eBay Giving Works and MissionFish, eBay’s nonprofit service provision partner, received a Cause Marketing Halo Award in the Best Transactional Campaign category, which honors campaigns that generate donations via consumer activity.

Micki Sever, manager of eBay Giving Works marketing programs, and Sean Milliken, CEO of MissionFish, accepted the award at an event in Chicago on Thursday, June 3, on behalf of both organizations. You can check out a video interview with them here:

Each year, the Cause Marketing Forum recognizes one business and one nonprofit organization for their leadership and outstanding efforts in the pursuit of doing well by doing good. This year, in addition to eBay Giving Works and MissionFish, the Forum recognized Macy’s and Feeding America, along with General Mills, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Samsung and The Nature Conservancy.

eBay Giving Works, launched in 2003, empowers the eBay community to buy and sell items that support their favorite nonprofits. eBay Giving Works has raised $191 million globally to date for more than 22,000 nonprofits.

Cheers,
RBH

How Giving Works Works
eBay Giving Works was launched in 2003 to enable the eBay community to raise funds for their favorite charities. Funds are raised in four ways: Sellers donate 10 to 100% of their sales to a nonprofit and eBay waives that percentage of the seller’s fees. Nonprofits can sell their own merchandise. Buyers cans add a $1 or greater contribution when checking out. Customers can “Donate Now” directly to charity using PayPal.

In 2009, eBay spotlighted more charities on and offline, upgraded Give at Checkout and Donate Now and much more. The number of sellers with charity listings increased 60 percent over 2008. The number of charity listings increased by 150 percent. The overall program raised $50 million through transactional activity in 2009, nearly a third of the $162 million total it has raised since 2003.

eBay
A reminder that you can buy, sell and/or donate items via a dedicated landing page on eBay.com, with proceeds going to Save the Children, The American Red Cross, and other nonprofits involved in the relief effort. The eBay Community (over 326,000 donors) has now raised over $1 Million as of Midnight EST last night across the US & UK sites. This excludes funds raised for charity sales on the site, and reflects only cash donations through Give at Checkout and Donate Now.

PayPal
A reminder that PayPal is waiving fees for all U.S. 501(c)3 charitable organizations collecting for disaster relief in Haiti. For fee waiver consideration, send an email to nonprofit@paypal.com">nonprofit@paypal.com. To date, PayPal donations are at $4.5 Million.

I realize that the need for relief and help in Haiti is still in its infancy but what individuals have accomplished together over such a short period of time is nothing short of remarkable. I’m sure in a few weeks you’ll be resetting my expectations once again. For now, I just wanted to say thank you and let’s keep giving in anyway we can.

-RBH

Every little bit helps
While funds raised by nonprofits are at an all-time low, this year’s eBay Giving Works figures were released during a year of significant growth for online fundraising. Online giving is growing at 44% per year, seven times faster than offline giving growth. Online giving has enabled charities to leverage the power of the individual through smaller, more modest donations. The eBay charity program was built expressly to support this kind of fundraising, capitalizing on the philanthropic instincts of eBay’s 89 million member community and pioneering a new model for giving back.

How it works:
eBay Giving Works enables eBay users to support their favorite causes whenever they buy and sell. Today the program offers five easy ways to make a difference:
• Community Selling: Any seller can donate part of their sale price to a nonprofit. The seller decides which organization to support and how much to give (10-100 percent), and gets a tax deduction for their gift.
• Direct Selling: Nonprofits can sell their own items on eBay to raise funds. eBay waives most basic selling fees for nonprofits, making Direct Selling practically free.
• Shop eBay Giving Works: Every item posted by a Community or Direct Seller bears the eBay Giving Works blue and yellow charity ribbon, so it’s easy for buyers to shop for items to support causes that matter to them.
• Give at Checkout: 1.5 million shoppers every day are invited to add a donation on top of their eBay purchase, when they pay by PayPal. Give at Checkout has raised nearly $5 million in its first 12 months.
• Donate Now: eBay and PayPal users who discover an eBay Giving Works organization they care about can give as little as $1 right away without buying or selling.

A recent study of eBay shopping behavior, conducted by Columbia Business School, verified the philanthropic instincts of the eBay community, indicating that eBay buyers are actually willing to pay more to do good. Results showed that an eBay Giving Works item advertising that 10% of proceeds will be given to charity is nearly 20% more likely to sell than its non-charity equivalent, and at a 2% higher price.

“The eBay community has proven time and again that small actions, when brought to scale, can have a big impact,” said eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe. “It’s what makes the eBay marketplace so unique, and what enables our community to do good things for causes they believe in. I want to thank every single buyer and seller who connected through eBay and gave back to their communities through eBay Giving Works. Your generosity this year, especially in such a tough economy, isn’t just impressive – it’s inspiring. We’re looking forward to helping you do even more good next year.”

You can read the full press release by visiting the ebayinc.com newsroom.

Fast facts about eBay Giving Works:
• Every minute, over $91 is raised for good causes on eBay
• Eight nonprofits in the U.S. have raised more than $1 million with eBay Giving Works
• The most money raised for charity from a single listing on eBay was $2.1 million in 2008, for a power lunch with Warren Buffett benefiting the Glide Foundation. The same auction in 2009 went for $1.68 million
• Kim Kardashian, a Top Rated eBay seller and avid eBay Giving Works supporter, has raised more than $47,700 for charity through the sale of her own clothing; she has raised $26,000 in 2009 alone
• In November and December of 2009, eBay Inc. matched $230,000 in funds that were committed via Give at Checkout

Cheers,
RBH

“The eBay community is incredibly generous and committed to making a difference,” said eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe. “Through eBay Giving Works, their impressive generosity in these difficult times is inspiring.”

Fast Facts about eBay Giving Works
• Every minute, over $68 is raised for good causes on eBay and a donation is made every 24 seconds.
• Eight nonprofits in the US have raised more than $1M with eBay Giving Works
• The most money raised for charity from a single listing on eBay was $2.1M, for a power lunch with Warren Buffett benefiting the Glide Foundation.

“eBay Giving Works is a win-win on so many levels,” said Mike Jansma, a PowerSeller on eBay. “It allows us to easily support the nonprofit groups we believe in, our customers benefit because they help important causes through their purchases, our employees find their work more meaningful, and our business benefits from the sales and customer loyalty.”

If I hear the phrase “current economic climate” one more time… Well, let’s just say we’ve all heard it enough. However, it has to be said that given the drought of disposable income plaguing individual’s wallets right now, it is an incredible testament to humanity to see this kind of charitable effort put forth from the eBay Community.

Cheers,
RBH

Related Reads:
TameBay: eBay charity donations up 20% in 2008