eBay microdonation scheme raises £2.5m so far

IT | Gareth Jones | 19 Aug 2010

eBay’s ‘Give at Checkout’ scheme, which gives buyers the option to add a small charitable donation when making purchases, has raised £2.54m since it was launched in November 2008.

The website has revealed that up to May 2010 the functionality, which allows users to add a donation of £1, £2 or £5 to their order, has benefited 533 charities, 57 of which have received more than £10,000 each.

The biggest beneficiary has been the DEC’s Haiti appeal, which received over £300,000 this year, while in June the website raised a total of more than £10,000 for three small charities that entered a Small Charities Week competition.

“Give at Checkout creates a frictionless online equivalent of a collecting tin on shop counters across the country,” said Nick Aldridge, CEO of eBay’s partner charity MissionFish.

“We’ve been surprised and delighted by the enthusiasm of eBay users for supporting a good cause as they shop online. eBay users have continued to give generously during the recession, and we are seeing 20-40 per cent growth in funds raised year-on-year.”

eBay is now looking to adapt the functionality to its mobile app, and is confident that it will not fall foul of Apple’s stringent rules on donations as the app includes sufficient other content.

However, it has denied reports that it is lobbying Apple to include such a donation facility on its own stores or set a precedent that would make it easier for charities to have their own donation apps accepted.

Directory: Mission Fish

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.