[mrxd]

The words "astroturf" and "grassroots" refer to political movements. Wealthy people create the appearance of a broad movement representing the public interest that advocates for certain policy positions, but this is just to disguise the primary mission of the organization, which is to expand the wealth of the donors. If wealthy donors used the Red Cross to lobby governments for favorable legislation, then your analogy would be reasonable.

And the nearest thing to a mission statement of peers.org is "We educate our peers and community leaders about the benefits of sharing. Together, we can help protect and grow the sharing economy."

"Educating our peers" sounds a lot like customer acquisition efforts for the relevant startups. "Protecting the sharing economy" probably refers to the startups' regulatory issues.