Over the past two weeks, communities, families and relief workers in the Philippines have slowly begun to assess the scale of the damage and begin the rebuilding process. At the same time, eBay Inc. employees, customers, merchants, and partners all over the world have rallied to support the Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts.
In less than two weeks, eBay Inc. has generated more than $10 million in donations through customer donation appeals on both eBay and PayPal in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. This is in addition to a total of $100,000 in direct philanthropic support to eBay Foundation partners Save the Children and Mercy Corps.
More than 100,000 eBay buyers donated through the marketplace’s Give@Checkout feature, which encouraged buyers to donate to relief organizations like the American Red Cross as they moved through the checkout flow. An additional 3,000 sellers listed more than 14,000 items on eBay to benefit relief efforts, and more than 175,000 individual donations have been made to relief organizations through PayPal’s fundraising appeals.
These efforts are just a small part of a global mobilization to support the Philippines in this time of critical need – millions more have been raised through corporate and nonprofit partners that have utilized PayPal’s digital and mobile tools on their own websites and fundraising platforms.
We are moved by the unprecedented showing of generosity and innovative approaches to giving that we’ve seen through our platforms and tools these past few weeks. And we are inspired that the network effects of commerce can have such profound – and immediate – impacts on the communities that most need our help.