Our archive summary can be accessed here: 2016 Global Impact Summary
We make it easy to support favorite charities when you buy and sell. Buyers can shop charity items and give at checkout. Sellers can earmark 10% to 100% of their sales proceeds to benefit charity. And our global platform enables charities to reach millions of potential donors.
Supporting Victory over Cancer
ESPN | ESPY Awards Charity Campaign
Twenty-five years ago, at the first ESPY Awards, legendary college basketball player and coach Jim Valvano announced the start of the V Foundation with a mission to achieve victory over cancer.
Jim Valvano lost his personal battle with cancer eight weeks later, but his dream of finding cures and saving lives continues through the work of the V Foundation. For more than a decade, eBay has been teaming with ESPN to host an annual ESPY Awards Charity Campaign in support of the V Foundation. eBay has helped raise over $3.9 million since 2011—$650,000 in 2018 alone.
Supporting Victory over Cancer
ESPN | ESPY Awards Charity Campaign
This year’s ESPY Awards Charity Campaign included a sweepstakes and 10-day auction that showcased 85 unique sports and entertainment experiences.
Here’s just a sampling of some of the unique experiences offered in 2018: “Go to Bat with ESPN's Jessica Mendoza,” “A Day in the Life of a SportsCenter Anchor,” “1-on-1 Private Catching Clinic with 2x World Series Champion David Ross,” and “Sunday Night Baseball Experience with Alex Rodriguez, Jessica Mendoza, and Matt Vasgersian.”
The sweepstakes, won by Holly Rusch, provided a trip for two to attend the ESPY Awards, a red carpet walk and a meeting with former professional racing driver Danica Patrick.
The V Foundation is dedicated to saving lives by helping to find a cure for cancer. The charitable organization seeks to make a difference by generating broad-based support for cancer research and by creating an urgent awareness among all Americans of the importance of the war against cancer. Since 1993, the V Foundation has awarded over $200 million in cancer research grants, using Valvano’s words as its guiding principle: “Don’t give up … Don’t ever give up!”®
BHF have harnessed the power of retail online and built upon our brand with a major professional operation. We delight customers and generous donators alike. Where else could you buy ‘unique every week?’
Unique and wildly successful charity shop
British Heart Foundation | Charity seller
Twelve years ago two founding members of a small retail team launched a sales experiment at the British Heart Foundation. The pair scoured the charity’s brick-and-mortar shops around Halifax, West Yorkshire, looking for unique, interesting items. Then, working from a small room above one of those shops, the pair would catalog, clean, photograph and list the items on eBay—giving the UK-based charity access to potential customers from across the globe.
The experiment paid off. Today, BHF is the highest grossing charity on the eBay platform—experiencing 30 percent annual sales growth and surpassing £10 million (about $13 million US) in total sales revenue as of December 2017.
BHF have harnessed the power of retail online and built upon our brand with a major professional operation. We delight customers and generous donators alike. Where else could you buy ‘unique every week?’
BHF sells and ships more than 4,000 items each week, and aims to reach £6 million (nearly $8 million US) in sales in 2018-2019 alone.
eBay’s shop window has 171 million viewers and features unique and individual items all received by donation.
Today, both founder members continue to be involved in the daily operation of the BHF eBay store. The team now has more than 750 brick-and-mortar BHF shops to seed inventory for the online store, as the charity aspires to be the defacto go-to site for collectibles, unique items and unusual gifts.
BHF is the UK’s heart charity and the largest independent funder of cardiovascular research. Founded in 1961, the organization visualizes a world in which people do not die prematurely or suffer from cardiovascular disease.
There is no place for shame in addiction. Addiction is mental illness, and we don’t have control over that. My goal is to have people step out of the shadows of shame and truly do what they can to help those who are suffering and want to change.
Selling for long-term addiction recovery
Recovery Road Ministries | Cori O’Steen, Board member
Charitable giving has always been part of Cori O’Steen’s business model. The owner of Upaknship, which sells shipping materials on eBay, has donated a portion of her sales to organizations that are dear to her family—like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for her son who spent an extended time in the neonatal intensive care unit, and Operation Family Fund to support veterans returning to civilian life in honor of her husband’s military service. But as she witnesses her oldest daughter battle drug addiction with few options for long-term recovery assistance, Cori knew she had to do more.
There is no place for shame in addiction. Addiction is mental illness, and we don’t have control over that. My goal is to have people step out of the shadows of shame and truly do what they can to help those who are suffering and want to change.
Selling for long-term addiction recovery
Recovery Road Ministries | Cori O’Steen, Board member
Cori opened a store on eBay where 100% of the proceeds go to Recovery Road Ministries, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the physical, spiritual, and psychological health of individuals recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Recovery Road aims to open two long-term addiction recovery centers in Aiken County, South Carolina, in fall 2018, providing an intensive, 10-month, in-house program that will be free to those seeking help from substance abuse. The online store supplements the organization’s other funding sources, which include corporate donations, fundraisers and direct donors.
“I’m compelled by those whose need is greater than mine. I find that it’s extremely healing for me. Going through the different experiences in my life, and donating to charities, it made me feel like I was able to do something for people who had it worse than I did. It’s made a huge difference in my life,” said Cori.
Share your cause
From supporting small, local charities, to hosting high-profile celebrity auctions, eBay helps organizations achieve their fundraising and donor acquisition goals.
Support favorite charities
Shop, give and sell in support of the causes that matter most to you. It’s easy to make a difference with every listing, every transaction.
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