35. Etsy for Ukraine

Welcome back to Spend Donate Invest. I know it’s not just me. There are a lot of things that keep me up at night. Climate change, inequality, poverty. And what surprises me is that we usually talk about how we can vote, or even how we can protest. But I’m curious about the power of our money.

Are there ways that we can use our money in line with some of our other values? That’s what this show is about. You can send in your letters with whatever you’ve been thinking about, and then I’ll do some research, talk to experts, and come back with some thoughts. Hopefully you’ll come across some helpful suggestions, you might laugh, you might think differently than you did before, either way, thank you for being here.

Here’s today’s letter

One interesting thing I've seen with this Ukraine thing is how people are sending money in untraditional ways. So I heard people are buying things from Ukrainians on Etsy (like digital products) or booking Airbnbs. It's not quite mutual aid, but it's innovative. I don't have a question just a comment about how interesting it is.

Yeah, it is interesting. It seems like there are people who want to cut out the middle man, skip the large organizations like the Red Cross, and try to give more directly to the people of Ukraine. Airbnb announced that they would waive fees for bookings in Ukraine, so that meant that theoretically all of the money would go to the host. Etsy also canceled the balances of their sellers based in Ukraine. What’s less clear is if Ukrainians even have access to that cash nowadays, given the armed conflict, and it’s also less clear if cash is precisely what they need right now. Cash can help in a lot of situations, but not all of them. Especially if there are shortages of food, water, fuel, medical care, or safe routes to escape the country. 

I also worry sometimes about the most vulnerable of the communities, the ones who aren’t computer savvy enough to set up a business on Airbnb or Etsy. Or the ones who don’t speak English.

I’ve also read some analysis by people who are worried that booking all of these Airbnbs has led to some homes being unavailable to local people that actually need a place to stay right now because they are trying to evacuate unsafe areas.

There’s an instagram page called Quentin Quarantino, he is one of the social media influencers that got the word out about this idea of booking airbnbs and buying digital products for Etsy creators in Ukraine. It’s not the first time he has launched a fundraiser online. Last summer, he posted an idea for his social media followers to send donations so he could start chartering flights from Afghanistan to the US to help people evacuate. He raised half a million dollars in an hour and then continued to raise more and more money over the next few weeks. In the end he raised $7M. And he didn’t do this completely alone, he found some partners from the nonprofit space, but this was very much a rag tag DIY effort that was very much slapped together and you can guess what happened. They weren’t able to arrange a single flight. So, I was a little relieved to see that this time his suggestion was to book Airbnbs and place orders on Etsy so that he was removing himself as the middle man.

I think that big time donors and every day people like us are expressing more of an interest to give cash directly to people who need help right now. I think that’s a good instinct and a good trend. I’m not 100% sold on this particular method of buying things on Airbnb and Etsy and Ebay, but I am encouraged by the spirit behind the donations that have been rolling in.

I’d love to hear what you all think about this trend. Have you donated by buying things off Etsy and Airbnb to help people in any of the armed conflicts going on right now around the world? Are you put off by it because you’re afraid of scams? Do you prefer to give to organizations on the ground that have experience distributing whatever people need on the ground? What are your thoughts?

And thank you for listening today. Please send this episode to someone who you think might find it interesting. That’s how podcasts get discovered- not by me telling people to listen, but from listeners who tell their friends, family, and colleagues, and classmates. Thank you and back soon with another episode.