which has innovated new ways to connect people to temporary housing in the wake of crises and natural disasters,” said Christoph Gorder, Airbnb.org’s new executive director. “Together with the Airbnb Host community and other nonprofit organizations, I’m excited to build on what Airbnb.org has already achieved and help connect more people to emergency housing.”

Prior to joining charity: water, Christoph spent 14 years with Americares, leading disaster response operations and managing large-scale healthcare programs around the world. Christoph grew up in the Central African Republic and Nigeria and currently lives in Utah with his wife and two children.