The eBay Foundation marked its 20th anniversary this year by launching the Global Give, a reboot of the company’s employee-led grantmaking program.
Through Global Give, the Foundation challenged eBay employees to make their communities a better place—a place where entrepreneurs of all backgrounds are empowered to start and grow a business, and help create opportunity for all.
Hundreds of eBay, Classifieds, and StubHub employees from every region submitted proposals to support organizations that advance inclusive entrepreneurship. In addition, the teams shared plans for how they would also give their time and expertise to the organization to help further accelerate progress.
Winning teams will work with a wide range of entrepreneurs, including women, minority, veteran, refugee and immigrant, LGBTQ+, and other underrepresented business owners, providing a wide variety of services, such as mentoring, project and business expertise, technology skills, legal and finance counsel, and marketing guidance.
Thirty organizations were selected to receive grants from the eBay Foundation as part of the 2018 Global Give program:
- Capacity (Bern and Zurich, Switzerland) empowers refugee and migrant entrepreneurs
- Fast Forward (FFWD)(San Francisco, Calif.) invests in entrepreneurs who are building technology to scale social impact
- Thrive Refugee Enterprise (Sydney, Australia) provides microfinancing and business support to refugee entrepreneurs
- Free Geek (Toronto, Canada) aims to sustainably reuse technology to empower entrepreneurs
- Fumbally Exchange (FEx) (Dublin, Ireland) a not-for-profit community of design and innovation for small business, sole traders and startups
- GKTD(Istanbul, Turkey) uses a food truck to serve those in need while helping reducing food waste at local businesses
- Hatch (London, U.K.) an enterprise incubator and accelerator program through which eBay employees will provide workshops and mentoring
- Spice Kitchen Incubator (Salt Lake City, Utah) helps refugees and immigrants launch their own restaurants
- La Cocina (San Jose, Calif.) provides affordable commercial kitchen space to low-income food entrepreneurs
- Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights(San Jose, Calif.) works to advance, protect, and promote the legal rights of communities of color and low-income persons, immigrants, and refugees
- Lloyd EcoDistrict (Portland, Ore.) creates a connected, prosperous, and resilient neighborhood in Portland’s Lloyd District
- Oakland Bloom (San Jose, Calif.) provides educational training and hands-on support for aspiring chef entrepreneurs from refugee, immigrant, and low-income communities
- Out in Tech (New York City, N.Y. and San Jose, Calif.) empowers aspiring tech leaders to improve the world
- Petit Miracles(London, U.K.) reduces unemployment through skills training in traditional craft, restoration, basic DIY, painting, and redecorating
- Skys The Limit (San Jose, Calif.) serves young entrepreneurs that face significant barriers to business ownership
- St. Elisabeth’s SHE Army (Richmond, U.K.) supports under-served mothers returning to the workforce
- Start Out (New York City, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and San Jose and San Francisco, Calif.) connects and educates LGBTQ entrepreneurs to empower great leaders and businesses
- Sustainable Economies Law Center (San Jose, Calif.) cultivates a new legal landscape that supports community resilience and grassroots economic empowerment
- Ventures (Bellevue, Wash.) empowers individuals with limited resources and unlimited potential to improve their lives through small business ownership
- Yonge Street Mission (Toronto, Canada) provides wraparound support and services to help people rise out of poverty
- Bunker Labs (San Jose, Calif. and Salt Lake City, Utah) empowers veteran entrepreneurs as leaders in innovation
- Big Brothers Big Sisters (New York City, N.Y.) provides children in NYC with strong one-to-one relationships with adult mentors
- Friends of Materials for the Arts (New York City, N.Y.) collects reusable materials and makes them available, free of charge, to nonprofits and government organizations for arts programming
- heimatBEWEGEN (Dreilinden, Germany) creates a community with inclusion and opportunities for all using technology and digitalization
- itwillbe(Madrid, Spain) increases the economic capacity of families and improves the education of women through livestock and self-employment
- 1 Million for 1 Billion (San Jose, Calif. and Bangalore, India) educates underprivileged young leaders about ecommerce and drives business to local entrepreneurs through social media campaigns
- Social Fabric (Zurich, Switzerland) aims to overcome economic challenges in local communities through engagement and social innovation
- Super Stars Project (San Jose and San Francisco, Calif.) provides extended learning time intervention services to underperforming K-2nd grade students; eBay employees will support an entrepreneurship-focused book and family outreach project
- The Q Center (Portland, Ore.) supports self-actualization and collective empowerment of LGBTQ2SIA+ people of all ages, races, genders and abilities
- Turkish National Federation of the Deaf (Istanbul, Turkey) will support the healthy, easy communications between hearing-impaired people and small business owners who do not speak or understand sign languages