Sustainable AirBnB Banking: Fight Climate Change While You Sleep
Money doesn’t sleep. It’s moving, constantly, flowing around the world from banks to companies to people and back again. When you keep your money with a bank, it may look like it never leaves your account, but it absolutely does. More on that
While every major bank has some flavor of “ESG initiatives” they don’t compare to smaller banks who focus solely on sustainable banking. If you run a sustainable short-term rental, you probably have some savings or slush funds available. Choosing your bank wisely could be the most impactful decision you make in sustainable business.
What is the objective of sustainable banking?
Sustainable banking, at the core, is an effort to make more money available to businesses with a focus on sustainable products and services and keep the money away from businesses that participate in unsustainable practices (e.g. oils, plastics, slash and burn agriculture, etc.).
What does that have to do with your hosting revenue? We need to take a big step back and understand how banks really make money a little better for this to make sense.
Looking for a sustainable bank? Remember: Banks don’t just hold your money. They invest it.
We’re going to cover the basics of that here, but we found a deeper diving article on The Balance that does a great job explaining the system.1
We’ve probably all had that dramatic, hair-pulling meltdown over a bank’s management fees or overdraft charges. While it may be a big deal to us, for the bank those fees are small potatoes. Those fees serve as the bank’s break-even point for having the account (plus, it pressures you to keep your accounts full).
To make their money, banks use your money to invest in risky opportunities (e.g. buying and selling company stocks and handing out corporate loans). They use your cash to make these investments and generate more money for themselves. A LOT more than they ever will from your meager checking account management fees.
So…who do they invest in? Profitable enterprises. Every bank makes different decisions about where and how they invest their (your) cash.
Most banks don’t give a methane-laden fart about environmentalism.
Banks need to make profit for their share-holders. Compared to that… they’re not concerned about the long-term environmental impacts of their investment portfolio. Nor are they obligated to tell you what they do with your cash.
So, most of our banks use our money to write out big checks to companies that might not reflect our personal values around environmentalism or sustainability. In fact, your cash could easily end up lobbying against the very initiatives you support. Of course, the bank employees who make these decisions will more than likely be stone dead before the apocalypse they’re contributing to actually takes place, so they're not worried about it. They’re writing checks our grandchildren will have to cash
Ok, that’s enough griping. Let’s talk solutions for your short-term rental banking needs.
Finding A Sustainable Bank
Here’s an example wishlist that might help you choose a more sustainable banking solution. Find a bank with:
Express investing focus on the environment and/or fighting climate change
Business checking accounts with very low, no, or avoidable fees
Business savings accounts with a decent return and very low, no, or avoidable fees
B-corp certification b-corpor GABV (or applying)
Free ACH transfers
A decent online and mobile app experience
Notice that the words “physical branch” didn’t make an appearance. That’s not a deal breaker for us, if it makes you uncomfortable, consider a banking co-op as a possible alternative.
Full stop. We love the planet and the animals who live on it. We love the people on it, too, though. There are plenty of ESG-focused banks who zero in on social justice issues and driving social progress. If environmentalism doesn’t sing to you the way it does to us, find another tune and dance to it. Your overall goal should be to move your short-term rental revenueaway from Bank of America and Wells Fargo and the millions of other vultures driving us toward a climate change apocalypse. There are many, many banks with that focus and even a few with sub-focuses on specific issues or sets of issues. For most of us, any banking change is a good banking change.
We found a well-curated Nerd Wallet list3 as a hub for research. We’ll hone in on some of the best options (based on the wishlist above), highlighting the sustainable banking solutions that we love for to make your short-term rental more sustainable. Whether you’re running a larger company and need a business banking account, or you want to make a switch up in your personal life, we’ve got you covered.
Business Banking Accounts
Disclaimer: Do your own research and make your own decisions. No one paid us to share these opinions, but we want to remind you to take a close look at any financial institution before entrusting them with your AirBnB revenue.
Greenpenny
This one is interesting. Greenpenny bank is based out of Iowa and has a HEAVY focus on renewable energy and solar power. If that’s an industry you want to see progress in, then opening a business checking and savings accounts with them helps you advocate for it. Important note: Everything is free to you. No fees. It’s a wholesome feeling.
A few screenshots of their online banking suite show that they’ve had some professional work done on their user interfaces (a nip here, a tuck there, you know, just keeping up with the times). Better yet, when we called them up with a few questions, we had the pleasure of chatting with two real (and real nice) people, who called back when they said they would and emailed promptly. While it was technically a sales inquiry, they made me feel all at home right off the bat. If you’re looking for a free eco-friendly business banking option with a personal touch, this could be the fit for you.
Amalgamated Bank
Amalgamated claims to have a long and storied history of activism and environmentalism. They also appear to have the experience and size to help small businesses grow and grow far. However, (and this may sound petty) they had no pictures of their online platform on their site. We’ll let you make your own judgements on their services, but for a tool that we plan to use primarily online, the friendliness of their banking apps matter.
Personal Banking
Atmos, Aspiration, & Ando:
There are multiple companies out there who’ve built a tech stack to invest consumer dollars in a myriad of environmental pursuits. They use a “sponsor bank” to ensure that your money is FDIC insured and focus on their usability and sustainability initiatives. This gives them so space to dream up better ways to connect your cash to the eco-friendly, progressive products you want. The model makes a TON of sense as we transition to online banks, away from physical cash, and into digital currencies.
Our personal favorite from this list? Atmos
They have all the right features for online banking, they’re not bashful about their UI, and they’re a certified B-corp.
Go forth and bank sustainably!
We’ve done what we can here. It’s time for you to make a life-changing, globally impactful, endlessly meaningful decision. We’re here for you and we know you’ll help make the world a better place.
