eBay has been acquiring companies left and right recently and today is announcing the acquisition of yet another startup (this time a nonprofit)—MissionFish.
MissionFish has actually been powering eBay’s Giving Works program, which allows sellers to donate items and proceeds from sales to charitable causes and enables buyers to donate to these causes. MissionFish, which is an independent nonprofit organization, screens nonprofits that want to become members, and processes the millions of dollars in donations that result through eBay Giving Works. The platform is a collaboration of the Points of Light Institute, Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Case Foundation.
MissionFish has powered eBay Giving Works for the past eight years, raising almost $250 million for U.S. and UK nonprofits. The eBay community raised $54.8 million for U.S. and UK nonprofit organizations in 2010 and a donation is made every 24 seconds through eBay Giving Works, raising more than $91 every minute for nonprofits. Overall, donations were up 7 percent in 2010, compared to 2009, says the company.
eBay plans to create a separate nonprofit organization that will eventually be directly responsible for the collection and distribution of funds, using MissionFish’s technology.
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, CA, eBay connects millions of buyers and sellers globally in the world’s largest online marketplace, utilizing PayPal to ensure secure transactions. The company also operates specialized marketplaces such as StubHub, the world’s largest ticket marketplace, and eBay Classifieds sites, which together have a presence in more than 1,000 cities around the world. eBay items can be sold either via a silent auction, in which users input the maximum price they are willing to...
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