February 13, 2019 | Read Time: 1 minute
The technology company eBay says it raised $101.7 million for charities in 2018, compared with $84 million in 2017.
The company says it has raised nearly $912 million since 2003. Sellers can designate a charity to receive a portion of their sales; buyers can choose to give when they make a purchase; and charities can use the site to sell goods and market charity events.
One of its highest-profile events is the annual power lunch with Warren Buffett, which raised $3.3 million last year for a San Francisco nonprofit called Glide, which works on anti-poverty and economic-inequality projects. Other fundraising events were for the Grammy Foundation, the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, and a celebrity auction for veterans featuring Kenny Chesney, Ben Stiller, and Jake Tapper.
A spokeswoman for eBay, in a news release, said the company wants to raise $1 billion for charity by 2020. Brenda Halkias, general manager of the company’s charitable branch, said their online marketplace makes eBay uniquely positioned to reach that milestone.
The company reports that the platform has 66,000 charities. It was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, who, with his wife, Pam, are serial philanthropists.
