eBay Buyers and Sellers Gave a Record $54.8 Million to Thousands of Nonprofits in 2010

eBay continues to innovate new, easier ways for its community to give, such as regularly featuring different nonprofits at checkout and, as of 2010, allowing eBay users to select a favorite nonprofit, which is presented to them for a $1 donation every time they check out. Throughout the three-month 2010 holiday fundraising campaign, the eBay community donated a projected 32 percent more during checkout than in 2009.

“We are grateful for the support of the eBay community, which, through its generosity, has helped raise nearly $1.7 million in support of Komen’s promise to end breast cancer forever,” said Margo K. Lucero, vice president of business development and partnerships for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. “When a woman dies of breast cancer every 69 seconds it’s critical that we continue to fund life-saving research, spread awareness and educate women about their risk.”

In addition to enabling direct donations and the selling and buying of thousands of items that benefit nonprofits, eBay hosts high-profile, celebrity charity auctions. Throughout the holiday fundraising campaign in 2010, these auctions raised $194,633 for charity on eBay, 105 percent more than in 2009. A few auction items that raised the most funds for nonprofits included:

• A lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett sold for $2.6 million, with 100% of the sale benefitting San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church.
• Celebrity Twitter mentions and followings, auctioned off by TwitChange.com — winner of Mashable’s most creative social good campaign in 2010 — with the help of celebrities like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber, raised $540,631 in less than one week for aHomeInHaiti.org.
• Memorabilia and props from the Nicaragua season of “Survivor” raised $250,000, benefitting The Serpentine Project and Operation Smile.
• Items from Oprah Winfrey’s wardrobe raised $150,000 for The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation.

eBay is also changing the way small, local nonprofits fundraise, with many using eBay Giving Works in an entrepreneurial effort to reach more customers and donors. Angel Acres Horse Haven in Pennsylvania rescues healthy, young American horses who would otherwise be sold for human consumption in Europe and Asia. Last year, Angel Acres — with only one full-time employee — raised more than $23,000 from the eBay community, 20 percent of its annual budget.