It seems like a lifetime ago since I was sat in meetings at eBay HQ in Richmond as part of the team that developed and launched eBay for Charity back in 2005/6. So it’s quite gratifying to discover that’s its been very successful in the intervening years and has raised a very creditable £50 million for more that 7000 British registered charity.
And eBay will be marking the milestone with a bit of a celebrity auction bonanza. It’s all on eBay here: www.ebay.co.uk/charity50. But what are the highlights?
50 celebrities from the world of music, fashion and sport, including One Direction, Henry Holland, Rafael Nadal and Paul McCartney have donated goodies that will sell for the charities of their choice. There’s also stuff from Harry Styles (Who? – Ed.), Hugh Bonneville, Clare Balding and Elton John.
11 Responses
when these people give what they cant afford to help others that’s when I will admire them
most high streets these days are charity organisation outlet villages,
with a whos who of charity organisations. competing with normal retail business using low cost labour , plus tax rate and rent concessions ,
we dont think this is a good thing at all for business on or off ebay
That’s an amazing achievement, well done eBay and thank you on behalf of all the charities you have helped 🙂
We’re a charity operating on eBay and we’ve done amazingly well. Selling through eBay has enabled us to raise so many more funds to help our projects and the kids we support have benefited so much from this.
We still pay our share of VAT, staff salaries, storage costs etc.
THANKS EBAY!
I think it is very meritorious that eBay help support charities.
I think Northumbrian isn’t very versed in rules of taxation of charities.
Most charities are not tax exempt unless they are very small (earn less than £5,000 per year). Anything more than that then they are essentially a company that has to pay VAT and Corporation Tax like everyone else. Of course, you only pay CT on profits so unless the charity uses all that money for its charitable purposes then its not exactly tax free. Yes it is possible for them to have 100% reduction on business rates on the high street, but only on the first property with rateable values below ~£6,000.
Its a good job that companies like eBay take their responsibility seriously too! Charities are having to find alternative means of raising revenue, given that the public have been tightening their belts year on year since 2008.
There are many types of Charity. northumbrian is only really describing one type. As an example the Charity that I Founded owned and restored and then operated for over 30 years a very historic piece of equipment. The Charity was rated as an Educational Charity. It was registered under the Charities Acts, Friendly & Provident Societies Acts and Companies Acts(because it operated the historic equipment)
There are many Educational Charities that own and preserve important parts of our National Heritage and are Preserving them for Posterity. Our National Life would be very boring without the Preserved Railway Locomotives, Aircraft, Buildings etc that are Preserved by Educational Charities.