I am very excited to let folks know that our World of Good team, in partnership with Green America and Partners for Just Trade, is opening up an eBay employee event to the entire eBay community, giving you the chance to join in on the conversation as two WorldofGood.com artisans visit eBay this Thursday. You’ll be able to hear how two remarkable women escaped violence and poverty and found expanded horizons and economic opportunities, thanks to eBay’s WorldofGood.com.

You’ll be able to watch Sonia Anahue Uscamayta from the Munay Rumi jewelry cooperative in Lima and Yody Gladys Moran Trillo from the El Mercurio knitting cooperative in Huancavelica and ask questions live if you tune in here: http://www.ustream.tv/worldofgood from 12 to 1:30 p.m PT tomorrow; Thursday, May 12. I’ve also embedded the player below that will stream live tomorrow.

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Cheers!
RBH

What woman in your life – mother, teacher, role model, friend – inspires you, and why? Through midnight PT on Tuesday, March 8, share your thoughts with us in the comments [click here to leave a comment] The author of our favorite entry will receive a handwoven and embroidered wool bucket bag, made by Jenny Krauss, an organization of women artisans in Peru. (P.S. – We’ll ask our winner for a photo of themselves and/or the woman that inspires her (or him!) so we can feature your entry on our homepage.)

To be honest, I have a lot of women that have inspired me over the years. From my Mum, to my wife, to my friend Libby Reder – co-founder of the eBay Green Team back in the day – so it will be difficult to single out just one. However, I’m going to take the time to honor that one person over on the WorldofGood.com site and I encourage you to do the same.

Cheers!
RBH

Anyone interested in participating and learning more can go to the campaign website: http://www.ebaygivegoodgreen.com. For every person that uploads their photo to the Give.Good.Green community page, the eBay Foundation will donate a dollar to one of three charities (Hands On Network, Oxfam America, and the Environmental Defense Fund).

I also figured it would be nice to get a “5 Minutes With…” Jennifer so included that below too.

Cheers!
RBH

Full Name: Jennifer Ibarra
Nickname: Jen
Official Title: Head of Marketing Programs and Promotions, Global Citizenship (I know… it’s mouthful!)
What You Really Do: Run fun promotions for our Global Citizenship sites and oversee the social media activity for them.
Your First Day at eBay: 12/1/2003
Education/Schooling: Santa Clara University (undergrad), NYU (grad)
Interests: Running, cooking, reading, fiction writing
Favorite Quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Ghandi)
Most memorable eBay experience: When Meg announced at eBay Live! 2007 that the eBay Community had raised over $100M for nonprofits through charity listings on the site.
Most recent eBay purchase/sale: Last sale: a set of workout DVDs (which sold for $60—not bad!); Last purchase: a computer mouse (for $5 – free shipping!). My most memorable purchase ever was a toy Star Wars lightsaber, which I got as an adult (probably my 3rd or 4th purchase ever on eBay) – this was to make up for the toy lightsaber I lost as a kid when we moved from Germany to the Philippines. I pined away for it years until I came upon something similar on eBay!
Favorite Albums: Wicked Original Broadway Cast Album (big Broadway geek)
Favorite Movies: Star Wars (original trilogy only – yes, I’m one of those Star Wars snobs)
What You Wanted to Be Growing Up: a novelist (and I do work on my novel when I’m not at my “day job”)

Fill in the blanks:
I should have skipped the second chocolate chip cookie after lunch yesterday.
I wish that I could publish a best-selling novel.
The first thing I do when I get to work is check emails (boring but true!).

UPDATED 9/2/2009:
I also wanted to link to the press release announcing the initiative. The release included the following fast facts of interest:

* More than $2,000 worth of goods are traded every second on eBay
* Every 18 seconds, someone makes a difference on eBay
* Since inception, eBay Foundation has invested more than $19 million in nonprofit organizations
* The eBay community has raised more than $165 million for charity to date
* WorldofGood.com by eBay empowers impoverished artisans in over 85 countries around the world
* More than 30,000 microloans have been funded by investments through MicroPlace since its inception
* In the last three years, buying pre-owned handbags on eBay had the same effect as planting more than two million trees

That said, I’ve written about eBay Giving Works, WorldofGood.com, and MicroPlace in the past here on Ink and I just wanted to make folks aware of a new site that provides an easy link to all three at once called Gifts That Make a Difference. In addition to the three links and overviews, the site also encourages…

Sell
Let your listings be a force for good this holiday season—donate part of the sale price to a worthy nonprofit. Simply look for the eBay Giving Works section in the Sell Your Item form. And when your item sells, eBay will credit your basic selling fees proportionally. Learn more or start selling now.

Donate
Brighten the lives of those in need—use PayPal to make a charitable contribution to one of the organizations helping families all around the country and the world.

To find out more, please check out Gifts That Make A Difference.

Cheers,
RBH

eBay collaborated with World of Good, Inc., “a purpose-driven start-up dedicated to building ethical consumer experiences, by bringing its deep knowledge of the global ethical supply chain to mainstream retail partners.”

From the press release:
“WorldofGood.com by eBay gives shoppers who care about making a difference access to great products that help people and the planet,” said Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay Marketplaces. “Socially responsible shopping just got bigger and better.”

“We created the WorldofGood.com marketplace to enable shoppers to purchase socially responsible products with confidence,” said Robert Chatwani, general manager of WorldofGood.com by eBay. “Regardless of the social causes most important to consumers, they can easily shop for items according to a variety of different attributes, allowing them to customize their shopping impact.”

WorldofGood.com is a one-stop-shop where the products and sellers are verified by third parties called Trust Providers – like TransFair USA (Fair Trade Certified), Co-op America and Aid to Artisans – to meet a core set of ethical and environmental standards. The key of course is that all Worldofgood.com listings are also available on eBay.com, making sure that all of the “socially responsible” products are available to the more than 84 million active users on eBay worldwide.

One of the coolest things about the site is the incorporation of the Goodprint labeling system. Essentially it acts as a nutritional label for each product on the site, allowing shoppers to see the positive social and environmental impact each purchase makes – whether it provides economic empowerment to people, conserves energy, supports animal species preservation, or is made of recycled, organic and/or sustainable materials.

Related Reads:
Ethical eBay Site aims to do a World of Good
Release Your Inner Hippie at WorldofGood.com
eBay’s new WorldofGood.com site has green goals

Cheers,
RBH